Posted by Louisiannie cross-posting KimKca on 1/18/09

In kindergarten this week, we have been talking about
winter. Monday, I read the kids a non-fiction book about
animals in winter and introduced the kids to vocabulary
like "hibernation," "migration," and "burrow."

There is a place in the book that shows a woodchuck's
burrow. The kids were very interested in the tunnels,
bathroom chamber, and sleeping chamber. We discussed how
many burrowing animals will have more than one entrance to
fool predators. After discussing the book, we did
a "directed drawing" of a woodchuck's burrow. We labeled
parts and then some of the kids asked if they could color
the drawings.

I reminded the children that this was a "science" drawing,
so accuracy in color is important. The kids decided that
brown was probably going to be the predominant color,
since the picture of the burrow was under a winter
landscape. Some children put green on a few trees and
colored the hibernating woodchuck with tan and brown
colored pencils.

I walked around the room, giving feedback. I stopped short
when I saw McKenna, one of my most competent students and
a very good listener, using a pink crayon inside the
woodchuck's sleeping chamber. She was carefully coloring
the outline of the chamber.

"McKenna," I said, "what's this? Is the sleeping chamber
PINK?"

McKenna looked up and me and smiled.

"No. It's brown. And has grass."

"Well... what is the pink crayon for?" I asked.

She continued coloring and replied, "Wallpaper."

:-)K

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