Happy 2013!  It was wonderful to be back at school with all of our friends after two weeks of vacation.

 

We decided to bring some of the outside in on Wednesday morning, and filled the sensory table up with snow.  Everyone could not wait to get in there and play with it. It did not take long before all of the children decided that snow is still cold inside, and mittens are a must!  We made some predictions about how long it would take for it to melt in our classroom.  We observed that by the end of the day most of it had melted, and some of it had been packed into ice.

 

At the art table the children found long pieces of foam core to work with.  They decided that airplanes would be a good thing to create, so many children spent time gluing and taping and decorating large airplanes.  We cut some pieces into squares, and some children built boxes and houses.  They had to figure out how many pieces they would need, and how they would go together to make a stable structure.

 

There was a basket of nuts at the science table.  The children sorted them by type into bowls.  They became very interested in cracking them open to see what was inside.  During circle we learned to identify walnuts, brazil nuts, pecans, almonds, and hazelnuts/filberts.  We examined the outside shell, then took turns cracking them open to see the seeds inside.  We talked about how these nuts all grow on trees.  We discussed what happens with the nuts, and some children shared that some of them are eaten by animals or people, while some fall to the ground to grow new trees. On Thursday afternoon a group of students cracked open nuts and examined them with magnifying glasses.

 

One of our friends left on a trip to Mexico, so we talked about how he would get there.  We read The Penguin That Hated the Cold and compared how that penguin got to his warm destination with how our friend would get to his.   We also talked about all of the great things that we can do in the snow here at home when it is cold, such as sledding, ice skating, skiing, making snow angels and snow men, and drinking hot chocolate.

 

Some other stories we read this week were A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon and Sheep on a Ship by Nancy Shaw.

 

We celebrated a 6^th birthday this week.  We now have two six year-olds in our class.  Happy Birthday, friend!

 

During Spanish, we began to learn about casas (houses) and parts of the casa, such as la puerta (door), la ventana (window), la techo (roof), and la chimenea (chimney).  We learned a new name song and a song about La Casa.  We read Oso En Casa (Bear at Home). On Thursday, instead of going outside where it was soooooo cold, we stayed in made cozy warm casa’s with Zeanny.

 

Friday students chose to make balloon jets for science.  They recorded all of the materials in their science notebooks then got down to business.  We tied two strings with straws on them to the shelves, running from one shelf over the rug to another shelf.  We then inflated the balloons and taped them to the straws, while holding the opening closed so the air could not escape.  When the end was released, they went zooming across the string!  Later in the day they spent some time choosing science experiments for the next few months.

 

Next week we will begin to talk about doctors and what they do.  At the art table we will learn how to fold and cut snowflakes.

On Saturday, January 12^th at 1PM, Sunnybrookers will be gathering at Cook’s Hill on Governer’s Terrace in Lancaster to enjoy some sledding and fun together.  We hope you can join us!