Mrs. Samuel Day, Sea Life and Fun in P.E.

We celebrated Mrs. Samuel this past week in the Janet Root Theater. All of the Early Childhood students were by her side as we listened to many wonderful and fun stories that were shared of Mrs. Sam's past seventeen years at Shorecrest. The Alpha children presented Mrs. Sam with a beautiful crown and a tissue box that they had made for her decorated with all of the Brilliant Butterflies and Friendly Frogs.

Her Hank, Katie and Henry sat among a huge crowd of former students, parents and colleagues that had come to wish her farewell on her upcoming retirement and to let her know how much she would be missed, always loved and remembered!

After speakers shared fun stories about Mrs. Samuel and seeing a fabulous slideshow, the children and staff of Early Childhood sang one of their favorite songs, "Leave the World Just a Little Bit Better, which was so appropriate as that is just how Mrs. Sam is leaving the Shorecrest "world!" There was a reception in the theater foyer, where everyone enjoyed giving Mrs. Sam a hug and eating some delicious cake!

NEWS FLASH!!! Now open in the Exploratorium, a Sea Life Puppet Show starring many, many cool sea creatures.

Then, after the show you can go "under the sea" in the reading loft while enjoying books about those many interesting creatures that you saw in the puppet show!

Meanwhile, back in the classroom the boys and girls followed the line to cut out a jellyfish from the plexi-glass print they had made during Exploring.

 Next they used all of their strength to hole punch the bottom edge of their jellyfish.

After cutting and threading a piece of yarn through each hole, they tied each piece to form a knot.

Finally we had a jellyfish! The children's jellyfish are now swimming about in the classroom!

The children have been observing the different characteristics of sea creatures in our classroom lab.

In the art center, the boys and girls have been painting snails, sharks, fish and even some hermit crabs.

In PE this past week, the children really got a workout as they climbed the rock wall!

They also danced and sang "The Wheels on the Bus" with the WII and walked on an oval shaped balance beam.

We all enjoyed celebrating a very special birthday this past week!

What a treat to decorate our own cupcakes with beautiful sprinkles!! The next best thing was eating it. :)

The boys and girls have watched the transformation of chrysalis to butterfly all over the classroom. When the butterfly has had time for his wings to dry, we set him free in to the beautiful outdoor environment.

Upcoming Dates:

5/27   Memorial Day - School Closed
5/29  End of Year Party - 10:00- 11:30
5/31  Last Day of School

Pier Aquarium Trip, Mrs. McIvor Day and Sea Life

To begin our tour of the Pier Aquarium, the children viewed a large map of Florida. They couldn't believe how the ocean surrounds our state on three sides.

Then they learned about many of the creatures that live in those ocean waters. One of their favotites was the Chocolate Chip Sea Star.

They also observed other sea stars of many different varieties in the aquariums. One that was of special interest was the Brittle Sea Star, with it's long, spindly purple arms.

Next it was off to feed the pelicans!

Boy... were they hungry!

Then we headed off on a fun-filled trolley ride to find "Gus the bus."

A special birthday celebration kicked off with a big group hug, one of the friendly frogs favorite things.

Chrysalises have been forming everywhere; in bookshelves, under tables and even three on the milkweed plant.

The children then created a chrysalis for the caterpillar they had made, by winding yarn around a cardboard tube and then securing it with tape on each end.

Shortly after discovering a transparent chrysalis, the boys and girls located the new butterfly in our Exploratorium After watching him in amazement, we opened the window and set him free!

We all enjoyed celebrating Mrs. McIvor Day this past week.  First the teachers read a poem in her honor. Then they gave her the beautiful wind chime and book that the children had made for her. After watching a slide show of happy memories, we all enjoyed fun activities  that were favorites of Mrs. McIvor!

The children made a butterfly by first squeezing paint bottles of bio- color into the fold and on one side of their paper. Next they folded it together and tickled and smoothed the top of the paper, distributing the paint underneath. Then they carefully opened the paper to find a perfectly symmetrical butterfly!

Ms. Wiltshire's daughter, Sophie, taught the boys and girls how to decorate cupcakes with M&M's and cracker shapes to make a fish, for her 8th grade project. The M&M's were used for scales and the mouth, and the crackers represented fins.

A fun and challenging activity was creating designs with fish puzzles. Some were even symmetrical!

Another fun activity was counting, sorting and building with multi-colored fish.

The Friendly Frogs enjoyed celebrating a special birthday this week. We enjoyed the birthday boy's new baby brother, too!

Upcoming dates:

5/27 -  Memorial Day- School Closed

5/29 - End of Year Party

5/31 - Last Day of School