It was a bittersweet week, saying goodbye and anticipating summer break.  We were lucky to have beautiful weather so we could spend a lot of time outside playing soccer, chasing friends, playing toss, digging in the sand box and garden, hunting caterpillars, riding bikes, and playing basketball. All day students enjoyed daily picnics outside under the apple tree, chatting and enjoying the warm weather and spring breezes while enjoying our lunches.
Monday students had a special visitor in the morning. The infamous Spikey the guinea pig, who has been featured in many stories and works of art, made an appearance. The children enjoyed patting her and taking turns carefully holding her before she returned to her crate and heading back home.
For art the children used rulers to draw lines across foam core boards with pastels, then filled in the spaces with watercolor paints to make colorful geometric designs.
They then took turns dropping food coloring in vinegar, then pouring it over baking soda and dish soap to make a color changing foaming volcano.  It was so much fun to watch!
On Tuesday we celebrated our final fifth birthday.  We all counted as the birthday boy walked the globe around the candle sun, listing the seasons as he orbited around.  After singing “Happy Birthday” and blowing out his candle, he was excited to share gingerbread children to decorate with colored frosting and sprinkles.  Happy birthday to the soon to be five-year old!
We were anxious to get outside after the birthday celebration so we could do some fun outdoor activities.  Susan brought some weighted Styrofoam penguin eggs that she made and the children tried very hard to walk the eggs around on their feet and transfer them from one set of feet to another, just as the emperor penguins do.  We discovered how tricky it was to hold the eggs up on our toes and shuffle around without dropping them.  We discovered how very challenging it is!
The Monday children loved their foaming volcano so much that they requested we do it again with everyone, so the children who were interested each took a turn dumping the vinegar in the jar and watching the colored foam bubble up.
We brought out the water table to enjoy in the nice hot weather, which accidentally and then purposely turned into a water soaking each other game, so there were lots of wet little bodies by the end of recess.
On our final day, the children got busy putting away, cleaning, breaking down, packing up, scrubbing, sorting, and washing all around the classroom.  We read some fun stories and gave goodbye hugs, then went outside to run and play for the last time for the year with our friends.
The end of year performance, graduation, and pot luck was a huge success.  The children did an amazing job keeping their singing volume up through all 15 songs, and the Friday students shared their favorite facts about their continents.  Thank you so much to all the families for your support and trust.  We are so grateful to have had the wonderful opportunity to know you all and spend our days with your children.  We will miss our friends that are moving on, but wish you all the best!  Have a wonderful summer.  We will see many of you in the fall, and hope for visits from those heading to first grade and kindergarten.