Good-bye for the summer!

We had a fun week in Room 113! On Monday, we had a camping theme day. We made dream catchers, sat around a campfire and prepared a S'mores snack to eat.

On Tuesday we became pirates! We think we look pretty cool in our pirate bandannas and eye patches! We had a lot of fun "walking the plank" and using a hook to pick up jewels.

Wednesday is our last half day of school. Dismissal is at 12:17. I will send home a paper copy of your child's report card in their folder, along with quarterly reports.  I want to wish all of you a wonderful, fun filled summer! It has been such a busy year for our class, and all of the children have grown and made progress. I have truly enjoyed being your child's teacher this year - I have appreciated your trust and support very much!

Ladybugs and Field Day Fun!

On Thursday we noticed that our ladybugs were all out of their pupas - we decided it was a good day to let them go. Good-bye ladybugs!

We had a lot of fun on Field Day. Here are some of the things we did outside...

Inside we did some fun things too...we made sculptures with toothpicks and marshmallows.

Goodbye butterflies...

We took advantage of the beautiful afternoon and set our butterflies free on the playground!

Butterflies!

Towards the end of the day on Friday we watched our first butterfly come out of her chrysalis! It was very exciting! We saw her curl and uncurl her proboscis, and sure enough, it was forked! We had learned that a butterfly must curl and uncurl her forked tongue in order to weave it into the tongue she will use to sip nectar. On Monday morning we were excited to find 3 butterflies flying in their cage! We put sliced oranges and watermelon in for them to "sip".

We also have noticed that our ladybug larva are much larger. We have seen them eat and we can see that they have molted. We expect to see the pupa stage soon!

A new favorite activity in our room has been to work on group puzzle builds -we had a blast last Friday morning working with our friends!

FIELD DAY is scheduled for Friday May 30. We will be in and out throughout the day -usually we do a few events outside, and then we come in and cool down and do a fun indoor activity before heading back outside. You may want to put sunscreen on your child before sending him to school. Children should wear comfortable shorts/T-shirts/running shoes for the playground. (No special color is necessary since we are a multi-age class.)

Bug update!

Our chrysalids are inside our big netted cage, and we are waiting for them to open up so we can meet our butterflies! We will take pictures as soon as the butterflies emerge.
We also have some ladybug larva - we know that these larva will also change into pupa before they become ladybugs.

The larva are very small and don't look like ladybugs at all!

We are reading from "Charlotte's Web" every day and stretching our imaginations and our attention spans. We also are reading many books about insects - some are fictional stories, and many are science based not-fiction books. You might consider taking your child to the library this summer - there are many books there that they would enjoy checking out. I am amazed at how much information our students get from the books we read out loud. 

This is a very busy time of the year and it is often challenging for our students. They may be tired from playing outside (which is a good thing!), some may be irritated by the warmer weather, and some may be just plain ready for summer to begin! We try to keep our schedule fluid and flexible this time of year. We have gone outside to play for quick little 10 minutes breaks on sunny mornings, which has been helpful for many of the children. As parents and teachers, we need to remember that this time of year is a period of transition for our students, and it is sometimes accompanied by a regression in behavior or school work. This is usually temporary, and it is not unusual at all. We need to continue to work together, make sure the kids get a good breakfast and dinner and plenty of sleep, and keep in mind all of the progress your children have made this year. 

Metamorphosis...

After watching our caterpillars eat, grow and molt, we saw them climb to the top of their container. First they hung in the shape of a J, then they molted one last time. Our caterpillars are now Chrysalids! We moved them into a larger habitat so that they will have more room...now we are waiting for them to become butterflies!

We welcomed a new student to our classroom -we are happy he is here with us!
We had a team puzzle build today - it was so much fun! Groups of children had to work together to assemble puzzles - great cooperation and friendly turn taking!

We have been reading a chapter book, "Charlotte's Web" and enjoying it very much. We learn how to really stretch our attention spans and use our imaginations to create pictures in our heads when we listen to a book like this. This book also helps us expand our vocabulary and understand the different character traits of Wilber, Templeton, Charlotte, Fern, Avery and all the others. 
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of our moms, grandmas and caretakers! Enjoy your special day!

Our Caterpillars Arrived!

We began our insect life cycle unit last week by learning how to identify an insect. We sing a song to help us remember that insects have three body parts -a head, thorax, and abdomen. They have compound eyes, six legs and antennae too....and many insects have wings. Ask your child to sing it to you!
Your child will also tell you that insects are oviparous, and they go through a metamorphosis -they change from an egg to a caterpillar or larva, to a chrysalis or pupa and finally into a butterfly or adult insect. Miss Marlowe, our music therapist, taught us song about the insect life cycle that helps us remember that metamorphosis means to transform and change. There are a lot of science words that your child knows!
On Monday  we received a box...

Inside the box we found this...

We have 5 baby caterpillars! They are crawling and eating the green food on the bottom of their jar. We measured them and they were 1/2 inch long, but we think they will grow!
We learned that butterflies have a special  tube-like tongue called a proboscis. They uncurl their tongue to sip nectar from flowers. We hope to see our own butterflies do this when they emerge from the chrysalis stage. In the meantime, we became butterflies ourselves! We squeezed juice out of oranges (great fine motor activity!) and used fun straws to sip our nectar up!

While we continue observing our caterpillars, we will also be learning about other insects, such as lady bugs, bumblebees and fireflies.