Desert Beauty

Our study of one of our favorite ecosystems

Exploring a dry lake bed and the “Peace House” (not pictured)

We had planned to study winter and snow this month, but nature had other plans. California is in a dry year and the weather has been relentlessly sunny and dry. Therefore, it felt natural to postpone our study of snow and pivot to a study of the desert ecosystem instead as this is the time of year during which we take many day trips to the desert.

Language Arts

• Fiction: Coyote Places the Stars by Harriet Taylor, Bright Star by Yuyi Morales, Nobody Hugs a Cactus by Carter Goodrich

• Non-Fiction: Deserts by Gail Gibbons, Cactus Hotel by Brenda Guiberson, Desert Life by Alice Jablonsky, Desert Giants by Barbara Bash, Over and Under the Canyon by Kate Messier

• My First Nature Reader

• Bookmaking

• Nature Journal

• Handwriting

Math

• Math CGI Problem Solving

• Counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s using the Hundreds Chart and counting frame

• 2-D Shapes

• Math Games: Uno, Tiny Love Math Cards

• Building with blocks and magna-tiles

Science, Social Studies, and Art

• Kinetic Sand “Dioramas”

• “Pantry” Mosaics

• Child-sized tempera paintings of saguaro cactuses

• Desert watercolors

• A visit to the Natural History Museum

• Okee Dokee Brother’s Saddle Up on repeat

• Desert Food Webs

• Louis Schwartzberg’s film Moving Art: Deserts

• Multiple day trips to Anza Borrego and a trip to Joshua Tree

Watercolors and nature journaling; this type of guided writing that we do together offers many embedded learning opportunities

Very “homespun” dioramas - the boys made the animals and picked the flowers and leaves to put in the kinetic sand

Child-size saguaro cactus paintings; we love switching things up by using a vertical surface for writing or paint and the large scale offers opportunities to cross the midline and activate the brain

Number writing practice and math problem solving with place value

Pulling out coloring beans, popcorn, and grains to make desert colored mosaics; we try to use what we have on hand in our art and hands on activities

We have been spending ten to twenty minutes doing “Read to Self” in the mornings; I often read alongside them; Clear expectations along with new and interesting books are necessary for the success of this activity

Hiking is such a great way to build strength, resilience, and perseverance; these little hikers insisted on going all the way to the top despite my misgivings and slowly, but surely they made it

Five years old and two years old 🥰

As always, lots and lots and lots of unstructure play indoors and outdoors

Astro Domes in the distance (Joshua Tree)