Hello, Bluebird Families!
We had a fun week full of wildlife! Our 3 monarch butterflies emerged and were released on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday! They were so beautiful and fascinating to watch! I was able to capture several fun pictures and a video that you can see on our Instagram! On Wednesday, we also met Lily the Boa Constrictor, a family pet of one of the Friendly Foxes. It was mesmerizing to watch her as she moved around the picnic shelter. Some Bluebirds could not get close enough, while others could not stay far enough away! It was a great experience for all, and even those who were not comfortable with the idea of getting close or touching her acknowledged that she seemed like a nice snake. On Thursday, we observed a katydid and a grasshopper, comparing their body shapes, sizes, colors, and how they move. Our class sure does love critters!
So besides our amazing animal adventures, we began learning some new math concepts this week. We made addition number sentences for all of the numbers that combine to equal the number of each day’s date. The children are catching on quickly, noticing patterns, and pointing out that it doesn’t matter what order the addends are in. If they are the same numbers, then they equal the same sum. For example 5+1=6 and 1+5=6. We also began learning about how time fits together. Your child may come home letting you know or teaching a younger sibling that 60 seconds = 1 minute, 60 minutes = 1 hour, 24 hours = 1 day, 7 days = 1 week, 4 weeks = 1 month, and 12 months = 1 year. These are not just facts that we are memorizing. We are understanding how the clock and calenday work together as we keep track of and plan out our time. While these are pretty complex concepts, I find that children at this age really enjoy learning about time. It helps them to understand more when you tell them how long until their birthday or until you go on that bike ride. It helps them make sense of their world! We continued to practice time telling to the hour and the half hour on both digital and analog clocks. We will soon be learning about quarter after and quarter ’til.
The children were very engaged in completing puzzles this week, so we did several individually, with partners, and all together. They really love that feeling of accomplishment as they see the pictures come together! We also played with some apple cinnamon playdoh this week. I loved seeing the children’s creativity and unique ideas! They kept saying, “This smells so good! Are you sure we can’t eat it?” Hahaha! On Thursday we made our own apple game! We colored popsicle sticks with our green markers to make tree branches. We used toilet paper and paper towel tubes as the tree trunks. And the apples were red pom poms. Each child picked a number tile and then carefully placed that number of brances and apples on the tree. It was a fun balancing act. They were so proud of themselves, saying, “We did this! We made this game!” We read Apples, Apples, Apples and noticed how the pictures of the book were made from cut paper. The children thought that was so cool! In this book, we learned about many different varieties of apples. On Tuesday, we will be having an apple tasting!
Looking forward to another great week!
Anna
