Dear families,
This week in Room 166 it was all about caterpillars, butterflies, and art! And just in time, our Painted Lady larvae arrived on Friday!
We read Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar which many of you have at home (great chance for your children to retell/re-read the story at home!) and played at various inquiry centres, such as a re-telling centre with the objects the caterpillar ate. We'll continue to discuss this book next week and will play in sequencing centres, days of the week centres (another great part of this book), healthy food centres, and life cycle centres.
We talked about what butterflies look like up close and the children remembered that they have scales on their wings and, unlike dragonflies, don't lose their colour when they die. We also talked about the symetry of their wings, and the children coloured a large butterfly in, making sure to match each side. They also drew in the head, thorax, abdomen, compound eyes, proboscis (mouth), and antennae. We also reviewed the life cycle.
The kids also made one part of a very long caterpillar a la Eric Carle, using various water colours. Their sponge-painted "very hungry" caterpillars are on display in the classroom. We are also reading other fiction and non-fiction books about butterflies.
After I prepared the food for our new larva, each child had a turn to come up and observe the larvae and what will be their new home for a few weeks. They smelled the larvae food ("It smells like oatmeat!") and wanted to take them home immediately! The larvae will stay in our Science Centre until the caterpillars attach themselves to the lid of their container, at which point I will move them to their new home - a butterfly observatory "net." Stay tuned! We'll be taking notes like scientists do, observing the changes that are happening and making predictions. The kids are great scientists!
The children did a great job singing "The Butterfly Song" at the Sharing Assembly. Thank you for coming! They also enjoyed shopping for books at the Book Fair in the Library.
In preparation for our artist visit, the children painted some purple lilacs I brought in using just two colours, lilac and green. They look beautiful. The children also wrote little sentences about lilacs. I am trying to teach the children to look closely at their world - there are so many beautiful things to see! I'll put them on display when I take down the All About Bugs bulletin board.
Artist Janeen visited our classroom and the children made a beautiful painting for Father's Day. Thank you so much to the parent volunteers who helped out: Aaden's mom, Dima's mom, Christopher's mom, Theo's mom, Megan's mom and of course Matthew H.'s mom.
We are also working on a booklet called "In the Park," in which the children wrote and draw about what they see, feel, like, hear, play in the park. We'll finish it this week.
Last but not least, the children did a wonderful job on "This is Me in May" with a picture and writing, and their May calendar on the back. The children told me all the things they did in May, and there was so much to write about! Springfest, Victoria day fireworks, Mother's Day, Insects, family visits, play dates, the Book Fair, the Artist, going to the cottage, and so on. These are also great assessment tools for school and home. Their progress is so wonderful to see and I am so proud of them. You must be too!
Thank you also to Megan who brought in a dragonfly nymph, Izzie, who shared a beautiful glass butterfly she has, Iris and Theo who brought in more lilacs, Cole who brought in an allium to paint, and Megan's mom who was Mystery Reader. Thank you to Olivia who brought in a whole clover plant from leaves to roots, and to Dima who shared his "Fly Guy" book. It's so great when the kids bring in things that show that they're really learning and extending their learning and interest outside the classroom.
The word wall words this week are NOT and HELP. Please do the NOT mini book for homework and return. THIS and WE were last weekend's homework.
SK parents only: Please be sure to send in a baby photo of your child so I can put it on our SK Graduation DVD. I would like the photos by June 5th at the latest. Thank you!
Next week we'll do more Inquiry, Literacy and Numeracy work on butterflies. Also, author Helaine Becker will be doing a presentation for the kids iin the Library in the morning. www.helainebecker.com
I hope you are having a terrific weekend!
