It was prehistoric this week! We turned our classroom into the land before time with dinosaurs aplenty! We had large dinosaurs in our block areas with which we created dynamic scenes and stories. We also had miniature dinosaurs in our sand tables so that we could pretend to be archaeologists discovering different breeds as we dug. Our bookshelves were stocked with many exciting books illustrating and describing dinosaurs. Some of our books were humorous fictitious stories about dinosaurs and humans co-existing.

In science we explored the differences between meat-eaters and plant-eaters. We learned that plant-eaters all had short, flat teeth,  and that many stood on all four legs. We learned that meat-eaters had sharp jagged teeth and only stood on two legs.

We combined our science and math disciplines during an activity in which we compared the lengths (from nose to tail) of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Stegosaurus. We took both classes outdoors where Ms. Donza had two pieces of yarn already pre-measured to the actual lengths of each dinosaur. She laid the yarn out on the field and then had us lie down head to toe until we reached the end of the string. We discovered that the Stegosaurus was 5 1/2 PreK-4 children long, while the Tyrannosaurus Rex was the length of 14 PreK-4 children. Not only was it very interesting for us to compare the lengths of these dinosaurs, but it was also really cool to see for ourselves just how big these creatures were!

In math we worked on creating math sentences (or math stories). We each took turns using our insect counters to create simple word problems for our friends to solve. We took turns working on addition (adding things together) and subtraction (taking things away). For example, “One day two dragon flies decided to have a party. They invited five other insects. How many insects were at the party all together?” or “Seven insects were sitting on a flower, then three flew away. How many insects were left on the flower?”

We look forward to a great week celebrating our plantet Earth!

We had a great first week back from break. Everyone seemed to have had wonderful vacations whether at home, traveling or visiting family and friends. We were all thrilled to be back together as a group!

On Monday we introduced our new theme: Spring! We discussed the changes that we would start noticing in the weather and in nature. In science class we took these predictions a step further and created our own “What Happens In Spring?” books. As a group, we listed nine different changes in spring, then each of us chose one of those changes to illustrate in our book. We will be taking our books home to share with our families in the coming days.

In math class we worked on classifying and sorting insects and arachnids. We discussed the various attributes of insects and arachnids including how many legs they have, whether they have wings and or antennae. Then we practiced sorting the creatures by a single attribute. This was a bit tricky at first as we are accustomed to sorting by more obvious attributes such as color, size, or shape. Once we became proficient at sorting by a single attribute, we then worked on sorting the creatures by two attributes, such as creatures that have six legs and wings. By the end of the week we were all able to sort by two attributes and we even went as far as sorting by three!!!

On Thursday we had a special visit from Kate’s family. Over spring break they visited Vermont where they got to tour a maple syrup farm. They saw first hand how the trees are tapped and how the syrup is made. They taught us a very funny fact that when you taste syrup in Vermont you taste it on top of snow and then eat a pickle to cleanse your palate afterwards. Since we did not have any snow, Kate’s parents brought us the next best thing - vanilla ice cream!!! It was deeeeeeelicious!!! They also did a wonderful cheese taste test, as Vermont is also famous for it’s cheese. We got to try an herbed sage cheese, a smokey cheese, and a a sharp cheese. Even though we didn’t all love every cheese, we were proud of ourselves for being risk-takers. Thank you to Kate’s family for visiting us and sharing such yummy goodies and information with us!

We look forward to exploring the world of dinosaurs next week. If you have any dinosaur books or toys please feel free to bring them in to share!

We have been immersed in the zany world of one Theodore Seuss Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) for the last 8 days of school and we have loved every minute of it!!! During our study of Dr. Seuss we focused on learning how to identify and create rhymes. (more…)

Our unit of study this week was music!!! We kicked off this unit on Monday with a visit from our favorite music teacher Mrs. Stremecki! She read us a very silly story called The Music Teacher From the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler. This story taught us a lot of music terminology through the imagination of a little boy anticipating what his music teacher would be like.

On Tuesday we were 100th Day all day long!!! (Please see the bulletin board for more about our 100th Day.)

On Wednesday each class did a combined science and math lesson. We each made our own musical shakers out of beans and empty plastic water bottles. First we discussed different sound dynamics, loud and quiet. Then we listened to our teacher play two different shakers. We used our listening skills to discern which shaker had more beans inside and which had fewer. Then we listened even more carefully to hear for a difference in the size of the beans and how that affected the sound. We discovered that the smaller sized beans made a higher pitch, while the larger beans made a lower pitch. We then discussed how sound is made by two things vibrating or moving together.

Finally it was our turn to make our own shakers. We each chose if we wanted a high pitched shaker or a low pitch shaker and chose the corresponding beans (lentil = high, black beans = low). Then we decided if we wanted a loud or a quiet shaker. For those of us who wanted a loud shaker we chose to put in more than 50 beans. For those of us who wanted a quiet shaker, we limited our beans to 50. Before putting our beans into the water bottle we counted out groups of 10 beans. When we counted out the appropriate number for our shaker, we then placed them inside the bottle, screwed on the cap, and voila, we had our own instrument ready to play!!! And play we did!!!

Our final math activity for the week was a game called “Spill The Beans”. The object of this game was to discover all of the different combinations of numbers that add up to 10. Each of us was given a cup of 10 lima beans that had been painted black on one side. We were also given a recording sheet with a grid of 10 boxes. Each box had 10 lima beans drawn inside. On each turn we spilled our beans out. Then we counted how many of them came up black and how many came up white. Then we colored in the corresponding number of black lima beans in the box to illustrate the equation of how many white beans plus how many black beans equaled 10 beans all together. This game was a lot of fun. We were very excited to discover all the different ways we can add up to 10.

Continuing with our study of music, sound and vibrations we made “humming flutes”. We each decorated a toilet paper roll with markers. Then we put a piece of wax paper on the top and fastened it with a rubber band. We poked a few holes in the wax paper to allow for vibrations. To make these flutes work, we simply hummed on the open end of the tube and that created a neat sound effect on our voices.

All of our talk about music, rhythm and beat is a great segway for our next unit of study; Dr. Seuss!!! Please feel free to send in any favorite Suess books next week (please write your name inside the book as we may get multiple copies of the same book).

This week was the culmination of our Community Helpers unit. We put the finishing touches on our cardboard box buildings and added details like windows and doors, and in some cases letters to help others identify the buildings. Finally with the help of our teachers we assembled the buildings on brown poster board to form our communities. It was a lot of fun to use our imaginations and some toy cars to explore our newly formed communities in the block area.

In conjunction with our community helpers unit we learned about fingerprints in science. We talked about how each fingerprint is unique and no two are the same and that having somebody’s fingerprint is as good as having their name. We learned that everybody has a different fingerprint made up of a loop, whorl, or an arch. We discovered that police officers use these elements of fingerprints to figure out who the bad guys are at a crime scene. Each one of us put our finger in ink and then placed it on a piece of paper to leave our finger print. Then we looked at them to decide which of the three elements our fingerprints had; a loop, a whorl or an arch. Finally we copied the corresponding label onto our paper.

We also did an experiment related to dentistry. We discussed different ways to keep our teeth healthy including visiting the dentist, brushing our teeth, and eating healthy foods. Ms. Donza told us that she had four hard boiled eggs which represented teeth and that each egg had been soaking in one of the following liquids: juice, milk, water, or soda. Before looking at the eggs, we made predictions about what we thought the effect of each of those liquids would be on each egg. We predicted that nothing would happen in the juice, milk or water, but that the soda would damage the egg. Next we looked at the eggs and learned that we were right about the water, milk and soda. We were surprised to learn that the juice also did damage to the egg. Finally we brushed our “teeth” with toothpaste and saw that by brushing, the damage could be undone. Note- the eggs were only soaked for a few hours! We concluded that brushing our teeth and visiting the dentist regularly can keep our teeth healthy! We realized that brushing is especially important after having sugary treats like soda and juice.

In math we sharpened our skip counting skills in preparation for our 100th Day celebration. We first used our multi-link cubes to make groups of ten. We then tried to figure out how many groups of ten it would take to make 100 cubes. We figured out quite quickly that it takes 10 groups of 10 to make 100!

The next activity we worked on was one that required team work and good listening skills. First we went around the circle and counted by 10’s, each person only saying one number. We continued this game each time starting with a new friend. We were very excited to see that each turn would be different. Finally, when we mastered this aspect of the game, we added a bean bag. Then each time we said our number we had to pass the bean bag. When we made it to 100 we got to do a dance of joy! It took a lot of focus and discipline for us to go around the circle, but we finally got it!!! We are all expert skip counters now!

On Monday we began to decorate and create our Valentines to be sent to our families. We each started out with a choice of different colored paper folded in half to be a card. Then we added doilies and heart shaped stickers. Some of us chose to cut the doilies up and make a collage while some of us kept them in tact. When finished decorating we each took turns working with the teacher to write our message. Using pre-printed sentence strips we copied the print to write our feelings of love for our families. The next day we decorated our Valentine mailbags by using heart shaped sponges and Valentine themed paint. It was fun to see the shapes transfer onto the bag!!!

On Wednesday we went on our trip to the Southport Post Office!!! We had such a great time touring the building and learning about the postal worker’s jobs. It was funny to learn that they sort things too just like we do in math class!!! It was especially exciting to put the stamps on our envelopes and finally get to mail our beautiful Valentines to our families. We hope you enjoyed receiving them as much as we enjoyed making them!

Our fun didn’t stop there…

First thing on Thursday morning we all got to pretend we were the mail carriers and deliver our Valentines to our friends. It was like a game trying to match our friend’s names on the cards to the names on the bag.

Later on that day, Daniel’s mom came to visit us because she is a community helper! She is a doctor who takes care of women and mommies. She let us explore a stethescope and a blood pressure cuff. It was so amazing to hear each other’s heart beats. She also brought in a beautiful and colorful book all about our bodies which was very interesting to explore. Thanks for visiting us Mrs. Vash!

Thursday afternoon we capped off this very busy and fun week with our Valentine’s Day parties. Each class enjoyed delicious treats and healthy snacks. When we were done munching we all sat down on the carpet with our legs in a “V” formation (for Valentine’s day of course!) and opened up our mailbags.

What a week… : )