Parrots

Before school was out, I asked the girls what they wanted to learn about this summer. Annika said she wanted to learn about parrots. A bit out of the blue, but OK! So, today we began our study of parrots. It has been rainy-ish and cool for a few days and I have been doing a lot of math with the girls. I figured it was time for a break from math. On to something else, right?

I like to start out something like this by having the girls make a list of things they know, things they want to know, and then leave a blank space for things they learned. And Annika wrote:

What I Know:

• Sharp Nails
• Lots of Colors
• Different Kinds of Parrots

What I Want to Know:

• Do they have purple
• What their names are
• What Colors they have
• If they have black
• If they have pink

And after reading the book she answered most of the questions she had. The only thing we had to sort of assume, was that parrots do not have purple feathers since we did not read about purple or see any purple feathered birds. And I could be wrong about that one, but we had to make a guess.

After reading the book (which was about 4 pages too long for her interest) she decided she wanted to paint a picture of a parrot. We broke out her new art set she received for her birthday and using the cover of the book for a reference, began painting away.

I was surprised by just how much her painting did look like a Hyacinth Macaw! And she remembered that parrots have 4 toes, two forwards and two backwards. Impressive, I tell you!! So, here is the beginning of our parrot study. I'd like to create a lapbook on parrots, but that has to wait for the printer to be replaced, so we'll see about that! sigh. My window just might close on that topic.