We were so excited to welcome a new friend this week!  As a sister she is very familiar with Sunnybrook, but upon turning three she has now officially joined us as a student.  Welcome new friend!

We had some wonderful winter weather this week, so our play yard has once again been busy with all kinds of snow fun.

On Tuesday we walked to the Lancaster Post Office for a tour of the mail room.  Postman Tim showed us the post office mailboxes where people pick up their mail, the bins that hold the packages, and the sorting areas where the postal carriers sort the mail for their routes.  Everyone got a coloring book to take home.

Henrietta Chicken helped us learn about the parts of the letter and where each part goes, such as the date, the greeting, the body, and the signature.  We have begun writing a group thank you note to postman Tim.  Some students have also been writing their own letters to friends.

As we know, Antarctica is covered in snow, so we began to learn about snowflakes and how they are formed.  We read The Secret Life of a Snowflake by Ken Lebbrecht, and learned that each snow flake is a unique, six sided crystal, made up of over 100,000 cloud droplets frozen together.  To watch a short video of Ken Lebbrecht talking about snow, click here.

We had a wonderfully fun Valentine’s week.  We learned some new songs, including A Tisket, A Tasket, and I’m Gonna Mail Myself to You.  There was a lot of excitement for our celebration on Thursday.  The students could not wait to distribute their Valentines and check out all of those that they received.  For activities the children made giant Valentine cards, Valentine books, and crawled through our Valentine Mail Pocket tunnel.  Everyone enjoyed eating the yummy treats.  Thank you so much to those of you who brought special snacks!

It was wonderful to have Zeanny and crew back at Sunnybrook!  They were greeted with lots of excitement and hugs.  This week we reviewed several of the familiar Spanish songs to get back into the groove, and practiced our Spanish vocabulary during work time.

We are so glad to have two more Friday students joining us in the morning!  Welcome to Fridays, friends!

For science we reviewed the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between plants and humans and animals.  We tried to see our breath, but discovered that the gasses in the air are invisible.  We did an experiment that showed that fire also uses gasses, specifically oxygen.  We talked about why we would stop, drop, and roll to smother a fire, rather than running.  We placed a candle in a bowl with some water in the bottom, then lit it.  Everyone had a turn placing a glass over it and watching the water bubble up and the flame go out.