Hello Parents,
Well, we had a lot of fun and learned so much this week. We worked on the letter O. We talked about it's form and long and short sounds, looked at names in our class that contain I, played memory with objects that begin with O, learned about Our Lady as a title for Mary, and had our weekly show and share. We will be doing our show and share on Thursday the next two weeks due to our teacher development day on April 26 and Field Day on May 3. Please plan accordingly.
We continued to celebrate the Easter season. We talked about how the church celebrates Easter for 50 days. We are reading Bible stories about Jesus appearing to his disciples and ascending into heaven. We also had some fun matching Easter egg halves with capital and lowercase letters.
We are also continued our exploration of the rain forest. We read the story Pongo about an orangutan who explored the four layers of the rain forest: forest floor, understory, canopy, and emergent. Then I had the kids make the layers. Some layed on the floor with tiny leaves. Some were on the knees with medium sized leaves. Some stood with large leaves. Finally, some held spikey leaves over the heads of those with large leaves. Each layer protected the one below. Then I sprayed them with a mist of water. we talked about who got very wet and who got just a little wet. We then traded several times so they could experience being different levels of the rainforest.
We then talked about frogs. We discussed how some camouflage with the environment to hide from predators while others stand out with bright colors because they are poisonous for predators. Then then chose to either color a large frog with camouflage colors or a smaller frog with bright colors. Finally, my predator puppet (a snake) came around the room and they had to either say, "You can't see me, I'm camouflage" or "You don't' want to eat me, I'm poisonous." We also kept the frog theme going and jumped little plastic frogs on a paper mat with lily pads with letters on them. The kids had to say the letter they landed on.
Next we took a day to learn about Archer Fish. These fabulous rainforest creatures suck up water and spit it at their insect prey. They swim so fast that they are able to catch the insects by the time they fall to the water. We had a small bin, fish toys that squirt water, and small insects in our zoo kit to let the kids hunt like Archer Fish. It was so fun. We also reviewed how many of our rainforest animals move, then played with an obstacle course made of materials from the zoo. The kids had to grab the animal that they were moving like and move through different obstacles including branches, vines, a cave, and rocks and streams. This was so much fun we set it up again at center time. The kids did a great job recalling how the animals move.
Finally we talked about how some of our favorite foods come from the rainforest. We pretended to be birds and insects, as we went around and smelled contianers trying to guess what we were interacting with using only our sense of smell. The kids did a great job figuring out mint, coffee, chocolate, vanilla, and cinnamon.
Then, just as our zoo kit had to be returned, a new surprise came in. I ordered caterpillars since butterflies are prevalent in the rainforest. We are keeping a journal and recording what we observe. We have already discussed how the life cycle keeps going and going. The tiny caterpillars are so cute. Wait until they see them grow and change. I love to observe this process of metamorphosis during the Easter season to remind us of how Jesus truly transformed too.
That is about all for this week. Have a great weekend and take time to enjoy your family.
Blessings,
Mrs. Hale
Dates to Remember
April 26 - No School
May 3 - Field Day 11:00 Dismissal
May 8 - 11:00 dismissal
May 9- Dad's Day 1:00 dismissal
May 10 - No School St. Ferdinand Picnic
May 24 - Last day of school 11:00 Dismissal NO AFTERCARE
| You must be logged in to view the private posts. |