Winter has officially ended, and the anticipation of spring weather is high. Some students began preparing by taking out the bats and balls and working out their batting arms.
Monday students read several books about shadows, including Shadow by Suzy Lee, What Makes a Shadow?, and Nothing Sticks Like a Shadow by Ann Tompert. They then used stiff cardboard and scissors to create shadow puppets.
When the children arrived on Tuesday, a little green man had left footprints all around the classroom. The children followed them over, under, around, and through and after searching diligently they discovered a sack of gold. They counted out and divided it to be sure that everyone received an equal amount.
At the art table the children used several shades and hues of green paint, which they used to create green artwork, including green patterned shamrocks.
Drums were available for the students to play during work time, and they were put to good use. They were careful to regulate the volume so as not to disturb the other students, and they had a lot of fun conducting and drumming with their fingers.
The yellow submarine was very busy throughout the week making dives down to the ocean, where it was greeted and sometimes attacked by sharks. Everyone enjoyed hanging out with friends under the water and taking turns peeking out all of the portals and doors.
During circle time we did a lot of moving and music. On Saint Patrick’s day we turned on some Irish Dancing music and did some Irish jigs, stomping, tapping, and hopping around. On Wednesday we took out the percussion instruments and had fun playing them loudly and quietly. On Thursday we took out the parachute. We took turns running underneath, shaking it like crazy, and sitting below it while others shook it so we could hear the thunder noises it made.
We had a visit from the Cat in the Hat with Believe in Books on Thursday. We enjoyed the story Green Eggs and Ham, then we all greeted the cat with a hug, high five, fist bump, or wave, then chose one of our very own Dr. Seuss stories to take home.
Friday students had fun creating and floating boats. They hypothesized about how to make clay float. They dropped a clay ball in the water first, which sank straight to the bottom. Then they decided to make it smaller, and it still sank. Then they tried making it flat, and still it sank, so they made it small and flat. When we finally made it curved, like a bowl, we discovered that we could make it float. We also floated foam trays, which, like wood, will float no matter the shape. We tested them to see how many marbles they could hold before capsizing and sinking, and came up with some ways to hold more marbles by creating sections. It was a lot of fun playing with boats!
