A Busy Bear Week!

Every week seems to be a very busy "bear" week!  The Bright-Eyed Bears are busily wrapping up this school year.  They have learned so much and they love to share their knowledge.  As our Insect unit came to a close this week with fun activities across the curriculum, the children spent a lot of time outside observing, collecting data, and drawing and labeling their observations in their science journals.  We took our snack one day to the faculty garden outside the theater where we observed busy bees buzzing around some of the sweet nectar flowers.  It was a wonderful experience to watch our friends the bees working so hard to take care of our planet, especially since we celebrated Earth Day this week.  The children enjoyed a waste-less lunch on Tuesday and even went around campus collecting garbage to be put in it's proper place.  Thanks to our wonderful Maintenance Department there wasn't much trash to be found, but the children looked very hard.  They also made a wonderful chart of ideas on how to keep our planet safe and clean.  Here are some of their ideas: pick up garbage, make things from garbage, take care of animals when they are hurt and don't feed them people food, plant trees because they let us breathe, make a garden, be respectful. I think they've got something there! :)  

We took a little mini field trip to our favorite on-campus spot...the pond.  The water was so clear in the pond that we could plainly see the many large and small fish that live there.  Tadpoles, turtles, gallinules, egrets, ducks and more greeted us happily on our trek.  Some of the children chose to record data in pictures using their science journals, others just explored, asked questions and inquired about the answers.  We played another sink and float game using rocks, leaves, sticks, feathers and more.  The children made predictions about what they thought would happen when they threw their object into the water and why.  It was a beautiful day outside, so we took advantage of the weather and stayed out most of the morning before heading back for a visit to the library and visual arts class.  First we had to run the track though, since it's on our way back to the ECC.  :)

We embarked upon a woodworking adventure last week as well. The children began sanding and sorting blocks of wood in all different colors and sizes.  This week, we will use the wood to create individual sculptures.  There is a wonderful process to follow, but the product is really special!  Just wait and see.  For now, enjoy the pictures from last week's fun! :)

Practicing simple addition, ladybug style!

We love waste-less lunches!!!

Beautiful bees buzzing around collecting pollen and nectar.

We are always interested in what our eagle friends are doing.

 There is always much to see at the pond!  The children and teachers alike love to visit this special place on campus.

See, I told you that stick would float!  Let's try a clamshell.

Look at that BIG fish!!!

Lots of little fish too!

Have a great week!

Highlights from Celebrate The Arts.....and a reminder or two. :)

What a treat it is to Celebrate The Arts!!!  The Alpha and JK classes were both adorable and hilarious in their part of the show Friday.  If you were unable to be there, here is a little taste......

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Cheryl Lee herself, from Cheryl Lee Dance Studios.  She and a few of her dance students came to teach the children about different types of dance, show them the different types of dance shoes, then share some dance moves to the tune of "The Teddybear Picnic".  The children were fast learners and really seemed to enjoy learning and dancing together.

The children had a happy, silly time singing and dancing with Coach D of the middle division who visited us with original songs and familiar favorites as well to sing and play on his trusty guitar.  

Have a great LONG weekend!  We'll look forward to seeing the kids again on Tuesday.

This week we'll have some fun with woodworking!

Don't forget that Tuesday is a "waste-less lunch day" in honor of Earth Day.  Please look to the flyer that came home for ideas.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words!

Hello!
Because a picture is worth a thousand words, here you go!  Take a look at what we've been up to.......

A lot of problem solving and conversation goes into building with blocks each day!

Ant hills!

Caterpillar observation

"Build a bug"

visual discrimitation

Love those ladybugs!

 Who loves storytellers?  We do!!! On Wednesday we celebrated the art of storytelling with some special guests.

I made a happy ladybug.

Tangrams are awesome for creative minds!

An insect for sure! Notice the three body parts and six legs!

Look at the smiles for one of the brand-new butterflies just set free!

JK version of Dancing With The Stars!  Dancing with Shorecrest students who are also students of dance.

Dancing and acting go hand in hand!

Coach D shared both original songs and songs we all know on his trusty guitar!

Let's get up and dance!

Early Childhood Rocks!!!

The Faculty singers aren't bad either! 

Just a few notes and reminders....

Hi all! :)
I have a few notes and reminders about this and the coming week.  Celebrate the Arts is one of my very favorite weeks of school.
On Monday the children attended the Lower Division "Morning Meeting" to see some of the cast of "The Sound of Music" perform a song from the production.  It was wonderful!  I would like to encourage you to visit our theater this weekend Thursday-Saturday to see the show with your families.  I promise, you will not be disappointed!  It's like being on Broadway! :)

Speaking of WONDERFUL SHOWS, we saw a Bluegrass band perform yesterday. The children danced, played air instruments, and smiled all the while.  Once back in the classroom they drew pictures of how the music made them feel.  There were very colorful, happy drawings to share.  This Friday, the greatest show of the week will happen.  The one featuring your children!  Please join us at 11am to see the children perform and enjoy a picnic lunch too.  Don't forget to pack yourself something yummy and bring a blanket to relax on while eating!  The children made special shirts in a "folk art" style to wear that day on stage.  Please send your child to school in their spirit wear or uniform and we will change their shirt for the performance.  The shirt is theirs to keep and wear proudly on spirit days to come.

Next Monday April 23rd is a NO SCHOOL day.  The faculty and staff will not be on campus on this day so there will be No Extended Day Care Offered.  TUESDAY is the waste-less lunch day in celebration of Earth Day.  Please see the letter coming home April 17 in your child's school bag for details.

The Bright-Eyed Bears have been enjoying all of the celebratory activities for this week so far.  We continue with our insect unit, learning about ladybugs this week.
More to come!  Stay tuned!

Happy Tuesday!
Mrs. Carson

Fun For Every "Buggy"!

We have had a great time exploring the wonderful world of Ants this week! Not only have we read fANTastic books and seen videos of life in an ant colony close up, but we were able to go out onto campus and observe ants in their true habitat.  We were Ant Investigators!  Take a look!  Later, the children recorded information about what they observed with drawings and inventive spelling in their Science Journals.

Hey look!  I think I found a nest!

Tiny black ants moving really fast!

I saw a bunch of ants on the tree over there.  They were carrying food!
(We love recording information in our Science Journals)

The ants are so cute!

We played several Ant-related math games this week for numeral recognition and counting with one-one correspondence practice.
The children read a book called Ant Cities, learning about the many chambers that make up an ant hill.  It's like an underground city and is very efficiently run by the extremely busy ants!  After the story, the enthusiastic students we have painted their own ant cities by finger painting right on the table and using their fingers to trace the ant tunnels and chambers in brown paint.  They then printed their painting from the table onto paper.  Once dry, the children were able to draw ants and add labels to their fANTastic ant cities.
We are practicing a lot of writing and putting letter sounds together to make and write words.  The children are very enthusiastic about this!

We have crunching, munching baby caterpillars in our classroom!  There's at least seven little monarch caterpillars exuberantly eating milkweed and growing every day!

Looking at and loving our baby caterpillars.

Every time we learn about a new insect the children add drawings and words to our KWL chart...it's getting full! We love learning about insects!

We're buggy about bugs, but next week we'll be busy with celebrating the arts!




Just a quick note about Celebrate The Arts week:
-Monday, April 16th we will see a bluegrass band from 10:30-10:55.
Wednesday, April 18th we will see a storyteller from 9:10-9:40.
Friday- We will perform and see the visiting artists.
There has been some confusion over the lunch form for Celebrate the Arts on Friday, April 20. The only sack lunches being ordered will be for students. Parents are checking "joining for lunch" for head count purposes only - not lunch. Please bring a lunch for yourself if you chose this option. Thanks! We look forward to seeing you:-)