Dear Parents,
This week we made pretend binoculars using toilet paper rolls. We painted, taped, and added strings. Then we set about looking for birds to observe. We lay in the grass looking up at the trees. The children spotted a mourning dove, two pigeons, and lots of sparrows. Some decided to play I Spy.
On Wednesday Frank the Bug Man visited our classroom. He showed us a golden Indonesian praying mantis, a giant cave cockroach, scorpions, a giant bearded centipede that was more than 10” long, and a giant golden orb spider whose web is 8’ across. The children commented: “He looks like a manta ray.” “Why don’t they like light?” And “Why don’t you have dead animals?” The class looked and listened for thirty minutes. Frank was impressed by the children’s knowledge of insects.
On Thursday we had a bubble expert visit, aka Carolina’s grandma. The children chose between vials of many colored potions to mix with water and experimented to get the best, longest lasting bubbles. We counted, to time the length of life of each bubble. Some chose to mix the potions to get a rainbow effect. There was a flurry of activity in the end, when we added “magic potion” for stronger bubbles. Who knew we had such mixologists? Everyone especially liked wearing the protective goggles.
Friday morning we watched several birds hopping around eating insects. We tried to sit quietly as one bird landed nearby. Someone noticed that the birds like to sing in our tree and on the wire between the buildings. After class with Alex, we went around the circle and shared one thing we like about music. Many said they like the name game, the hello and goodbye drum song, and the part where you have to shake your hips.
Have a great weekend,
Therese and Nicole
The Ants Go Marching
Dear Parents,
This week we made ants on a log for snacks. While we pretended the raisins were ants on our celery, someone said, “And there’s a spider on my grapes too.” There was a real spider on her grapes. We all had turns observing him up close and then we set him free in the yard.
We used paint to decorate our butterfly wings and then pressed the two wings together to get the same pattern on the other wing. We left them to dry and read in our butterfly book that real butterflies have to wait for their wings to dry after coming out of the chrysalis.
We used magnifying glasses to examine our real insect collection. We have bees, a house fly, a dragonfly, a rhinoceros beetle, a roach, and a cicada. Some children talked about finding ants and roaches at their house. “Mama smashed it,” someone told us. Another person said, “All the ants left my house.”
When looking closely at our insects the children said: “He’s spikey on his legs.” “Looks like he has on a hoody.” “His legs are furry.” “The wings look rusty.” “His legs are sharp.” And, "This one is fluffy on its head."
We marched from the big room, down the stairs, out the alley, and through the gate singing The Ants Go Marching. We luckily arrived at the gate when we were singing eight. We talked about someone who studies insects being called an entomologist.
We curled up into pretend chrysalises and slowly emerged. Using our butterfly wings, we flew around and around the big room listening to slow, medium, and fast music. The butterflies knew exactly how fast to fly. When most were tired, we played in the big room with wheels, blocks, and pretend food. One butterfly flew for five extra minutes.
While playing in the big room, a rather large insect ran out from the stage. Many children gathered around and we caught it in a clear plastic cup for observation. “It’s a roach!” someone shouted. “He’s cute!” said another. We sat for more than ten minutes while everyone commented and watched his every move. We played La Cucaracha at the same time. It was a sight for sore eyes.
Afterwards someone drove around in our toy car delivering roaches to everyone.
On Friday we made insects with our play dough while our friends were at music with Alex. There were butterflies, earthworms, ladybugs and a queen beetle with her crown amongst our creations. We read about butterflies and bees, and talked about what insects eat. We took turns reading and counting in our Ten Little Ladybugs book.
Have a great weekend!
Therese and Nicole