Spring, plants, and giants!

Yesterday, we took a few minutes to think about when spring is going to start.  Giacomo noted that we are already seeing signs of spring outside, but we also looked at the calendar and it says that the Spring Equinox is not until March 20th.  How can this be?

“I thought it was called the ‘nox’. The ‘nox’ thing.” - Giacomo, 4.3 years
The equinox? There will be the spring equinox, but I was thinking a lot about how you said that spring is already outside a little bit. 
“Like, I’m telling you it’s just at number one, but when it’s at number 100, all those plants will be full grown.” - Giacomo
Maybe we’re seeing a little bit of spring already?  Some of the flowers are blooming already?

“Yeah. Just this much. [photo on right] Cause today is a hot day, nice for water. We have a hose and this is a very real: sometimes instead of doing the bath, we use the hose to wash ourselves outside.  It’s cold!” - Giacomo ​

Can we plant seeds together? On zoom?

After our spring break, do you think we could plant some seeds together over zoom? 
“First, get seeds from somewhere.  Number two, get a pot. Number three, get dirt. Number four, seed in dirt.  Number five, water it. Yeah, and then six is sun!” - Giacomo
Do you think that we could do numbers 1-5 together with Saul while we’re on zoom? 
“Well, I don’t know what that means. You have to get seeds, number two a pot. Number three put dirt in it.  Number four water it. Number five…wait. Number four is actually…number four is…” - Giacomo
You put the seeds in the dirt?
“Yeah, and then number five you water it. Then number six…” - Giacomo
Do you remember what number six was? 
“The sun.” - Giacomo

“I like it this way. One big hand and one small hand [thumb].” - Giacomo
You and I are counting on our fingers in the "European way". - Elyse

So, my question to you was, ‘These first five steps that you named, do you think we could do these five steps together with Saul on zoom?  
“We could, but first you have to find a seed, which is pretty hard. You have to find a seed factory. You could do an apple.  You could get the seed from the apple and plant the apple.” - Giacomo
I’m just wondering if we could do that on zoom from our own homes? 
“You could do that, but you have to have a lot of soil.  It’s easy.  Find a clear spot where there’s no plant.  Dig and give the ground soil to the plant.” - Giacomo 
It sounds like you have a pretty clear plan on how to do this.  

Are giants real?

“Is there a video of him? - GIacomo, 4.3 years

If you don't know the story of Finn MacCool and Benandonner, the giants who created the "Giant's Causeway", then the short version is that there are two giants who want to fight each other, but they must cross the water from Northern Ireland, to the Isle of Staffa in Scotland. Finn MacCool is said to have created the great causeway by throwing trees into the water to create a pathway.  Eventually, they decide not to fight each other and the "Causeway" is destroyed. All that remains are hexagonally jointed basalt columns both in Scotland and Ireland.

[below] Illustration of Finn MacCool, the Irish giant

[above and below] Illustrations of Benandonner, the Scottish giant

Giacomo, do you know where Scotland and Ireland are? 
“Well, they’re somewhere in space. But before, a long time ago, they were the whole earth.  There were two caves and a home, and a rumbling sound like a volcano cracked their things apart.  A huge way went so high and took it into space to float away to never seen again.” - Giacomo 

“Mostly giants are actually bigger than the great blue humpback whale, so they lived about 100 years ago. They lived on the first day; the first day of the earth.  That’s when the giants lived.” - Giacomo

“Where is the place where the Giants were?” - Giacomo, 4.3 years
Can I show you on a map where the story we read takes place? - Elyse

We live here. If i zoom out, and we go all the way across the Atlantic ocean, all the way up here.

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If we go up here where this red dot is and the white dot…the Red dot is where Finn MacCool, the Irish giant, lived.  The white dot is the Isle of Staffa where Brenandonner lived. It says they built a pathway across this water.

“Go this way. I want to go that way.” - Giacomo [wanting to zoom in on the image]

“Wait, let me see the picture of the place where the giant lived.” - Giacomo 
This is the Isle of Staffa.
“Where is him?” - Giacomo
I don’t know if he’s around anymore. 



​
“Is there a picture of him?” - Giacomo
This might be a little bit like the Loch Ness monster where maybe everybody’s looks a little different.
“Is there a video of him? - GIacomo
There’s a video about the causeway.
“No, I want to see a video about him.” - Giacomo
I don’t know if there is a video of him, but there are videos about the pathway that the giant’s created.  Would you like to hear a little bit about that?

We watched two short videos about the "Giant's Causeway".  Each retold the story of the giants in a slightly different way, but also told us about the scientific explanation behind the rock formations. 

The narrators presented the two theories and used a lot of helpful vocabulary: scientific, geological wonder, volcanic event long before humans were on earth, volcanic eruption, and fissures (describing the rocks)

The narrators also described the giant's version of the story: mythology, home of a mythical giant, and legend.
​
This rock is believed to be a giant's boot left behind.

[left] Illustration of Finn MacCool from one informational video

[right Illustration of Benandonner from one informational video

It sounds like he said that we can believe that the giants built it, or a volcano made it. What do you think? The scientist said that maybe it was created by the giants, or maybe by a volcanic eruption.  Which do you think is true?
“I think eruption is true because eruptions happen often when scary things are around. I saw a face that looked a teensy bit like him [in the video].” - Giacomo 
The name of this book is “Scottish mythical creatures”, and our story was about a giant, so he must be mythical.  What do you think mythical means? 
“It means things that lived a long, long time ago that don’t live anymore.” - Giacomo 
Maybe the giants really did build it. Is that possible? 
“No, I think the eruption made it. I’d like to see some more. Okay, so then I want to see another video of how it was built.” - Giacomo

The whole world 

“No, I want to see the whole, whole world.” - Giacomo
Like a globe?
“Like the whole circle.” - Giacomo