The children enjoyed another industrious winter week.

The winner of the Iditarod crossed the finish line on Tuesday, and Lance Mackey, who we were following, finished in 19th place on Wednesday.

We began learning about New Hampshire Wildlife.  We talked about how animals stay warm in the winter without clothes.  All of the children recognized that most animals have nice warm fur, but there are some animals, like seals and whales, that have fat under their skin to keep them warm.  We took turns holding ice in our bare hands, then with a wool mitten, and again with a “blubber mitten.”   The afternoon students spent some time exploring the fur from a bear, raccoon, coyote, fisher cat, and bobcat.

At the art table we used small and large stamps to make animal tracks across our snow white paper.

Our star of the week celebrated her fifth birthday on Tuesday.  During circle we enjoyed learning about her family, that her favorite animals are unicorns and butterflies, and her daddy helped her make her book about herself.  Happy 5^th birthday!

On Wednesday afternoon some of the students made banana bread by mashing up bananas and combining them with flour, oil, eggs, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  They did an excellent job measuring, pouring, and mixing. We enjoyed eating it with our lunch on Thursday.

When the children arrived at school on Thursday morning, they were surprised to see little green footprints all over the room.  They followed them from the front door, past the easels and snack table, by the piano, through the shelves, and into the fireplace.  They searched and searched for the leprechaun’s gold, and finally found it in the washcloth basket.  They distributed it evenly so that everyone got some.

The Cat in the Hat came later in the morning, in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.  We listened to the story, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut, then we each got to pick a book to take home.  Everyone was so excited about their new books that we spent some time reading them before heading outside.

On Thursday evening many students returned to school for Teddy Bear Story Time.  They dressed in cozy pj’s, brought their blankets and stuffies, ate popcorn and grapes, and listened to some bedtime stories.  One of our friends read Quack Quack Come Back, then we listened to This Little Chick, Goodnight Moon, Time for Bed, and Sleep Like a Tiger. It was fun to be at school with many of our friends and parents at night!

During Spanish we continued to practice and learn the Spanish names of various animals.  Zeanny played a game where she called out an animal name and everyone pretended to be that animal.   We also played  the gigante game, where we stand way up tall to be giants, and shrink way down small.

Friday students learned about icebergs and water displacement.  They measured water in a container, then added ice and saw how much the water rose.  They watched it throughout the day to see if the water level rose, stayed the same, or went down as the ice melted.  They observed that the ice floated, but that very little of it was visible above the water.

Gerrie Scott read Goodnight Moon to us.  We also read Click, Clack, Moo, Cows That Type and some of the children wrote letters to Farmer Brown.

For a special project the children painted a beautiful sign for our playground fence.

Next week we will celebrate our third birthday this month.  Thursday is Down Syndrome day, and Sue will be talking to us about Down Syndrome.

Monday night, March 18, from 6-7 PM we will present the second of three Montessori Workshops.  We will be demonstrating and talking about the Sensorial and Math Areas of the classroom.  We hope you can join us!  If you need childcare, please contact me to reserve a spot.