Math

The children are developing math skills by playing with manipulative and toys that use counting, patterning, matching, classifying, grouping, graphing, sorting and matching.

Blocks

Is your child just "playing" with blocks or is he/she…

• Learning to exchange ideas, negotiate and respect different points of view?
• Developing strength and motor skills by carrying, placing and balancing blocks?
• Developing a concrete understanding of sizes, shapes, numbers, order, area, length, patterns and weight?
• Increasing their vocabulary as they describe what they are building?

Science

Here your child is having opportunities to observe, discover and experience our wonderful world as well as make predictions, see cause and effect and be actively involved in science projects.

Child's questions: How does paper come from trees?

We took books out from the library and read about the process of grinding wood chips, adding water to make a pulp, pressing it flat and letting it dry. We tried it out for ourselves using old scraps of paper.

Child's question: How do animals stay warm in the winter when they hibernate?

We held ice in our hand and if felt very cold, then we held a layer of margarine (in a plastic bag) and put the ice on top of it, and we couldn't feel the ice. Animals eat a lot to build up a layer of fat that will keep them warm.

Experimenting with sound:

We built a ramp for the cars. It was so much fun and a great lesson in cause and effect, gravity and motion. Car ramp play is full of problem solving opportunities which teach children about physical science concepts.

Hibernation

Making caves out of clay for hibernating animals.

Drawing animals that hibernate.

Our winter/hibernation unit culminated with "pajama day". We came to school in pajamas and all took turns in the cave, pretending to hibernate.

Winter

decorating our snowmen and learning the concept of small, medium and large.

Painting with frozen paint popsicles.

Driving cars through shaving cream, pretending its snow. A very sensory experience.

S-P-R-I-N-G

The cold winter is melting away

A single red bird was spotted today

Through the clouds the sun is peeking

Squirrels are about and acorn seeking

New life has come to fields and woods

Children venture out without coats and hoods

In just a few weeks the river will flow

Blossoms on trees are starting to grow

There's still a chill in the springtime air

Winter is gone but the memory is still there

Summer is waiting a few months beyond

To warm the air and the meadow and pond

A gopher peers out from the hole that he makes

Springtime is when the whole world awakes

Spring is here and besides for the sleeping birds, bugs, snakes, squirrels and turtles waking up, our classroom blog is also coming back to life.

Here is a small window into what we have been busy with in our classroom over the last few months.