Monday, April 28, 2008

Ants and butterflies

Here the children are counting out ants. I placed a number on their trays and they were to count out that many ants....picking them up with the tweezers. Using the tweezers helps to build the muscles in their hands which they need for writing.

Here Kylie is showing off the butterfly she made. They each cut out their butterfly then picked three colors of paint to drop on one side of the cut-out. Then they folded it over to create a symmetrical painting. The body was assembled placing on a big, medium and small oval. Then they added their antennae. Kylie wanted to add the probiscus as well to hers.
They all turned out so unique and cute!!



Saturday, April 26, 2008

Life cycle of a butterfly



We have been studying butterflies and their life cycle. Here the children are making a flip chart with all the stages of the butterfly.




I had them identify each number and then they placed the correct picture under the cooresponding number. We learned a song to help us learn each stage(posted below).


Then I would put 2 words in front of them and ask "which word is caterpillar" or "what sound do you hear at the beginning of butterfly....which word is butterfly" trying to encourage them to listen to the beginning sound to identify words.



Stages of the Butterfly (tune: Up on the Housetop)


First comes the butterfly who lays an egg

Next comes the caterpillar with many legs

See the caterpillar spin and spin

A little cocoon to sleep in


Oh, oh, oh, look and see

Oh, oh, oh what could it be?

Out of the cocoon, my oh my

Out pops a beautiful butterfly.


Ask you child to sing this to you!



They're here!!


I was so excited to see the butterflies on Friday but so so bummed that they didn't come out on Thursday when everyone was here!! Sophia made up some nectar to put in the bottom of the net for them to drink and on Tuesday we will let them go.

Friday, April 18, 2008

New members of our classroom!

Since we have been talking about Spring and plants I thought it would be fun to also explore earthworms. I bought a container of worms at the gas station and gave each child a small tray with about 3-4 worms to study with their magnifying glass. The worms were very wiggly and some even escaped from their tray.


Then we went outside and filled up an aquarium with dirt so we could watch the worms in action.

There was lots of loose dirt in the back yard where they are digging up for our addition!

Here the children are working together filling the aquarium!

Save the worm Patrick! Not everyone wanted to hold the worms....they tickled a little:)


We also put some sticks and leaves in the dirt so we can add some bugs to the aquarium later. One stick we put in there had 2 moth cocoons attached to it. That will be fun to see if the moths come out!




We have been talking about insects this week and discussed some charateristics that make insects....insects! Three main characteristics we focused on were 6 legs, antennae, and 3 body parts. After looking at pictures of different insects, reading books about them, and studying plastic models of some I had the children create their own insect using these 3 characteristics. I love to do these kinds of projects because each child does something different! After constructing their insects they added their own special markings using glitter! They all turned out so cute!!

Update on the caterpillars....

The caterpillars ate and ate the brown stuff (it is called "nutrient") and grew double in their size. Then they attached themselves upside-down to the paper disk inside the lid.
Then I attached them to the inside of our butterfly cage so we could watch them form their crysallis. I was suprised at how little time it took for them to change! Now we are just watching and waiting for the first butterfly to appear!!

Friday, April 11, 2008

Look what came in the mail!!

During our reading time today I was reading a book about bugs to the children to find out which insects they wanted to learn about. As we were reading the book the mailman came up the driveway with a small package. It was very exciting(and timely) to open the package and see 5 small caterpillars!! In a few weeks(after they eat and get fatter) they will attach themselves to the paperdisk at the top of the container. Then we will transfer the paperdisk to the butterfly house to watch them form their crysallis and then emerge as butterflies!!

Here are the insects they chose to study! I love the variety!!


Measuring

I gave the kids different objects to measure with unifix cubes. We haven't done this in a very long time and I was pleasantly suprised at how well they did this activity!
They are all geniuses!




Thursday, April 10, 2008

Planting!

Today we talked more about plants and seeds and what they need to grow. Chase wrote "sunflower" on the board for us.
After painting our pots and allowing them to dry we went outside and filled them with potting soil. Then each child pushed their sunflower seed down in the dirt.

Then they each watered their seed with an eye dropper.


We took the rest of the potting soil and planted some marigolds. I only got this one picture because my hands were covered in dirt! It will be fun to observe the plants growing!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Over 100 books!



Last month the children participated in the Book-It program sponsored by Pizza Hut. For each book they read we wrote the title on a Maisy character cut-out and placed it around our "Crazy for Maisy" poster. The program goal was to read 60 minutes each week....which I knew we could accomplish easily. We read at least 10-15 minutes at preschool and I knew you all were reading at home as well. I thought it would be fun to see how many books we (as a class and at home) could read for the month of March. We read over 100 books!! The children were so proud of themselves!!
I hope we can exceed this for the month of April!