Thank you! Thank you!

Mrs. Cummings and I were floating on air all day long Tuesday! We felt so appreciated and loved!  WE both want to say "Thank You" for the lovely flowers and sweet cards we were showered with for Teacher Appreciation Day. Our lunch together, along with the whole Shorecrest faculty was such a nice treat! Every day is special with the Bright-Eyed Bears and we consider ourselves very lucky to experience so much learning with them.  Tuesday, however, was EXTRA special! Thank you!!!! xo

As a class we traveled around the campus to admire all of the decorated doors, yesterday.  They were really  GREAT.  Still, no decoration was quite as remarkable as the amazing quilt that decorates my classroom door!  During the week, the children sign-in on certain days to practice printing their first and last names.  The clever Mrs. Drygas gathered a recent sign-in from each child and embroidered them into a beautiful Bright-Eyed Bears quilt.  Tears of joy definitely came as I realized I can snuggle up with my little friends for many years to come with this precious gift and keep warm with memories of this fantastic year! Thank you so much Mrs. Drygas!!!

If only this picture could do the amazing quilt justice!  Mrs. Drygas did an AWESOME job!!! Please come in to see!

WE are celebrating Spring in JK! This week we began our exciting Insect unit!  The children started a new KWL chart to talk about what they already Know about Insects, Want to know about them, and we'll fill in what we Learn as we go along! The children studied pictures of different insects and drew pictures of the ones they had questions about and even labeled them too!  Now we have a starting point!

Books, videos, observation of live insects, "bug walks", and so much more will help us in our investigations. Here is a favorite video we've shared in class:

Wednesday was all about BUTTERFLIES! There were a staggering amount of questions about these beautiful creatures.  We investigated and found lots of answers, but we'll watch as caterpillars grow and change in our classroom to find out more! Stay tuned!
Ask the children about:
how many body parts an insect has, and what they are called
how many legs and where

butterflies:
how many wings
what the "feelers" do
how butterflies taste flowers
what butterflies use to "slurp" up the nectar from flowers (Proboscis)
where butterflies lay their eggs

(We are investigating these things first hand on a milkweed plant outside and another inside our classroom!)

I could go on and on! Your children are Insect GENIUSES!!

Have a great day! Until my next blog on Sunday enjoy these pics of fun JK goings on!