We finally heard from our German friends in Erlangen again. We found out that they had a Christmas party on their last day of school before Christmas break just like we did. We played games at our party while our German friends recited a poem about a tree for other children in the Franconian dialect. They worked very long and hard to get the dialect just right. The Franconian dialect is a language that is spoken in the southern states of Germany such as in Hesse (Hessen), Bavaria (Bayern), and Baden-Wurttemberg (Baden-Wurttemberg). We then got out our political map of Germany and located all three German states.
We also found out that we shared something else with the second graders in Germany. While they were making their birdfeeders, we were making ours. We only found out about this after we wrote to each other. Isn't it amazing how we think similarly even though we are thousands of miles apart?
The German children made birdfeeders out of clay while we made our birdfeeders out of plastic water bottles. The children in Erlangen took a slab of clay, rolled it out, and cut the clay into the shape of a tree using a paper template. Then they decorated it by making impressions/marks into the clay. You can see the process in the photos above. Next, the clay birdfeeders were put into a kiln to dry. Finally, the children placed a suet cake in the center. The clay birdfeeders turned out to be gorgeous!
We used plastic water bottles to make our birdfeeders. The reason we used plastic bottles was to keep them out of the landfill. We used a nail to poke a hole through the soft plastic and then used dowel rods which were cut to a certain size to push through the holes so that the birds could use the dowel rods as perches. We also strung wire through the bottom section of the bottle so that the bottle could be hung on a limb or a post. The final step was to open the lid of the bottle and pour bird seed inside and place the lid back on. The birdfeeders were then ready to go home. But the children and parents had to do one more thing before hanging them outside. They had to use a nail again to poke holes slightly above the perches so that the birds could get the seeds. You can see our birdfeeders above, too.
