Field Trip to Lincoln Park Zoo!  The kiddos were troopers exploring the zoo and checking out the animal exhibits.  

Centers

Language Arts- The children made shooting stars.   The word family –at was on the star and the children had to create words to match this family.  Some of the children were challenged to write the new word!

Math- Counted cubes with one to one correspondence and built a rocket to match with the corresponding number. 

Journal- Prompt, ‘What was your favorite animal in the zoo?’

The kiddos did a great job adding details to their pictures and writing a few words!

Independent- The children practiced writing their names and drawing letters in the moon sand. 

Reading buddies 

End of the year events:

PK/JK breakfast- Monday, June 6^th 8:30-9:30

Last day of school- Wednesday, June 8^th Sunset Woods Park in Highland Park

Blast Off!!

This week we began our Space unit and explored the Moon, Sun, Earth, and a few of the planets.  We even got to participate in Astronaut training! Take a look to see the exciting activities from the week.

Centers

Math- The children counted unifix cubes and connected them to ‘build a rocket’

Language Arts- The children read an emergent reader focusing on the popcorn words, ‘I see the.’ There were a variety of space words the children became familiar with. 

Independent- The children were determined to complete a space station and planets puzzle. They did a great job!

Art- The children sponge painted the Sun and the Moon. 

Also, the kiddos used the letters in their name to build a rocket ship.

Astronaut Training

This week we designed and created our rocket ships.  Using boxes and recyclable materials the kiddos shined using their creativity to design a rocket ship.

BEE BOTS

The children operated the bee bots and designed a maze for the bots to travel!

Next Week

Lincoln Park Zoo- Wednesday, May 25th

PK Breakfast- Monday, June 6th

From Caterpillar to Butterfly!

This week we learned all about the life cycle of a butterfly.  We observed the caterpillars in our classroom and will keep a close eye in the upcoming weeks, so we can witness the changes they will undergo!

The children will see when the caterpillar is preparing its transformation, it will attach itself with silk to the top of the jar and hang in a ‘J’ shape.  This tells us the caterpillar is getting ready for the next stage…a chrysalis!

In Morning meeting, we used models and focused on the four stages of metamorphosis.  The kiddos used toy models to learn and we even used our bodies to act out the life cycle.  We read many nonfiction books so the kiddos could see real pictures of the transformation and learn what to look for!  Our favorite fiction story was, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. I would find the children all week pulling this story from the shelf and using the pictures to say the story out loud or sharing with a friend!

Centers

Language Arts- Butterfly picture journal. 

Also, a making words activity with magnetic letters. 

Math- Bugs in a jar counting activity.

Art- Sponge painted caterpillars.  The children made patterns for the colors of the body!

Fine motor- The children strung small beads onto pipe cleaners and added a face to make their own caterpillars.

Journals- The prompt was, ‘Tell me how caterpillars grow and change.’

A trip to the library! 

 The kiddos listened to two stories about Spring and baseball. They got a chance to browse and look at some stories as well.