In anticipation of our 100th day of school some projects came in this week. Some children and families worked on an (optional) 100th Day project. Projects included 100 train tracks (10 each of different shapes), 100 paper clips, and 100 peanuts.
Our bird investigations continued with measuring wingspans of the birds we have studied. We measured the wingspans, marking the length with string and “walking the string out.” This led to many “what if?” discussions and interesting comparisons. We talked about big birds vs small birds and their relationships to wing spans. We even measured our own “wing” spans. We also introduced origami crane folding for those interested. The 4’s especially took to this multi-step, intricate fine motor activity. Visitors to the classroom were amazed to realize how capable your children are!
For our transformation investigations we talked about trees and how they begin their life as a seed. Children sequenced a simple life span of a tree, from seed, to seedling, to tree with leaves, tree without leaves and finally back to seed. Sequencing is an important developmental activity and we came back to it during the week. We also did tree collages using string for the trunk and different colored paper and tissue paper to decorate the leaf part.
In addition to our morning center work working on letters, writing, block building and so forth, we did letter practice in blue sand on the light table. The added sensory components of making colored letters with sand and light helps children to make additional connections to reinforce these basic concepts.
One of the ways we relaxed during our many frigid days inside was to paint rocks with water. We also enjoyed a short piece of the third grade play “Papagano.”
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