They were fascinated to watch plankton organisms moving under the microscopes in class after they were collected in the water from our very own Tampa bay. These tiny living organisms live their whole life floating with the current of the water. They provide food for life in the sea.
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| The children could really "dive" into the ocean with dramatic play in the new Shorecrest Submarine that is "submerged" in the Exploratorium right now! |
The children also learned about Echinoderms last week. These are spiny-skinned creatures of the sea that have 5 or more "arms" coming out of the center of their bodies that each have their own set of organs. They have no eyes, heart, or brains. We concentrated on sea urchins and sea stars, aka starfish. Starfish are not fish at all, as the children learned. Fish have backbones, gills, scales, etc. Sea stars do not. Sea stars, much to the delight of the children, pull their stomachs outside of their bodies to eat prey. Their stomach surrounds the food and takes it in. There's no mouth or teeth. The children thought all of the facts were interesting, but that little tidbit was the coolest! :) As a fun little enrichment to our learning the children watched a quick video on youtube to see how sea stars and sea urchins live in the ocean, then traced, cut-out and glued oatmeal onto their own sea star on tagboard to decorate our classroom. At another center the children observed formerly living sea urchins that were provided to us by Lisa Peck of our UD Science and Oceanography department. The children were so excited to wear their rubber gloves and handle these creatures for closeup observation. They even drew pictures in their Science Journals to record their newly learned information. We can hardly wait for our trip this Wednesday to Spa Beach, where we will hopefully find many more interesting specimens of the sea. We will set up a touch tank on the beach and hope for the best! Please plan on joining us. It's going to be a wonderful day!
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| Three tasks to follow: trace, cut, glue wash & oatmeal |
For Spa Beach on Wednesday:
**Make sure to send a disposable lunch with your child as well as the other items listed on the letter that came home last week, especially sunscreen. Thanks! :)
I hope all of you mommies had a wonderful Mother's day! The children worked hard on the pencil/pen holders that you were given on Sunday (or maybe a day or two before, as the children were very eager). Dads, they are for you too! Each child spent time and concentration printing the words they wanted to say in their cards. It was an ongoing process last week. I hope you enjoyed the product! :)
