Dinosaurs

We enjoyed learning about dinosaurs this week!  We sorted dinosaurs into meat eaters and plant eaters.  We learned that dinosaurs that walked on 4 feet were plant eaters and more gentle.  The dinosaurs that stood on two legs were more fierce.  We used dinosaur figurines to work with during activity time and used blocks to create spaces for the dinosaurs to roam. We heard a lot of dinosaur stories, made dinosaur fossils out of play dough, hunted for dinosaurs around our classroom and looked at rocks with fossils in them. We had fun learning the name of some of the dinosaurs, and loved doing the dinosaur dance! dinosaur dance video

Teagan was our Maple Leaf of the Week.  She shared her poster with us on Tuesday.  We enjoyed learning about all her favorite things! Her Mom came to visit on Thursday and read us two books.  One of them was about how to make ice cream.  Teagan and her mom set up an ice cream sundae bar for us...yum!!  We could pick from lots of toppings including blueberries, strawberries, m and m's, cookie crumbles, chocolate sauce and whipped cream!!  Thanks Teagan for helping to make our week so special!

The weather was nice enough to get outside each day.  The kids love to run, play with balls, climb on the equipment, use sidewalk chalk and play make believe.  We're all hoping spring is finally here!!

Looking at a pussywillow tree near our playset.

Holding our tissue paper dragon flies...what a great looking group!

Teagan and her mom sharing a favorite story with us.

Ice Cream Sundae party!!

Thanks Teagan for the great snack!

Observing and sorting rocks.

Joan and I arrived at school early one morning and found a red fox trying to play on our equipment!
Look closely near the play set and there's a red fox running away!

 Some dinosaurs were hiding in the rocks!

Insects

We focused on learning about insects this week.  We learned about the 3 body parts (head, thorax, abdomen) and learned a song to help us remember the names.  We listed all of the insects we could think of on our white board, each child had to come up with an idea.  Ask your child what their favorite bug is!! We used tissue paper and glue to create a beautiful dragonfly during art! We heard several books about insects including The Very Quiet Click Beetle by Eric Carle and Bug Garden by Lisa Moser! Lisa visited our class to read Bug Garden to us and talk to us about what an author does and how she started writing! 

Lisa Moser reading us her latest book, Bug Garden.

Brooke was our Maple Leaf of the Week! We had fun learning about her favorite things when she shared her poster with us! On Tuesday she brought in a special treat...rice krispie treats with sprinkles...yum!! On Thursday her mom visited our classroom.  We heard one of Brooke's favorite stories about Clifford and she showed us her stuffed Clifford and Emily Elizabeth doll.  Brooke wants to be a mermaid when she grows up so she and her mom brought in a special craft for us to make.  We had so much fun putting mermaid stickers and other sea creatures on a blue paper plate...then we used scissors and created seaweed with crepe paper.  Thanks Brooke for making our week so much fun!

Our Maple Leaf of the Week with the yummy homemade treat she shared with us!!

 

Listening to a story about Clifford.

Our "Under the Sea" project...so fun!

We finished turning our ladybugs into clocks!  A good way to practice reading numbers and putting them in order!

 

Making tissue paper dragonflies. 

Ladybugs

We're learning about ladybugs this week.  We  put ladybug larvae into a plastic container and made a butterfly garden.  Each day we watched the larva to see what they were doing.  Eventually they should grow, crack out of their shell, turn into pupa, and emerge as ladybugs!  We watched several songs about ladybugs on our ipad and read several stories about ladybugs including the classic The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle.

Here are the links:

The Grouchy Ladybug

 5 Little Ladybugs

Our ladybug garden arrives!

A delicious spring birthday treat! Yum!

Using our ladybug puppets as we say a rhyme.

Some of our new activities for April include a "construction site" in our sand tub, a fairy garden, mosaic magnets, and a tool kit. During art we're working on turning paper plates in ladybugs!

Lucy and her mom reading us a favorite book!

Lucy was our Maple Leaf of the Week and our birthday girl!  She brought in delicious cupcakes for our snack on Tuesday and on Thursday her Mom came in and read us Aqualicious which is one of Lucy's favorite books.  Lucy brought in her favorite stuffed unicorn to share with the class too. Thanks Lucy for helping make our week so much fun!!  

Happy Birthday, Lucy!! 

Thanks for the delicious birthday cupcakes!

Our construction site!

The fairy garden.

Magnet mosaics

Passing around the ladybug larva.