We just want a picture of the squirrels!

The squirrels on the Ganon playground were very active this fall.  Almost every snack or lunchtime during the past month, has included a look out the window to see the squirrels running around the playground.  We have stopped more morning meetings than I could count to watch the squirrels climbing the trees and jumping from branch to branch.  The crazy playground squirrels have continued to be a favorite topic of conversation of the Ganon children for months.

I decided to create a squirrel unit based around the children's interest.  The children were excited, and I was too. We read books about squirrels.  The children played with squirrel puppets and squirrels toys in the sensory bin.  

We recently added cameras (old iPhones) to our classroom for the children to use.  The class decided the first project with the cameras was going to be to take photos of the squirrels.  We were ready to take the perfect squirrel photo.  We waited and waited and waited.  Hours went by, then days went by, and there were no squirrels.  We decided that the crazy playground squirrels are gone.  Except, the squirrels are not gone.  The extended day children keep seeing the squirrels in the afternoon after the Ganon day.  

Two Ganon girls decided that they wanted to make a plan to attract the squirrels.  A few other children wanted to catch the squirrels in a trap, but after a brief discussion they decided that it was not a very nice thing to do.  The girls decided that they would gather acorns for the squirrels, put the acorns in a pile, and the squirrels would come to eat the acorns.  The girls wanted to put the pile of acorns on the playground, then it was suggested by a classmate that children in the other class might move the acorns.  The girls then decided to leave the pile of acorns right outside the playground fence because it would be safe from other children and we could still see it from our classroom.  The girl put their plan into action.  Two days have past with no squirrel sightings, but we are still hopeful.