Releasing the butterflies!

Today was a great day!  We had a dress rehearsal for our spring sing, a snack and then off to the park.  The weather was perfect and the kids had so much fun running around and playing with one another.  It's fun to see the relationships that have developed between the kids since the beginning of preschool.  

In September they didn't know one another's names and were a little hesitant around each other, now they're all playing tag together, or climbing on the equpiment or pushing one another on the swings.  Its fun to listen to their conversations as the walk to the park and back.  I can't help thinking of all the vocabulary they have developed this year as they converse with one another.  And they're interested in everything!  We say grape hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, a black lab, a ceramic snail, and leaves that used to be buds on our last walk!!  

When we got back to school it was time to release our butterflies.  All 6 of our caterpillars turned into butterflies and we let them all go today.  It was so exciting and the kids loved watching them fly around the gazebo area near the church.  

Looking forward to seeing all of you at the Spring Sing on Thursday!!

Happy Mother's Day

This week we heard lots of stories about mothers and their children. Some of the stories we heard were Peter Rabbit, Are You My Mother?, and Owl Babies.

We asked the kids what their Mom's names were and here are there responses:

Hanna's Mom is Mandy.
Helena's Mom is Sara.
Duncan's Mom is Mrs. Schilder.
Gavin's Mom is Kristen Halula and Mommy.
Kate's Mom is Mommy.
Wadie's Mom is Heba.
Liam's Mom is Mommy.

Our butterflies emerged from their chrysalis' this week. We have 6 butterflies and we are feeding them a banana, sugar water and an orange until we release them this week. Our ants came and we're having fun watching them make tunnels in our ant farm. We've fed them graham cracker crumbs so far.

It turned out that our beans did grow in the paper towels. It was cool to see the roots beginning to grow. The kids took these home on Thursday, if you put them in some dirt they should continue to grow. The other vegetables we planted have all started growing. Most of our sunflower seeds have started growing too.

In Math we made a number train. It was such good practice for the kids to identify the numbers 1-10 and to count and add stickers to the "cars" on the train.


We've had a wonderful time going outside and enjoying the weather. We've been playing ball, using sidewalk chalk, and running up and down the hill. We also had several visitors this week. These were all kids who are thinking about joining our class for next year. I was so proud of the kids in our class, they were so sweet and welcoming to the new children and included them in their activities right away. What a great kids you all have!!! If any of you have a friend that your child would like to bring to class please feel free to send them along next week on May 21, 22, or 23rd. We'll be going to Centennial Park on 17th Ave. in Grafton on the 23rd for our final day of class. If the weather is bad we'll have class at Pilgrim Church as usual.


We've been practicing a lot for our spring sing which will be this Thursday at 10:30 in the sanctuary. Please bring a dozen bars or cookies to share for the reception after the program. Feel free to invite family and friends to our "show". (It should last about 15 minutes.)

Remember this Tuesday is "Bring your favorite book" to school day. Please send something that's not too long because I'd like to be able to read all the books to the kids throughout the morning.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Mother's Day. Plan to see everyone on Tuesday!

Planting and Spring Weather at Last!!

The past few days have been so nice. It's been wonderful to get the kids outside again!! Last Thursday was an extended day and 6 of the kids stayed. We walked to Wildwood Park and the kids were so happy to climb on the equipment and run around!! On Tuesday we went outside and played with balls and sidewalk chalk. One of the neighbors behind the school had 2 kids who asked if they could play with us. The Maple Leaf kids included them right away!

Inside we planted sunflowers and heard the story Mole's Hill by Lois Ehlert about a Mole who planted flowers all over his hill to save it from being knocked down. We used cookie cutters and paint to create a beautiful spring picture!

The kids loved hearing The Garden Song by John Denver on You Tube.

http://m.youtube.com/results?q=garden%20song%20john%20denver



We ended our day by practicing the songs for our spring sing outside!!

Wednesday Mrs. Bulgerin got the kids outside for some free play and then she gathered them together to plant several different kinds of seeds. First all the kids looked at squash seeds, bean, carrot, apple, pepper, pea and zucchini seeds to see the different colors, shapes and sizes of seeds. Then each child picked the seed that they wanted to plant. We labeled the seeds and are watching to see which ones grow first and what they look like!

For art we made a flower garden using paint, markers and forks!!

On Thursday we saw and felt seeds that look like caterpillars and then we put some bean seeds in plastic bags with water and paper towels and taped them to the window. We don't think they'll really grow, but Mrs. Bulgerin says they will.....we'll just have to see!!

We read Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert and made our very own rainbow flower during activity time.

Our caterpillars have turned into chrysalis' and we are waiting for them to turn into butterflies!! We're still waiting for our ants to arrive in the mail to add to our ant farm. If they don't come soon we'll go outside and collect our own ants!!

Have a great week-end!!