April

We are finishing our discussion of Daniel Pinkwater and his books and moving on to April's theme: Water.

We read 20 books by Daniel Pinkwater out of the more than 70 he has written. The next time you are at the library, you may want to look for some more of his books. You will find them in the picture book section as well as in the chapter book section of the library.

We will start our Water unit by watching a DVD by Bill Nye the Science Guy about the Water Cycle. After vacation, the children will be setting up water experiments to learn more about the water cycle. Some of the other topics we will consider during the unit are: water conservation, water pollution, and what is a watershed.

Stay tune to your favorite blog for updates.

Special Events in April:

Monday, April 5-Friday April 9...School closed for Spring Break

Sunday, April 11...FestiFools 4:00-5:00 (meet at 3:00, Ruth will provide more details soon)

Friday, April 16...Parent Coffee 8:45

Friday, April 23...Barn Dance 7:05

Friday, April 30...Wild Swan Theater Production of Charlotte's Web leave school at 9:30 return for lunch

Snack list for the remainder of the year

Each week a family will provide snacks for the class. There are 2 snack times per day. Currently, there are 8 children in the class.

None of the children have food allergies or restrictions, so the only requirement is that the snacks are healthy and nut-free.

Mark your calendar:

April 12-16 Loosen-Giardino

April 19-23 Rhodes

April 26-30 Bayoneto

May 3-7 Chapel

May 10-14 Douglas

May 17-20 Moellering

May 24-28 Keppo

June 1-4 Maynard

June 7-9 Loosen-Giardino

Plant Science

In January, I brought tulips in to brighten up the room. While they were blooming, the class took some of the flowers apart to discover the parts of a flower. We found the petals, stigma, style, anther, and pollen. As the days went on we saw the ovary fatten and dissected a couple to find the seeds forming inside. After the flowers and leaves dried completely, we emptied the flower pots and found the roots and bulbs.

Then we set up experiments. The children brainstormed a variety things to do with the bulb to see what type of materials the bulbs would grow in.

Here is what they came up with:

Put one in water

Put one in a pot with soil

Put one in ice in the freezer

Plant one outside in dirt

Plant one outside in mud

Put one in a cup of paint

Plant one in a pot with dirt and water

Put one in a cup of sand

The children check the experiment everyday to observe any changes.

Author Study

Daniel Pinkwater

So far we have read 8 picture books and 2 chapter books by Daniel Manus Pinkwater, and have started reading a biography of his life by Alice B. McGinty.

Thank you to Clementine for sharing her Pinkwater novel, Blue Moose and Return of Blue Moose.

As we read Daniel Pinkwater's stories, as well as stories by other authors, we have been looking at the structure of the stories, and their characters, settings, and "problems". In our discussions, we have been talking about how problems in stories make them interesting. For each story we read, we discuss the problem(s) the characters face and how the problem(s) get solved.

This month each child is working on writing their own books. At the beginning of the month, the children received a notebook (an "idea book") to write down plans for their stories. The first exercise was to think of a character, draw a picture of the character, and then write down at least 5 things about the character. The second assignment was to think about the setting for the story. The next step, is to think about what problem the character(s) encounter. By the end of the month, the children will dictate their story for me and I will print out the stories for them to illustrate, and their first book will be complete.

If you would like to learn more about Daniel Pinkwater, check out his web site:

http://www.pinkwater.com/pzone/

Molly

Molly has become an unexpected addition to our science program this spring. Shan provided me the link, I showed the children, and we are all hooked. The children come in everyday and ask me to see what Molly is doing.

Watching Molly and her owlets, "live", while learning about barn owls has been an amazing experience.

Molly lives in California so when we check in with her first thing in the morning the "live cam" is in black and white, night vision mode. The first day we checked in we had a discussion about time zones and the difference between Michigan and California time. Now, when we check on her we have to figure out what time it is in California.

If you and your child would like to check on Molly and her growing family during the evenings or weekends click here: Molly cam

Red Letter day for Emma

Thursday, March 11, was an exciting day for Emma and her family. After 3 years of living with Mark and Christine, Lilith and Emma are officially adopted into the Moellering family. Joanna and I were able to attend the procedings. There were smiles and tears of joy as the judge pronounced the adoption official.