Valentine's Day Party

The snow delayed our celebration - but we finally got to enjoy our Valentine's today!

Thank you to all the adults and children who worked so hard on their valentine containers. They were amazing, and I know your child enjoyed the extra time you spent with him or her :)

A BIG thanks to Bryanna and her mom for sending us donuts to go with our candy treats.

THANKS to all who sent cards and candy treats!!!!!!!!!!!!

The children had a great time. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy:

I love those smiling faces. I hope your Valentine's Day was special at home too.

Marsupials Visit

Yesterday Mrs. Dally brought three animals to our class from Wildlands Conservancy.  She was teaching us about animals that live in Australia, and about animals that have pouches. An animal that has a pouch for its baby is called a marsupial.

This is an opossum. It is the only marsupial mammal that lives in North America. She can have 13 babies that grow up in her pouch, and then hang on her back.

This is a sugar glider. This marsupial mammal comes from Australia.

This is a bearded dragon. It is a reptile that lives in Australia. 

Her fur was very soft.

The opossum likes to climb trees. She can hold onto branches with her prehensile tail. 

The opossum is awake at night so it is nocturnal.

She has 50 sharp teeth.

She is an omnivore. Her favorite foods are vegetables, berries, insects, and rodents.

Her tail was hard and didn't have any fur on it.

The sugar glider can glide 150 feet from tree to tree using the wedded skin on her sides. She lives in tree cavities.

She hunts at night so she is nocturnal. She eats bugs and plants. Her fingers and toes are opposable, they work like our hands. She can hold onto things with her prehensile tail.

The bearded dragon has sharp claws on its long toes. It is also an omnivore. 

He poses in the sun to get warm. He lives in the Australian deserts. 

This lizard's tail will not grow back if it is lost.

He is awake in the day. So he is diurnal.

This echidna - a spiny anteater - did not come to school. We learned it is a marsupial mammal that lives in Australia and it lays eggs! The egg hatches in the mom's pouch and the baby grows up there.

The kangaroo has a joey in her pouch. It is the last marsupial mammal we learned about that lives in Australia. They are herbivores - they eat plants.

Me Voy!

Habitat Sensory Bins

Hopefully your child came home from school excited and eager to tell you all about the new sensory bins in our classroom. You are probably wondering what they are and why we have them.

Sensory bins are bins with carefully selected items for your child to explore, experiment with, and discover. They have items that will help your child learn and remember using several of their senses. It is hands on learning. We will use sensory bins in several ways in our class.

First to introduce new things ~ the Australia bin is an example of this. We are just beginning our study of Australia, but in the bin your child can explore a map of Australia, animals, and shells.

Second to practice what we have already learned ~ the groundhog bin is an example of this. The children used the sun/flashlight and clouds to experiment with making shadows.

Third to practice math ~ counting, sorting, pattern.

Fourth to practice language ~ they are given the opportunity to talk to their partners about what they are exploring in the bin.

Last, but still very important to learn from each other and to work cooperatively with their peers.

The Australia Bin. The children were amazed by the blue colored rice.

Experimenting with a funnel and shells.

Digging right in.

Do I hear a whale or the ocean?

"I've got to see this!"

The sea star was the star of this bin.

Love that blue rice.

How much can I fit in this shell?

The groundhog bin.

Working together.

Can you see your shadow groundhog?

Are you hungry?

Making the farm show.

This is what its all about ~ happy faces that have learned a ton working together.

I hope you have found this informative and interesting. Stay tuned for more posts ~ both of what we have already done this year and of things to come.