butterfly larvae hatching

Today we started a week of crafts to do with the life cycle of the butterfly.

We started with the butterfly larvae hatching from the egg. Materials needed include paper plates, watercolour paint, brad fasteners, googly eyes, round paper circles, hole punch, scissors and glue stick.

The children had fun just painting (note to self - have a week of a variety of painting). One little guy was thrilled that he could poke a hole in into the paint block.

After painting you need to cut the paper plate in half, punch a hole in two of the corners and put in the brad fastener.

Then glue the round paper circle on the inside of the plate. Add on googly eyes and any face you want.

I'm a hungry, hungry caterpillar.

games

We've been focused on "What comes from eggs?"

Here are a few games that have been out to explore.

I found these tiny coloured foam eggs at a dollar store and the egg cups that match.
The children enjoyed sorting the colours.
Although the little ones wanted to eat them.

Another matching game - stuffies to photos - of creatures that come from eggs.


Now we're getting into butterflies and this sorting game can sort by colour or shape.

Nature art

Yesterday we went for a nature walk and came back with a piece of art.

I had seen this idea on a couple of different nature sites and wanted to show the families how easy it is to collect and display outdoor finds.

The frame is made from cardboard. I painted one side. Then cut mactac, clear adhesive, to fit the frame.

Press onto back of the cardboard frame.

Out for your walk and when something is found just stick it on the front.

It's a great window display.

Bread dough

Ah what a wonderful feeling it is to work (and play) with bread dough.

This morning I brought in frozen bread dough rolls - let them thaw - and put them out with flour.



The kids jumped in with poking and squishing and rolling and making their creation.







More flour had to be added after playing with it for sometime.






Mmmm they smelled delicious.

Happy Earth Day

We had an amazing day today.
The sun was shining and we had fun checking out our frog eggs and butterfly larvae.

At the art table I had placed
scraps of laminating in the
shape of circles. Plus small pieces of green and blue cellophane. And, of course, lots of glue.

I found a book called
The Earth and I by Frank Asch.
http://www.amazon.com/Earth-I-Frank-Asch/dp/0152063951

It has beautiful colourful illustrations and simple text.





Today was the first day for our Spuds (in a tub) to be put outside.
The children wrote our class name on the tub, then wheeled them down the hall and to the front of the school.

Finally we got together with our grade 4 Big Buddies to share books and plant flowers outdoors.

Collecting life

Wow it was an amazing day.

After cleaning the house and doing laundry (yes I do more than work related things on my day off) I drove out to a friend's house to get frog eggs.


The sun was shining today so really enjoyed my friends pond, set in her front yard. Gathered up pond water and eggs and headed back towards town.



Only to stop at a farm to pick up fertilized chicken eggs. Lisa gave me a tour around and I petted the baby goats and saw the ducklings. The cow is due to give birth any day.

Hopefully when our chicks hatch and we deliver them back to the farm there will be lots of animals for us to visit.

Back at school I read the instructions for the incubator and discovered that it needed to be running for at 24 hours before putting the eggs in so it could reach the proper temperature and humidity. Luckily I have about a 6 day grace period with the eggs.

Next I poured the frog spawn into an aquarium so it's set for the families to see tomorrow.


Finally before leaving school I checked in at the office and found that the butterfly larvae had arrived. Yippee! I took it home to prepare the food. It smelled like oatmeal.




It was harder using the paint brush to separate the larvae from the main container into the individual ones.

Worm Hotel

Today we built a worm hotel.

In this week's newsletter I asked families to bring in worms if they find any when they are out and about. It rained last night so this morning there were a lot of worms available.

One little guy arrived, hand behind back, telling me he brought something for breakfast.
Tada, a jar of worms, yum?

Later in the morning they reminded me they wanted to build the worm hotel so we got out the materials. I had found a kit with the special sand at a teacher's supply store.

Two families went to work building the hotel.

They started with a large jar and then placed a smaller one inside of it. (This is so the worms will be closer to the outside and hopefully we'll be able to watch them better.)

They layered the special sand with potting soil.

Added water and then put the worms in.



We talked about what worms eat and after mentioning about the compost and leaves they went outside to find some goodies.


While finding grass and leaves they found more worms.

Spuds in Tubs

Today is a professional day so no families attending. I thought I would share one of the science activities we are doing.

Spuds in Tubs is a fun experiment to grow potatoes indoors. It teaches children that food comes from the soil not the grocery store.

We planted the potato seeds in a clear container so we could check on the roots. When not peeking we wrap the tub in black paper.

Soon we'll be putting the tub outside during the day.

We have an ongoing survey on what are the favourite ways we like to eat potatoes.
We hope to harvest the potatoes by mid June before school is finished so we can cook some of the favourite dishes.

glove chick

This morning's craft had a very definite outcome and didn't allow for to much creativity although we did our best to encourage the children to choose anything off the craft shelf to add to make their chick theirs.

I had prepared the gloves before hand by first cutting a styrofoam egg in half and hot gluing a half egg on to the palm of the glove.

When the children arrived
they picked out a glove (with egg attached) and liberally squeezed glue on to the egg. (To me this is such an important job because it works the muscles in their fingers and hands - all prep for eventually holding a writing instrument.)

Next came the fake feathers - we used yellow Easter grass. It was tricky because it's so light and once it has glue on it, it will stick to everything - especially hands.

Then came the creative part - some children used old puzzle pieces for the chick legs. Others cut beaks out of paper. They all liked using the googly eyes.

We had to let them dry before trying them on.

grass egg heads

Today we painted and planted.



Using cardboard egg cartons and egg shell halves we painted both.












Then filled them with soil, sprinkled on grass seed and watered.
Now we have to wait.
In case someone else wants to make one, I left the materials out.

Day off work

It was a beautiful day outside and managed to get in a walk with my husband in the morning.
Then after lunch I headed into school to do some clean up.


It was time to pack away all things pirate.

The families had a lot of fun playing in the pirate ship and acting as pirates.

We buried gold nuggets (painted rocks) and doubloons in the sand box.

One family built a cannon for us and it was a hit.