The students have been loving literacy lately!  Many of them would sit and listen to stories all day, and they have had many adults willing to read to them.  We have also had several students share their own writing during circle time.  They enjoy listening to words stretched out and broken up then putting them back together to figure out what they are, and matching items that have the same beginning sounds.  It is exciting to see so much interest in language!

 

At the art table this week the students made some beautiful watercolor artwork.  We covered some with scrunched up saran wrap to make a special stained glass effect, but discovered that we needed to use much more water for it to work well.

Our star of the week shared his book that his big sister helped him make.  We learned that he has one big sister and one big brother, he loves sharks, and he once kissed a dolphin!  He brought a great book about sharks and sea creatures in to share, and it was well read by the end of the week.

We continued to learn about doctors and how our bodies work and stay healthy.  We used the many medical instruments at the science table to examine patients.  We were looking forward to a visit from Dr. Ford, but learned how truly dedicated doctors are when he was unable to come due to a patient emergency.

On Tuesday when we went outside we examined a Northern Pike, a Chain Pickerel, and a Yellow Perch.  The children looked at the different fins for swimming, the gills for breathing, the teeth that point backward to grab things, and the patterns on the scales.  Some asked to put on gloves and touch them.  They checked out all of the different parts quite thoroughly.

On Wednesday when the afternoon students came in for lunch they enjoyed some hot chocolate with marshmallows sent in by Grammy Dian.  It sure helped to warm everyone up!

In the afternoons the children have been very engaged with music and movement.  They regularly take out the instruments and scarves to play and dance with.  We checked out the inside of the piano to see how it makes sound and discovered little cloth covered hammers that bang on the strings, which vibrate to make the sound.  We tried an experiment with the tuning fork to see vibrations.  After striking the tuning fork we placed it in a glass of water.  The vibrations splashed the water right out of the glass!

During Spanish we continued to learn about Casa’s.  The children looked at the casa’s they made two weeks ago and counted the ventanas (windows) and told us the colors of the puertas (doors) and techos (roofs).

Friday students were feeling pretty mellow and once again decided to save science for the afternoon.  The story More Parts by Tedd Arnold was chosen for Gerrie Scott to read.  She also led us in “The Apple Tree Song” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”  We decided that it was too cold for outside, so the children spent an indoor recess playing with Toobers and Zots.  During Science we poured water into two glasses then mixed in baking soda until it was fully saturated.  We attached paperclips to the ends of a piece of yarn, and placed an end in each glass.  We will observe what happens over the next couple of weeks.  Hopefully we will have stalactites and stalagmites soon!

Next week we are hoping that Dr. Ford’s patients will stay safe and healthy and he is able to come speak to us.  We will also be having a visit from Tigger with Believe in Books on Thursday morning at 10:40. We welcome siblings and family members to join us!