We spent a LOT of time outside this week enjoying the summer warm temperatures.  There were lots of insects in various stages of development, arachnids, worms, amphibians, birds, etc. to discover and examine this week.  The children collected caterpillars, ladybug larva, worms, and toads to examine.  The balls, badminton, and ball toss games were brought out, and the children were busy tossing, catching, kicking, throwing, and scooping balls.  A new bike was a popular toy for riding and pushing.  Sleds lined the fence to create shelters from the sun.  Digging in the sand and filling trucks for transport kept children occupied in the sand box.  Children began prepping the garden for planting by digging up the soil to make it loose.At the art table the children finished up their self-portraits.  Some artists really studied themselves and thoughtfully considered how to draw themselves.We continued rehearsals for our performance.  We even did a complete run through outside.  It is hard to remember to sing so the audience will hear, but we are confident the children will be prepared and will perform well when the day arrives.Zeanny came for a final Spanish group, and we played loteria, a Mexican BINGO game.  This time there were prizes for the first to get all four corners, four in a row vertically, four in a row horizontally, an X, and then for everyone who filled their whole board (so everyone got at least one prize).  The children had so much fun, and everyone was a good sport when they didn’t win a game.We celebrated two birthdays on Thursday.  For the fourth birthday, the birthday girl passed out beautiful pink ballerina cupcakes.  She smiled her way around the sun with the globe as we counted her birthdays and listed the seasons before blowing out the candle.  The soon to be six-year old shared tasty white chocolate, pretzel, junior mint, & marshmallow snack treats that were too yummy to stop eating!  She graciously waited her turn, then walked the globe around the candle sun while we all counted her six years since birth.  Happy birthday, birthday girls!!The children were busy finishing up projects that they had started, and some children selected some Montessori activities that they were interested in checking out before the end of the year.Over the past couple of weeks we have been eating outside as much as possible.For Friday science we did some colored light mixing to create new colors.  Each student chose a red, blue, or yellow flashlight.  We took our lights to the back hallway where it was dark, and the children divided into groups with 1 red, 1 blue, and 1 yellow light.  They then shone the lights together on the wall to create new colors.  They discovered that when all three lights were shining in the same spot, it made while light, and when all the lights were off, it was black.  Unlike pigments, white light is all colors of light combined, while black is the absence of light.  When we got back to the classroom they requested a disco dance party, so we turned on some Disco music and the kids had fun dancing and jumping around with their lights.