Think Sunshine!

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you for sharing your wonderful children with me this year! I had a lot of fun watching them learn and grow! I hope that you have a fun summer with your family and friends!

A Big Thank You

Thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy schedules to play with us today! Your children enjoyed spending the time with you. They were so excited for the sing along!

Picnic Reminder

Please be sure to mark your calendars for Thursday, June 6th as our team will be holding our annual team picnic at Shelburne Farms. Our goal is to have every child have someone from their family or extended family circle attend. More information about details will be coming home with the kids next week and also via this blog. Please be sure to email me if you have a conflict with the date. We look forward to sharing this fun afternoon with you!

Dog Safety with Zynnia

Our class was so lucky to have a special presentation from Angelina's mom about how to be safe around dogs. She is a dog trainer and did a fantastic job at teaching the kids some very specific safety points. Your child took home a fun packet of information to share with you. This is such an important topic that I wish were a part of our yearly curriculum. Thank you so much Zynnia for sharing this great talent of yours. We all learned a lot!

Millipedes, Pill Bugs, and Salamanders

Call us crazy but we are "Living Critter City" this week! The kids are having a blast learning about and exploring the amazing world of invertebrates and amphibians. Here are some pictures from today:

Organisms

This week the kids are learning about living and non-living things. Today I brought in some critters from a pond that I have at home. The children learned about the needs of animals and plants. They planted grass seed in cups and will be observing and caring for this plant. A fun project is in store for these crazy grass seed projects!

News Flash

Unfortunately the weather will not be favorable for the Jog-a-Thon this week. It has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 28th. Anyone is welcome to come and cheer the kids on.

Exploring Movement

Fun, fun, fun! The children used their creative minds to figure out how to make things move today. They were given five investigations in which they had to plan and conduct trials where they had to figure out how to make objects move. Here are some fun photos:

Here Comes the Sun

Your Earth Scientists are coming home today with a very cute project that should help them explain why the sun is important to Earth. Please be sure to listen as they have lots of new facts to share.

Special Music Presentation

Mr. T from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra came in to do a short presentation with the SCS Pre-School and Kindergarten students today. He told stories using some of the instruments and they learned about the instrument families.

Earth Poems

We have been reading and learning many new facts about Earth this week. Today, the children finished a fun art project that will be displayed in the hallway. Come on in to see our Earth Poems.

Learning About Bees

Today was the last Hands On Nature lesson of the year. Thank you so much Zynnia, Allison, and Karen for volunteering for this important teaching opportunity. This final lesson was about bees. Be sure to ask your child about the types of bees and how honey is made!

Frog Jumpin' Good Time

In math today, the kids turned into frogs. They made predictions about far they could jump. We were also working on making close estimations and the idea that sometimes mathematicians change their minds about their thinking as they are collecting data.

Recent Activities

Learning about time, pedometers, and our May math calendar pattern pieces.

What's Happening in May

Your little thinkers are so busy this time of year putting together all of the learning and skills they have been taught! We have begun a new Narrative Reading and Writing unit. I have used the Rosemary Wells Max and Ruby books to explore the concept that fiction books are also called narratives and they have characters, settings, problems, and solutions. We will move to another character/author theme next week to continue to explore these narrative concepts. In science, the children are continuing to be scientists. In the coming weeks, they will be exploring with an inquiry task where they have to problem solve using balls and ramps. They will also be learning lots our Earth and Sky. The concepts will include the sun as a Earth's heat source, plant and animal needs, and the importance of taking care of our Earth. In our May Math Calendar, the children are exploring the topic of measurement using time. Yesterday the kids made our math calendar pieces and put them in the following pattern: things that happen in the morning, in the afternoon, and evening. They also learned beginning time telling concepts like what makes up a clock and how to make a clock tell time to the hour. The month of May is also a fitness month at SCS. Today and yesterday, I gave the children pedometers and we walked the track at Choice Time. They loved seeing those numbers on those pedometers get bigger! Throughout this month, we will be going outside to move as a class. It would benefit the kids if they started to wear sneakers on a daily basis as walking and class community building games outside will be a huge part of our extra fitness activities.

Kitchen Scientists

On Friday our school will be having a taste test for two types of pear compote. The children were invited to go down to the cafeteria today to help prepare the ingredients. They learned about where pears come from, that nutmeg is not a nut but a seed, and cinnamon comes from the bark of a tree. In small group centers, they each got to slice pears, peel and grate ginger and nutmeg, and grind up cardimom. Of course they taste tested these ingredients as well. Once again they used their 5 senses to explore their world. What lucky Scientists!

Studying Our Five Senses

Today my young scientists explored their five senses using popcorn. After learning the 5 Senses Song (to the tune of BINGO), we popped popcorn and the children used a grid to write about what they observed. It was a very motivating reading, writing, and science lesson.

Word Study -ing Wheels

Spring has arrived and there is no better time to begin studying the ending -ing with the kids. Today they made -ing wheels that they will be sharing with you tonight. Please encourage your reader to spin through the wheel to read all of the -ing words to you.

Thinking Like Scientists

Today our team received a surprise visit from a very special scientist called Dr. Doofenstein. He talked with the kids about what scientists do and then jump started our unit on the five senses by showing the children how he studies bubbles using the scientific method. They loved it! Their budding curiosity makes them such wonderful scientists to work with. Here are a few photos from the skit from Dr. Doofenstein.

Budding Ornithologists

Today we had Hands On Nature. The children learned about Owls. Here are a few photos from today. They enjoyed a puppet show. They dissected own pellets. In Science, our current topic is Thinking Like a Scientist. The children will be thinking about two very important essential questions throughout this unit: What makes someone a scientist? and How do Scientist think? This afternoon I plan to read the children a big book about different types of scientists. How cool that they got to be Ornithologists today...Bird Scientists.