The sunshine took turns with the clouds and rain again, but those glorious warm sunny days were put to good use, spending lots of time outdoors, including snack and lunch some days! We played chase, rode bikes, hopped on balls, dug in the sandbox, searched for worms and insects, played restaurant, and played pass. One of the favorite activities is exploring the environment to see what living things we can find and examine.









Monday students took their art project outside before heading to the library for their final visit of the year. They combined shaving cream, glue, and liquid water color to create a puffy paint for finger painting, then got to work glopping and smooshing it all over their papers to create puffy pictures.


The children made special envelops to wrap their mother’s day gifts at the art table. They asked when they could give their gifts to their moms, and decided that they could make the decision with their moms. Many of them were anxious to give their gifts so they could have a turn wearing them.
We kept a close eye on our beans throughout the week, and were thrilled to see them go from just split open to plants with roots, stems, and leaves!

We read some stories about doing hard things and working through challenges. We read I Can’t Said the Ant and the ever inspiring Emanuel’s Dream, about a boy born in Ghana with only one full leg. He hopped to school on his one good leg 2 miles each way, earned money to buy a soccer ball so his peers would include him, and taught himself to ride a bike. He left home to get a job in the city at the age of 13 to help care for his family when his mother fell ill. He became famous when he decided to ride around Ghana on a bike to raise awareness of disabilities and show that those with disabilities were capable of great things.

Wednesday woodworking took some muscle this week! The children worked with Mr. Bond to use the hand crank drill to cut the entrance hole in the front of the bird house. That required a lot of strength and coordination! The children were so proud of their hard work!




State Police Officer Lyon and Amos the police dog visited on Wednesday. Before they arrived, we read a book about police officers and the story Officer Buckle and Gloria, about a law enforcement team who worked together to deliver safety tips to local schools. Officer Lyon introduced Amos, who is a 2 ½ year old Black Mouth Cur. Officer Lyon went to school to learn how to train Amos, and has worked with him since he was only a few months old. Amos was trained to work for his food, and responds to Officer Lyons commands, which he speaks in Dutch to avoid confusing Amos. Amos’ job is to locate people. Officer Lyon explained that humans have a distinct scent, and Amos is trained to track them using his extraordinary scenting skills. Amos and Officer Lyon have worked together to find over 20 people in the past two years. It was fun to see Amos follow commands to jump up and touch Officer Lyon’s hand, jump over the table, run through the tunnel, dance between Officer Lyon’s legs, and twirl around. When it was time to greet and pat Amos, the children were quite excited and they all started playing chase together. Thank you so much Officer Lyon and Amos!



We read some stories about bicycles, being kind, and forgiveness. We read The Remarkable Riderless Runaway Tricycle and Desmond and the Very Mean Word, about Desmond Tutu when he was a young boy and how he learned to forgive.During Music with Susan the children practiced the train rhythm for our end of year performance, taking turns with the instruments to create the chugga, chugga, chugga, chugga and choo-choo sounds. First we practiced walking slowly, then gradually faster to “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can” then practiced with the instruments.





































Friday students learned about sound and sound waves. We first read The Quiet Book and The Loud Book, then placed our hands on the ground to feel the vibrations created by the speaker when a song was played. We took off our socks and slippers and felt the vibrations with our feet, and placed our hands directly on the speaker to feel the vibrations. We also watched sand on top of a dish dance and move to the vibrations of the music before making our own vibrations with the big drum.