Insects, Spring and Teacher Appreciation Day!

 The children have jumped in to their exploration of insects! "On Beyond Bugs," by Tish Rabe was a fascinating book that we read this week. In this book, they were not only introduced to many different insects, but learned interesting facts such as how they protect themselves and what they eat.

One of our parents told the children a story about what happened when they tried to shoo the many ladybugs out of their windows when they were living in New York City. To protect themselves the ladybugs gave off a quite a smell!

A new favorite during Circle Time is the handshake greeting. The frog of the day takes "Freddie", the classroom frog to a friend. Then they stand and shake hands, as they say good morning to each other. Then the person greeted chooses another friend to greet.

After discovering an insect by the door of the Exploratorium, the children examined it with magnifying glasses. Was this really an insect? Did it have six legs, antennae, head, thorax and abdomen? They inspected it closely to make sure!

On Tuesday the little frogs hopped into the classroom with beautiful flowers, huge smiles and lots of love for their teachers!

And they just kept coming, until the vases could hold no more! :)-

Mrs. Mundell and Ms. Wiltshire could not have felt more appreciated with the precious posters of the children's little faces among the lilly pads, the cards  and flowers. We thoroughly enjoyed the yummy lunches and Starbucks, too! Thank you for everything!!

There were even some gorgeous flowers painted at the easel, as well!

"How did you paint that monster truck?"
"Well, let me tell you! First I..."

In the library last week Mrs. Smay read a book about inspiration. Speaking of inspiration, after one child made a flag in the art center, two others were inspired to create flags of their own.

A little more inspiration was going on as the children built castles with foam magnet blocks.

Still others were inspired as they watched friends add design to scraper paintings at the easel.

After using markers to color tongue depressors for a caterpillar's body, the boys and girls twisted a chenille stem around it to make antennae. Then they glued on pom poms and eyes.

Then they had a caterpillar, the second stage of the life cycle of a butterfly!

In Exploring on Friday the children made a butterfly snack. First they spreaded pink or blue cream cheese on the two triangular pieces of bread for the wings.

Then they added pretzel sticks for antennae, a carrot for the abdomen and jellybeans to make a symmetrical design on the wings.

Observing the parts of a flowering plant was very interesting.

The children pretended to be Eric Carle using rollers, scrapers, bubble wands and combs to create their own designs in cool colors...

and in warm colors!

In the music room with Mrs. McIvor, the children experimented with a new string instrument, the zither.

They also danced to the music with ribbon sticks in many bright Spring colors.

After learning about how the abstract artist, Jackson Pollock, made his drip and splatter paintings....

the boys and girls tried it themselves with lots of enthusiasm!!


Upcoming dates to remember:

4/19  Celebrate the Arts Program and Picnic -11:00
4/22 School Closed/ Hurricane Make - up Day
4/26 Parent Day begins at 8:30 in the Student Activity Center
4/29 Pier Aquarium Field Trip  - leave school at 9:30 return at 11:30

Eric Carle, Insects, Dentist and Relay For Life

The children began exploring the world of insects this week. They compared and contrasted their different characteristics and had fun identifying them by name.

The boys and girls have been enjoying books by author, Eric Carle this week. "The Grouchy Ladybug" was definitely one of their favorites.

After reading "The Very Busy Spider," the children learned that a spider was different because it had  eight legs instead of six, like insects have. With pattern blocks they made spiders, flowers and  even frogs!

 At the easel, you can tell that spring is in the air! Remembering the shapes they used to make their flower snack during last week's exploring, they painted beautiful flowers in bright colors.

Not only have the children been drawn to the vivid illustrations in Eric Carle's books, but they have enjoyed the interesting detail found in their end pages. They love guessing which tools he might have used to create them. So, we made some Eric Carle paper ourselves mixing yellow and green paint with combs and scrapers.

After learning about the life cycle of a butterfly, the children cut traced leaves from the paper they had made. Next they squeezed tissue paper in to a ball and glued it to the leaf, to represent the butterfly's egg.

On Tuesday we visited the dentist's office. Dr Levitt taught the children how to properly brush and floss their teeth. He also told them about the many fun things that they would do when having their teeth cleaned.

Before leaving the children saw the tooth fairy in the mirror who thanked them for coming and for taking such good care of their teeth! They also learned that Dr Levitt is the grandfather of one our Alpha friends at Shorecrest!

After Mrs. Gootson read, "The Tiny Seed, " by Eric Carle, the children had fun doing movement exercises as they carefully followed her oral directions.

On Friday we were off to the Relay For Life kick off in the gym.

Here we gathered with the entire community of Shorecrest students and faculty to listen as Mr. Murphy and others spoke to us about this important fundraising event.

Then each senior student came and took the hand of an Alpha student to head towards the track.

How very special to watch as those tiny little hands joined with the largest, walked the first lap around the track to kick off the Relay for Life!

Upcoming Dates:
4/12 Almost Sleepover  -  6:00-9:00
4/19 Celebrate the Arts Program and Picnic  - 11:00
4/26 Parents Day - begins at 8:30 in the Student Activity Center
4/29 Pier Field Trip -  9:30

Dance, Mythological Zoo and a New Shade of Green

 The Alpha students enjoyed learning basic dance steps, moving their bodies to the music and following the direction of dance teacher, "Miss Anna." This special guest  is the aunt of a student in Alpha.

The children were all smiles every step of the way, trying to keep up with even the most challenging moves.

We celebrated a special birthday this week, and the birthday boy couldn't have been happier having Mom and Dad right there with him to share it with his friends!

 Keeping your balance and carefully walking under the limbo stick as it inched closer and closer to the ground was quite a challenge in Music class this week. Mrs McIvor knew those little frogs could do it though!

Ms. Wiltshire showed the children how to play the flute. What a treat!

We took a trip to the Mythological Zoo on display in the library this week. The students in Mrs. Cobb's 6th grade English class told the students what they had learned about these interesting creatures and how they had constructed them.

We have been talking about our new season of spring with the budding flowers, new green leaves on the trees and how the bright yellow sun helps them to grow. Before mixing the colors of yellow and green, the children predicted the colors they thought they might create.

 Then they did some experimenting, making many new shades of bright green.

The boys and girls cut their handprints made from these beautiful colors of green to make new Spring leaves for the classroom tree.

Which wooden rectangle is smaller, and which one is larger?

After ordering the different rectangles by size the children layered them from largest to smallest. They were so pleased that they had made a triangle.

These friendly frogs are quite thoughtful and kind. They always jump right in when a friend needs help.

In Exploring on Friday the children enjoyed decorating the Dr. Seuss hats that they had made with letters, flowers and insects.

AND ..... "Do you like my hat???"
" Yes, I like your hat."

Spreading a graham cracker with sky blue cream cheese and then using gumdrops, jelly beans or M&M's to make a flower with a marshmallow center was quite a treat.

Then to make the stem and petals, they had to SQUEEZE really hard to make the lines and ovals with green icing.

                                                      It was almost too pretty to eat!

A new art adventure was drawing on a piece of paper underneath the table.

 The boys and girls used colored chalk on black paper to draw flower, sunshine and insects .

Some Books Read This Week:

"Skunkdog" by Emily Jenkins
"Color Dance" by Ann Jonas
"Seasons" by Robin Nelson
"The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" by Dr. Seuss
"Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss

Dates to Remember:
4/2 Field Trip to Dentist
4/5 Relay For Life - 3:00 P. M. start with food, raffles and games / 6:00 P. M. Opening Ceremony
4/12 Almost Sleepover  -  6:00-9:00 P. M. ($50.00 donation) 5 spots left
4/19 Celebrate the Arts Program and Picnic  - 11:00
4/26 Parents Day  - 8:30 in Student Activity Center followed by refreshments and presentation of special gifts to parents in the classroom until 9:30. This will be followed by a short visit to the playground and a mini exploring from 10:15-11:30.