Field trip

On Friday, May 8, we will be going with Mrs, Carpenter's class to the Hands On Museum. While we are there, we will participate in a science lab called “Bright Idea”.  Students will explore light and optics as we learn how light travels, where shadows come from, and what color light really is using flashlights, lenses, special glasses and more.  The trip will be from 10:30 – 2:00. We will get to the museum on the SK buses.  Each child will need to bring a sack lunch: we will be eating at the museum. If you can come along for part or all of the trip, please let me know.

Soft House

We have been enjoying reading Jane Yolen's books and poems. Last week, after reading her book, Soft House, the children made a soft house of their own.

Earth Day

April 22 we celebrated Earth Day by picking up trash in our neighborhood and planting sunflower seeds.  The seeds were harvested from the sunflowers that stood in the front of the school last fall. 

Treasure Boxes

The first two "favorite thing boxes" came from home today.  The audience was as filled with anticipation to see what would emerge from the boxes as the presenters were excited to show their treasures.  

Remember to check the list to see when your child will have a turn.

 Thank you to Mast Shoes for donating the empty shoe boxes to make this project possible.

My favorite things

"I have a box, it's an old shoe box, and it's just about this big square.

If you come over here you can look in my box, cuz my favorite things are there."

Tom Hunter

Tom Hunter wrote this song for the early childhood educator, Bev Bos.  It is the perfect starting point for children sharing their favorite items from home.

Today, the children decorated a shoe box to put their favorite things in.  After vacation, they will bring their box to school and show the class what they chose to put in the box.

Below are the names of children and days they get to bring their box back to school:

Monday, April 20:

Amelia and Ian

Tuesday, April 21:

Emma and Stanley

Wednesday, April 22:

Noah and Emi

Thursday, April 23:

David, Melissa, and Quinn

Friday, April 24:

Nicholas, Freya, and Toussaint

Multiplication

After vacation, we will start a math unit on multiplication.  

As an introduction to the unit, Mrs. Carpenter's came in and read us a book: Amanda Bean's Amazing Dream by Cindy Neuschwander.  Then her class taught our class a couple multiplication games.

Unique Library Experiences

Thanks to Tim at the University of Michigan's Map Library for showing us maps and atlases of the African Rainforest.  The children also enjoyed the ball/globes and looking out the window to find the water tower by our school.  

At school the children were librarians.  They alphabetized the school novels. At first, it seemed like an overwhelming task but finally all the books on the cart were in alphabetical order.

On Friday, we took a trip to the Mallets Creek Library.  Our tour focused on how the Library was built with a commitment to "being green".  We learned how the building was built using recycled materials, has energy saving features, and how the plants around the library help preserve the wetlands and Huron River.  After the tour we had an opportunity to explore the books and computers.

Author Study

This month's theme is "Author Studies".  When I choose an author to study with young children, I like to find an author who writes chapter books and picture books.   These two types of books give the children very different experiences. When we read picture books, we generally read them in one sitting; the illustrations join with words to create the overall image of the story.  Chapter books (novels), we read over several weeks.  The children must follow the story line over time and create most of the images in their own minds.

For this year's author study, I chose Jane Yolen.  For years I have been reading Jane Yolen's book, Owl Moon, to children, but I had no idea of the depth and breadth of her writing.  Yolen has written literally hundreds books for children of all ages. 

This month, we will be looking at a very small selection of her works.  The novel we will read is the first in a trilogy.  It is a fantasy called Wizard's Hall.  We will also be reading a variety of her picture books.  If your child enjoys her stories, you will have a vast array of books to read for years to come.

Kudos

Congratulations to Toussaint.

Toussaint competed in the "Grasshopper Division" of the Garden State Invitational Martial Arts Championships and won a trophy in in the "forms competition". Forms are pre-arranged attacks and defenses against imaginary opponents.  Competitors are judged on their balance, and the power and the precision of their techniques.

Closure to rainforest unit

The rainforest unit is coming to an end.  As a culmination project, the children made a beautiful rainforest collage representing a variety of rainforest animals and  the layers of vegetation (forest floor, shrub layer, under layer, canopy, and emergent layer).   

The children were also excited to report to the class about the information that they learned about the African rainforest animal they researched.  

The mural and animal "reports" are posted in our classroom.