The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

TEN FRAMES (Math)

Getting Started with 10 Frames (VIDEO)

Practice Identifying these Numbers Before they Disappear

You can find blank ten frames to photocopy and use at home at the following link:

http://mathwire.com/templates/tenframemat.pdf

 

AM Class Roots of Empathy

Next week will be our last week with our Roots of Empathy baby. The children have made some wishes for their baby.

 

Our Caterpillars

We made predictions with both the AM and PM class about what colour they think the butterflies will be.

 

The Green Grass Grows All Around

Caterpillars

Our caterpillars have arrived!!!!!
Over the course of the next few weeks we will observe their growth and transformation into butterflies. We are predicting what colour our butterflies will be tomorrow. Talk with your children daily about their observations.

I will post pictures of our experiences.

The Caterpillar and The Polliwog

Retelling Goldilocks and the Three bears

Our class read Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the children worked on retelling this story.

 

Worms

During our planting of the amaryllis bulbs in the garden the children discovered worms!!! We brought them into the classroom and gave them a home in soil and a clear container. The children were busy observing the worms, and I have been recording their thoughts and questions to revisit again. The worms have created quite a buzz in our classroom!

 

The Amaryllis bulbs

As you know, earlier in the winter we had planted amaryllis bulbs in the classroom and they grew into very beautiful flowers. Some of our plants have died, and we asked the children what we should do now that the plants have died.

A student in the afternoon class suggested we cut the leaves and flowers and use them to make art....so we did just that!

 

This inspired the children to create their works of art.

 

We discussed with the morning about what the afternoon children had decided but this left us with a problem. We had no idea what to do with the bulbs we cut!

 

They felt that the bulbs could grow again. Heere is what they suggested we do...

We are leaving this bulb in the classroom and we will water it.

We placed this cut bulb in water only to see if that would help it grow again.

This bulb the children wanted to leave in the pot but place it in our garden so that the rain and sun would help it grow again.

This bulb we took out of its pot. We saw the roots that had formed at the bottom. The children wanted to plant this in the soil in the garden.

 

 

Now we will wait to see what happens!!

 

 

 

 

 

Flowers

Can it be Spring when there is snow?

I meant to post this much earlier.

 Last week when it was snowing outside the children thought that Spring had disappeared. One of the children in the morning class asked "Is it Spring when it snows?" I presented this question to the afternoon class as well, and they thought that "Christmas"/Winter had come back

To answer this question we thought we would go outside and visit various courtyards to search for evidence of Spring.

First all we saw was snow, and we became interested in making footprints.

 

Then the children started to see evidence of Spring. The growth of new plants and birds.

 

 

After our outdoor explorations some of the children felt that  the "snow had covered Spring". Other shildren were still convinced that it was Christmas. The next day the rain came and the snow melted. We are continuing our explorations around evidence of Spring.

 

Spring Thing- Peep and the Big Wide World

Here is a video the morning class enjoyed in library today.

Sand Play

 There was excited chatter from the children as they walked into the classroom and noticed these materials. One student exclaimed "I want to paint in the sand today!"

The children wanted to use the book about insects, spiders, and bugs to "inspire" their "designs".

This student used a thin paintbrush to "paint" a flower.

This student wanted a popsicle stick for her designs. A material that was not originally available was added to the space.

She used her popsicle sticks to make the first letter of her name.

Inspired by her friend, another student used the paintbrush to "write" the first letter of her name.

An article on Math Instruction

Dear Parents,

Here is an article I am currently reading regarding math instruction in the early years.  I have provided a link to this article for you.

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/CBS_Maximize_Math_Learning.pdf

Castle Construction Completed

Outdoor Explorations

 

The afternoon class spent much of the afternoon exploring the great outdoors. They made some great discoveries and I am excited to see where our explorations will lead us!

 

 

 

Exploring water flow

CASTLE CONSTRUCTION

We have been working very hard in class constructing our castle. Take a look at our progress...

Our children think this castle is so beautiful and have used it as the inspiration for their construction.

Mrs. Hillier brought these big boxes and the children painted them to make the pillars/towers of the castle.

We are sponge painting the walls of the castle to give it an aged brick look like in the picture of the castle in the book.

At the art studio, children are busy making masks of kings, queens, princesses, princes, knights and dragons. Below are some of the masks the morning class made.

 

The morning class left their props for the afternoon class to play with.