Today the preschoolers finished their unit study about Oregon. We set up a campground in the gym where they played for the entire day. Children paddled in the canoe on the lake, sang songs around the campfire, and napped in sleeping bags. The toddlers joined us in our celebration for the morning. One even asked if the blue mat was real water! Later in the afternoon we made s'mores at the kitchen gas stove.
This week the children are learning about mountains in Oregon and how they are formed. On Monday the children talked about the mountains we could see from Portland and then watched a video of Mt. St. Helens erupting. We looked at several pictures of other Oregon mountains and then drew pictures of Mt. Hood. Later in the afternoon we did a volcano experiment and watched "lava" erupt from a papier mache mountain. Later this week the children will look at animals that live in mountain habitats, and then we'll end the week learning about Crater Lake.
