Metamorphosis!

Our caterpillars ate and ate, and grew and grew. Each day they were bigger when we measured them. We observed that they ate the food in the bottom of the cup, and we saw evidence of molting - they shed their skins when they grow and we found these on the bottom of the cup. 

 We learned some important words this week, including Metamorphosis, Egg, Chrysalis and Butterfly. We understand that Pupa is another word for the Chrysalis stage. We also know that an insect has 6 legs and 3 body parts. 

We read about caterpillars and metamorphosis and painted some caterpillars using a balloon!

We used ping pong balls to paint the wings on our beautiful Painted Lady butterflies! 

By the end of the week, our caterpillars had grown over one inch!!!

On Friday one of our caterpillars climbed to the top and hung in a J shape - this is the last step before forming a chrysalis. Maybe by Monday we will have 5 chrysalis' and we can move them into the large butterfly cage. 

We ended our week with some ladybug books and artwork! 

REMINDER: Next Thursday is our Field Trip to the WL Outdoor Center. Your child needs to bring a lunch and drink for the trip. They should wear close toed shoes and be dressed for indoor and outdoor activities. It would be helpful for your child to eat a good breakfast at home - we will not have a mid morning snack break that day. 

Our Mother's Day Tea

We had so much fun planning our Mother's Day Tea, practicing our poem and creating our gifts. It was a lovely event enjoyed by all of us! Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful Room 113 moms! 

Look what came today!!!

We are very excited...a special box came today!

Inside we discovered 5 tiny little caterpillars. We measured them and today they are 1/2 inch long. They have food on the bottom of their container. 

Oviparous Animals

We worked very hard on a book about oviparous animals this week. We completed pages about chickens, insects, arachnids, fish and reptiles!

We have been busy learning, practicing and reviewing our coping skills. We are trying to use them when we feel upset or frustrated. 
Here are two friends drawing out a coping skill (count and breathe)  at the Social Work Table...

And this classmate is showing what self - talk looks like. He is reminding himself what he needs to do at group time...

This is a great picture showing deep breathing...

At Center Time we work on using the equipment or toy the correct way. Here are some great examples of building during Center Time. 

Cleaning up quietly is an important part of Center Time too...

When Miss Marlowe came for music therapy we sang a great song about sunshine and wore sunglasses when we sang! 

Next week we will finish up our oviparous animal unit. We are expecting some insect eggs to arrive soon, and then we will begin learning about insect life cycles! We are finalizing our surprises for our Mother's Day Tea - we are looking forward to spoiling our moms on Friday, May 6 at 2:30! 

Rabbits and Oviparous Animals

We began and ended our week with rabbit books and activities. On Monday we read The Tale of Peter Rabbit. We learned that Beatrix Potter wrote this story as a letter to a little boy who was sick, and then it was turned into a book.  We used our "Say the Problem, Think of Solutions, Explore the Consequences, Pick a Solution" chart with Peter ... and we all agreed that he did not think about the consequences when he was naughty and went into the garden. We wrote in our journals, made some Peter Rabbits and even painted flowers using lettuce and celery. 

We started a new science unit about oviparous animals. We began learning about egg laying animals with some chicken and duck projects, but we know many other animals that lay eggs and are not birds. Ask your child to name some for you! Miss Marlowe helped us sing about oviparous animals on Wednesday...

In our social skills lessons we talked about different ways to play fairly with a friend. We learned about Sharing, Trading, and Taking Turns when two friends want to play with the same toys or equipment. 

On Thursday we splatter painted...we read a new book called Rabbityness and added rabbits to our splatter paint creations, just like in the book. 

We have sent home the field trip permission slips for our trip to the WL Outdoor Center on May 19. Due to the generosity of the WL Foundation for Excellence, the entire trip will be covered by their grant! Your child does need to return the permission slip and will need to bring a sack lunch and drink for the field trip. We will participate in science related activities with the Outdoor Center staff. 

I have also sent home the invitation to the Mother's Day Tea - Friday, May 6 at 2:30 in our classroom. Thank you for sending back the RSVP pages! 

Welcome Spring!

We returned from Spring Break ready to go! We finished up our zoo animal studies with a story about a flamingo and a tricky art activity...

We painted some springtime ducks to brighten our room and also had fun creating some puddle art!

 For the puddles, we blew paint with a straw...

We have continued to practice our coping skills, and have focused on using them BEFORE we become really upset. Many students are taking great pride when they use a coping skill and are able to move on with their day. We also had a discussion about problem solving - we talked about steps we could take when we need to solve a problem with our friends. 

You might wonder what we are doing in this photograph....

well, we can't tell you, but we'll give you a clue. We are doing something for our mothers  - you will find out at the Mother's Day Tea on Friday May 6 at 2:30 in our classroom. You are going to love it! 

And here are some pictures of awesome workers - notice that they are sitting up, focusing on their work and working neatly. 

On Thursday afternoon we went to the Leader of the Month assembly. The trait last month was for being a Loon Lake Learner and this month it is for resiliency. Here are the kindergarten award winners, including one from our room!

Welcome Spring!

We were very glad to have some spring weather for our Block Recess Tuesday afternoon. As the weather warms up, we will be able to take some quick, impromptu mini recess breaks. These are great rewards, and give us opportunities to move and socialize. Some of our physical education classes have been outdoors as well. Here's a picture of some of us at lunch...

We continued our zoo animal learning with monkeys, elephants and toucans this week. We also learned about koalas with Scholastic News, using our big screen. Many of our students recognized that koalas and kangaroos are both marsupials -they both have pouches for their joeys.

In our social skills lessons we made a chart to help us know what to do when we hear an adult say, "Stop". During our discussions, we began to understand that the word "stop" can be very helpful -it helps us change a behavior that can get us in to trouble. It is important that we stop our bodies and our mouths quickly so that we can get back to the green zone. The word "stop" does not mean debate, argue or ignore a direction.  Those behaviors get in the way of other positive things we want to do at school.

We are also planning our Mother's Day Tea for all of the moms in our lives. This will be held on Friday, May 6 at 2:30 in our classroom. Moms might want to arrive at about 2:20. The children are very excited about this special party. If you are unable to come, please feel free to send a dad, a grandma or an aunt. In addition to being a treat for our moms, it is also an opportunity for us to plan and practice how to behave during a special event. We are practicing a special poem for our moms - we work on it every day...

I hope you all have a wonderful spring break, and some nice weather too! I am going to get to visit my youngest son in Tucson for a few days. It doesn't seem possible that we are already in our last marking period of the school year -the year has flown by! This marking period holds many special events - a field trip to the Outdoor Center, our Mother's Day Tea, field day, our insect life cycle unit. It is also a period of transition for students -moving up to Miss Ross' classroom, spring break and then summer vacation, weather changes and schedule changes. These can be challenging -please know we understand and plan for that. We have already out some extra supports in place to help your children feel calm, confident and successful. Your continued support, help and efforts are greatly appreciated by us!