Week of May 4, 2015
The Itsy Bitsy Spider...
This week, we are launching off our new thematic unit Insects with the study of a related animal - arachnids! We will learn about spiders, parts of a spider, how they build webs, the purpose of building a web, etc. We will have a secondary focus on counting - counting several items to eight while using one-to-one correspondence. We are learning that most spiders have eight legs and eight eyes!
The students will also incorporate a number of sensory experiences this week. In the Monday class, we will cook a recipe for corn starch dough. We will shape this dough on Tuesday and Wednesday to create spider sculptures. On Thursday and Friday, we will make another solution of glue and liquid starch to create a sticky goop - perfect for catching flies! The students will continue gardening in the discovery table, with gloves or without, adding water to our top soil and newly sprouted seeds!
Some of the vocabulary we will introduce and review this week includes insect, arachnid, spider, legs, eight, and web.
Music Time!
This week we will sing the familiar song "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" during circle and transition times. We also do variations like "The Great Big Spider" with a low voice and big motions and "The Teeny Tiny Spider" with a high voice and tiny motions.
Two of the substances we will make and play with in class this week include corn starch dough and gak. Corn starch dough is very soft and clean, and it dries really nicely with limited cracking - great for next year's Christmas ornaments!
Gak is a wonderful sensory experience. When it is the right consistency, it shouldn't stick to hands as much as it likes to stick to itself - just add more liquid starch if this is not the case.
Below are links to some recipes…
http://www.argostarch.com/Recipe/Play_Clay
http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/liquid-starch-slime-easy-sensory-play-recipe/
Week of May 11, 2015
Caterpillars and Famous Authors...
It is an exciting time in our classroom! We will continue our study of bugs with the introduction of worms and caterpillars into our classroom. We will learn about how worms help plants grow by putting nutrients in the soil. We met our new caterpillars last week, and we will continue to observe them as they go through their life cycle. We will learn that caterpillars eat to gain energy to build a chrysalis (a cocoon if they are a moth), undergo metamorphosis inside, and then emerging as a butterfly!
In addition to the science focus during this unit, we will have a secondary literary focus. We will introduce the children to a wide array of books by the famous author Eric Carle, starting with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We will make observations about his style of art, watch a video on how he creates his collage-style illustrations, and then recreate the process ourselves in a multi-day project.
Some of the vocabulary we will introduce and review this week includes insect, arachnid, spider, web, silk, caterpillar, butterfly, egg, chrysalis, metamorphosis, author, artist, collage, and Eric Carle.
Here is the video we will watch of Eric Carle creating his collages. We will focus on the short bit starting at 1:10 where we can see him creating the caterpillar. I have also placed a link below to the website for the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. It is a neat site to visit during summer travels!
http://youtu.be/fvRcCKP5v6Q
http://www.carlemuseum.org
Week of May 18, 2015
More Insects...Through the Eyes of Eric Carle
Last week, we read Eric Carle's wildly popular book The Very Hungry Caterpillar in connection with our unit on insects and our observation of the class caterpillars. We began a mini- author study on Eric Carle. We learned that the author is the person who writes the book and the illustrator creates the pictures. They are an artist. Eric Carle is an author and an artist. We learned that he creates his art by painting tissue paper with many colors and textures. He then cuts shapes from the papers after they dry, sorts them into colors, and then assembles them into collages to create his illustrations. We began painting our papers, adding layers of color and adding texture with the back of the paintbrush. This week, the teachers have cut shapes out of the papers, and the children will assemble them into Eric Carle style collages!
We will continue to study Eric Carle's work this week, trying to identify the books in the library that have been illustrated by him! We will read the books The Very Quiet Cricket and The Very Lonely Firefly, which, in addition to The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Busy Spider are part of The Very Quartet. On the book jacket of The Very Lonely Firefly, Carle outlines the relationship between these four books in a letter to his readers. He writes:
"Dear Friends,
After The Very Hungry Caterpillar had been published I wanted to create a Veryquartet. With this book, I have achieved that goal.
1.The Very Hungry Caterpillar is about hope. You, like the little caterpillar, will grow up, unfold your wings and fly off into the future.
2.The Very Busy Spider is about work. We need to work and finish our tasks despite the many diversions.
3.The Very Quiet Cricket is about love. Crickets and people alike search for and hope to find a suitable mate.
4.The Very Lonely Firefly is about belonging. We all want to belong to a group, a family, our own fellow creatures.
I hope you like my firefly."
Some of the vocabulary we will introduce and review this week includes Insects, arachnid, antennae, cricket, firefly, ladybug, caterpillar, chrysalis, metamorphosis, Eric Carle, author, illustrator, and artist.
Week of May 25, 2015
Happy to Bee Together!
This week, we look forward to spending time with more of your child's family! See the note on the Homepage for more information about "Grandfriends" Day.
We will be spending our last week of the Insect unit learning about bees! We will learn that bees (like butterflies) like nectar from flowers. We will learn that they use the nectar to create honey! They build hives out of wax, put the nectar inside the cells, fan it with their wings to dry it and make it thicker, and then they have honey! We will learn about the different parts of a bee: six legs, head, thorax, abdomen, antennae, wings, stinger. We will listen to music inspired by the sound that bees make and paint expressively to it using our fingers!
Be sure to stop by the classroom and check out our beautiful collages that the children made in the artistic style of Eric Carle!
Some of the vocabulary we will introduce and review this week includes insect, arachnid, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly, metamorphosis, bumblebee, head, thorax, abdomen, antennae, stinger, author, artist, and Eric Carle.
Music Time!
The music we will listen to while finger painting is the famous "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Rimsky-Korsakov. Here is a cute animation of Maestro Minnie conducting the piece (with a few embellishments added)!
http://youtu.be/XCYf6ROMqeI
Music, Month of May
The Toddler and Toddler Transition classes will be enjoying some of our spring songs such as "Five Little Ducks" and "My Turtle." This is a finger play which goes:
This is my turtle and here is his shell, (pointer finger)
He likes his home very well. (other hand cupped)
He pokes out his head when he wants to eat, (push finger through)
And pulls it back in when he wants to eat. (pull finger back)
We will also begin orchestra instrument demonstrations--flute, clarinet, violin and trumpet. I will be using real instruments, sound clips and other props to help students learn about instruments and their sounds.
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