This week we wrapped up our Plant unit by reading The Vegetables We Eat.  We discussed the difference between a vegetable and a fruit.  The children sorted out the fruits and vegetables in our Dramatic play area.

We took a nature walk outside in search of different kinds of plants. The children found various types of flowers and plants. They even tried to find fruit and vegetable plants!

In our Art Center, the children used their fine motor skills to stamp out pictures of flowers using various kinds of materials.

In our Science Center, we observed a lettuce head in water to see if it would regrow its leaves.  We are still watching!

Weekly Letter 5.10

Family Engagement 5.10

Next week, we will be starting our new unit on Babies. We will be focusing on what babies need.

This week we read An Orange in January by Dianna Hutts Aston. We discussed the journey of an orange from farm to home.  The children were then invited to try drawing and writing about the journey of other fruits and vegetables either to their home or school.

In the Art Center we looked at the paintings of famous artists, including Claude Monet’s Sunflowers and Georgia O’Keefe’s Poppy and then enjoyed recreating our own versions.    

This week we continued to plant more seeds and to record observations of our seeds sprouting in our science journals. 

In the Math Center we used unifix cubes to measure how tall our sprouts had grown, and also used the balance scale to compare which seeds were heavy or light.

Next week we will be discussing why plants are important to us.

Weeky Letter 5.3

Family Engagement 5.3

This week we celebrated Earth Day by exploring the many simple ways we can help take care of the Earth!

To help inspire our Earth-friendly ideas, we read 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World by Melanie Walsh and Big Earth Little Me by Thom Wiley. We were excited to see that we are already making choices that help the Earth every day!

At the Art Center, children designed and built “Earth inventions” using recycled materials. Our Earth inventions can vacuum up litter, clean the water and sort out recycling.   

We introduced many sustainable practices in our classroom this week, including recycling paper scraps and unwanted artwork, turning off the lights when we leave the classroom, and returning books and toys to the shelves to be used again and again!

We are so proud of the creativity and the enthusiasm the children showed for helping to keep the Earth clean and healthy!

Weekly Letter 4.17

Family Engagement 4.17

This week we read The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. It’s a story where a little boy finds some isolated plants growing on abandoned railway tracks. He takes it upon himself to become the gardener and help the garden flourish! The children learned that this story is based on the true curious garden, High Line Park in NYC.

The children created their own curious gardens by building them in the Block Center. They added trees, flowers, and plants of their own creation to it.

We have assembled and continued to add to our rain forest in the Dramatic Play area! The children are enjoying it! They like to design the vines, leaves, and animals that can be added to the rain forest. 

In the Science Center, we started planting the seeds that were brought in by the children. We can’t wait to see our garden of fruits, vegetables, and flowers grow!

Weekly Letter 4.12

Family Engagement 4.12

Next week we will continue to explore different kinds of plants, such as cactus, evergreen, succulent, and herbs!

This week we began exploring our new unit all about plants!

We read Up in the Garden, Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner. We observed the plants and animals living in the little girl’s garden, as well as the changes occurring below the dirt that we do not usually get to see!

At the Science Center children planted garden bean seeds in bags and placed them on the classroom windows so we can observe them grow! We also made sure to provide the seeds with sunlight, air, and water. Children recorded their seed observations in a Science Journal.

At the Art Center with Mrs. Filiberti we drew our observations of real plants with colorful flowers. We also began creating leaves, flowers, and vines for our classroom rain forest.

Next week we will explore what plants need to grow, as well as the many places we find plants in our communities and around the world! We cannot wait to see our classroom transformed into a tropical rain forest next week as well!

Weekly Letter 4.5

Family Engagement 4.5

This week the children helped read the wordless book Float by Daniel Miyares.  We looked at our home-made boats, discussed how they were similar and different, and then tested them out in the water to see which floated for the longest. 

At the Sensory Table we explored many different objects which could either “float on top” of the water or “sink to the bottom.”  First we made a prediction, then observed what happened and discussed why we think it happened.  

In the Science Center we discovered which materials were waterproof or absorbent (soaked up the water).  The children used their fine motor skills to squeeze pipettes to drop water on plastic, fabric, paper, aluminum and cotton balls.

This week we also transformed our Dramatic Play Center into a laundromat. 

Weekly Letter 3.22

Family Engagement 3.22

Next week we will be discussing how water is important for all living things and how it helps us. 

This week we explored what happens to water when it changes temperature.

We read the books Rain! By Linda Ashman and Snow by Uri Shulevitz to help us understand how temperature affects the weather. We also voted on our favorite weather during morning
sign-in. Our class’s favorite weather was sunny!

At the Science Center, children predicted how to melt an ice cube and then tested their predictions using real ice cubes and various tools and resources around the classroom. Our predictions included using hot water, placing ice in the sun, and putting salt on it like the trucks after a snowstorm! 

At the Math Center we created “snowball rulers” and learned how to use a ruler to measure objects around the classroom. We compared the sizes to see what objects were biggest or smallest, longest or shortest.

Next week we will explore the concepts of sink and float!

Weekly Letter 3.15

Family Engagement 3.15

This week we started our new unit on Water. We read the book Water Dance by Thomas Locker. We brainstormed how water is found in our classroom (sink, water tray), in our houses (kitchens, bathrooms), through the weather, and also the wider environment (waterfalls, lakes, rivers, oceans). Please continue to talk about the water you may have seen (at home/on vacation). The children also explored using rain sticks and maracas in the Music Center.

In the Science Center, the children worked on sorting different seashells, as well as land and sea animals.
In the Math Center the children counted how many drops of water can fit on a penny. They also used a scoop and droppers to see which one would fill up a cup with water the fastest. They compared both tools by counting how many drops each tool took to complete the task.

Next week we will continue with our water unit by focusing on what happens to water when it changes temperature.

Weekly Letter 3.7

Family Engagement 3.7

This week we wrapped up our study of Light by discussing how different kinds of light can help us.  We read All About Light by Lisa Trumbauer and the children considered how lights help us see, give information, provide warmth or help plants grow. 

We also discussed how some animals wake up and go out at night (nocturnal) and some sleep at night and go out in the day (diurnal). 

In the Art Center we created paper line collages and used our flashlights to see the shadows created.  We were using new vocabulary including wavy, straight, zigzag, vertical, horizontal and parallel lines.   

In the Science Center we made predictions on what will happen to seeds we put in the in the light (window) and the dark (box).  We will continue to observe them to find out if our predictions were true. 

Next week we will begin a new unit on Water and begin exploring why water is important and where water comes from.   

Weekly Letter 3.1

Family Engagement 3.1