All About Bees!

The Touch and Feel pool was delightful this morning as it was filled with flowers!  Real flowers!  The kids enjoyed smelling them....and with no prompting....pulling the petals off one at a time.  So.... the touch and feel turned into a lesson on gentle hands with things that don't belong to us!  Never miss an opportunity to teach something around here!!

The book of the day was Buzz Said The Bee by Wendy Lewison.  This book tells about a bee who lands on a duck.  The duck says "QUACK" to try and scare the bee away, but it doesn't listen.  The duck decides to sit on a hen, which "CLUCK"s to protest, but that doesn't work.  The hen finds a pig, which finds a cow, which finally sits on a sleeping sheep.  None of the animal sounds can wake up the sheep.....until the bee says BUZZ!

We worked on sequencing, ordinal numbers (first, second, third), and superlatives (biggest, littlest) again today.  The kids are really showing some understanding of these concepts as they start to use them in conversations!

There was so many facts about bees to remember, we decided to make a What We Know Chart.  It was full of the concepts we've learned about insects.....since bees are insects too.  But some things were new.....like bees live in a beehive.  And they make honey.  And they NEVER sleep.....never, ever!  They are too busy.  The kids loved this fact.....and they talked about it all through lunch!

 For art, we made hand print bees.  The kids always enjoy painting their hands....it tickles.....as long as they get to wash their hands immediately.  They aren't too fond of "we'll wash our hands later"!  Making the bees was a good chance to share information that each class learned about bees.  For example, the TK kiddos learned about bees collecting pollen in their "special socks"......and my kiddos were real interested in knowing more about that!  It's a proud teacher moment when they learn from each other!!

Shoo FLY!

This morning in the Touch and Feel pool was different colored yarn. The kids lined up the yarn from shortest to longest. We also used the yarn to make upper and lower case letters. During morning circle the kids met the occupational therapist assistant interns Ms. Kelly, Ms. Kristin and Ms. Stephanie that will be working with us on Wednesdays. We reviewed the letter H and practiced identifying words that rhyme.

Ms. Abby was here today...and the kids were so excited to see her! It was too cold to go outside so we practiced running and jumping inside. After we warmed up our bodies, we practiced jumping through hoops. Then the kids completed an obstacle course. They jumped over and crawled under hurdles, then hopscotched to the finish line. The last activity was a relay race. The kids first had to run from one end of the room to the other with a bean bag and then when they got back to the start, they had to do it again.... but this time hopping.  Lots of laughing.....LOTS of cheering for each other!  So glad to have Ms. Abby back.....can't wait until it warms up and we can get outside!

 The story today was There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback. The story tells a tale of an old lady who swallows a fly.....and tries to fix it by swallowing a spider to catch the fly.....and a bird to catch the spider.....and a cat to catch the bird....and so on and so forth! A hole allows readers to see inside her belly, first the critters already devoured and, with the turn of the page, the new animal that will join the crowd in her ever-expanding stomach.  The kids LOVED this book....clearly some of them had heard it before!

After the book, we sequenced all the animals that the old lady ate using picture cards.  We talked about the size of the animals using words like bigger and biggest.  Everyone agreed that nobody could really eat all those animals.....and even if they could.....it would be super yucky!

We learned some interesting facts about flies today.  They are insects....so everything we already know applies.....6 legs,  3 body parts (head, thorax, abdomen), wings, and 2 antennae.  Flies spread germs and like smelly, rotten foods.  They also have no teeth and really big eyes!

For art we made flies.  The kids put together the 3 body parts, added 6 legs, big eyes, and wings.  The wings were super special because they were filled with yarn to give them some 3-D texture.  We labeled our picture with the word FLY.....and flew around the room.

Ladybugs!

The Touch and Feel pool this morning has a "work" component to it.  The kids all had to rip red paper and use their finger muscles to roll in into tiny balls.  The ripping was way more fun....and way less work.....so we were left with bunches of little pieces of paper and not so many balls!

Morning circle is starting to look a little different as we get closer to the end of the school year!  Everyone has got the days of the week and the months of the year down pat.....so we moved on to rhyming and letter sounds and skip counting!  We're never short on things to learn around here!  Gotta keep the kiddos on their toes!

Ms. Michele was here today!  She had another fun obstacle course set up for the kiddos.  First, they each picked an animal card from a large pile.  They had to follow the directions on the card (stomp like an elephant, slither like a snake, run like a cheetah, swing like a monkey, etc.) from the green start line to the red finish line.  Then, there were several colored dots on the floor that the kids had to jump over.  Next was a long line of bubble wrap that they had to jump down and try to pop as many bubbles as they could.  (This was a BIG hit....super noisy and super cool feeling on our feet!).  At the end of the bubble wrap, there were some large tongs for the kids to use to pick a stuffed animal  out of a basket and transfer it to another pile.  Last.....but certainly not least....was a short ride on the scooter board.  Then....back to the start for another turn!!  After several turns, we ended with finger fun.  We used Wiki Stix to make shapes, letters, and people.  Some kiddos even used them to write their names!

No playground today.....the rain had everything soaked.  We took a walk around the neighborhood, and although we didn't see any bugs, there were lots of things to talk about.  Litter....and garbage trucks.....and dogs....kept our conversations interesting!

Our story today was Look Out, Ladybug by Jack Tickle.  Ladybug decides it's time to fly, but she's not very good at it yet. When she leaves her flower, she sees that her flying is a little wobbly. Ladybug tumbles onto an elephant, who then toots his trunk. She lands on tiger's tale and does a looped-the-loop. She crashes on crocodile and then lands on monkey's banana. Right when ladybug gets the confidence to fly perfectly in the sky, she forgets to look where she is going....and it seems she could be headed for a run in with a bear!!

During literacy circle, we made a Have/Can chart all about ladybugs.  This chart holds the information we know about ladybugs, and helps us form longer, more complete sentences!  The kids learned a lot about ladybugs today!!

For art, we used the red balls from the Touch and Feel to make ladybugs.  They had black spots, two eyes, two antennae, and six legs!

It was a fun day all about insects!  The kids have learned so much....and between Herman the Worm and Icky Icky Insects, we have found some new favorite songs!

Spiders Have 8 Legs.....

The Touch and Feel was full of bugs this morning.  Spiders, caterpillars, beetles, lady bugs, dragonflies, and worms.  So many bugs to explore.  The kids were discussing bug names, and comparing how the bugs were alike and different. 

 Ms. Michele was sick today, so we didn't get to see her.  Everyone was very concerned about what was wrong, if she had gone to the doctor, and why she didn't wash the germs off her hands to keep from getting sick!  Hopefully she'll be back next week.....

Today's story was Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk. This book tell about a sociable spider who wants to have a tea party.  But, no one will accept her invitation. Seemingly unaware of how much the other bugs are afraid of her, the spider is confused and saddened when a parade of potential guests scuttle, scamper and scurry away "in mortal dread." A timely rainstorm provides the perfect opportunity for Miss Spider to prove her good intentions, however, as she lovingly nurtures a rain-soaked moth with sweets and warm brew. Good news travels quickly, and before long her web is abuzz with a full-scale tea party. And all her new friends were especially relieved to see Miss Spider eating flowers!!

Our language lesson was comparing spiders with insects.  They are alike in many ways.....but they have some very specific differences!!!  Spiders have 8 legs....and 8 eyes!!  The kids thought that was so cool....we spent a lot of time talking about why they have so many legs and eyes! 

After that we tried a great turn taking activity.  We used the Toca Tea Pary app to have a tea party.  We divided into small groups and did a good job working together.  The kids had to decide on a table cloth, pick plates, snacks, and drinks.  Then they ate and drank....some kids even spilled and cleaned up!  There were opportunities to request more food and drink.  The game ends by each child putting their dishes in the sink.  They LOVED it!  They all wanted to play it again....but that will have to wait for another day!

For science we talked about spider webs. The webs are very sticky to help spiders catch flies and other bugs to eat. BUT....why doesn't the spider get caught in the web? The kids used their finger as pretend bugs crawling on a web (contact paper). They kept getting stuck! Then we learned that spider legs are oily to help them crawl around their sticky web without getting stuck. When the kids dipped their fingers in oil and then they were able to move across the web (contact paper) easily.

For art we made spiders! The kids first painted the spider bodies black. Then we added 8 legs and eyes. The kids pretended they were crawling around our classroom looking for bugs to eat!

We decided to take advantage of the spring-like weather today and head to the park!  Since we were talking about bugs....we turned the trip into an adventure! The kids looked for bugs in the grass and on the ground. They also had a chance to play on the big playground...and they loved it! We sat at picnic tables for lunch....it was so much fun! We had to hurry back to school at the end of the day.... and it was obviously that our little friends had a great time....because they were all super tired!