Giant Manta Ray vs. Colossal Squid

Dear Parents,

After brainstorming giant sea creatures, the class voted on which one to create. There was a tie between the giant manta ray and the colossal squid. The runner-ups were the blue whale and the whale shark. We learned that the giant manta ray lives up to forty-five years, while the colossal squid only lives one to two years. 

We looked at several pictures of colossal squids before assembling his body out of two colossal pieces of paper, stapled together. We fed him all of our lists and dictations off of our walls from the whole school year, but not before reading and reminiscing. Our colossal squid is filled with our memories. We also fed him our weeping willow tree. We painted him a burnt orange and set him free in our ocean mural. 

Our birthday fish swam across the room to join him in the ocean.

Have a Colossal Weekend,

Therese

Many Fish in the Sea

Dear Parents,

We began our week brainstorming sea creatures. The children helped make a list of sea creatures we know: dolphin, hammerhead shark, electric eel, goldfish, sea turtle, saltwater crocodile, whale, chomping fish, and more. We wondered if a couple on our list were freshwater fish; they were, so we talked about the difference between saltwater and freshwater. 

We read There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Frog, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed A Shell, Hey Water!, Life in the Sea, and At The Beach. 

While playing in the yard we have discovered ladybug larva, grub larva, lantern fly nymphs, and tiny red mites, also known as sugar spiders. We looked at pictures of the life cycle of these insects to see which part of the cycle they were in. We examined some through a phone magnifying glass. 

On Wednesday, we painted our ocean mural. We studied illustrations of oceans in our books and noticed the different colors. We used blues, a tiny bit of bluish-purple powder, and some white. The children said the waves are white. 

The next day we added more white caps by gently pulling cotton balls apart and gluing them into the ocean. We also added pale pink tissue paper and sparkles. Then we swam around the big room a bit before going outside to play.

On Friday we added to our list of sea creatures, and decided which were the biggest. We played in the warm spring weather all morning. 

Have a springy weekend,

Therese