Measuring Caterpillars

This week while we watched our caterpillars grow, 

I challenged the children to measure them.

Each day a child would pick a caterpillar and after looking at it,

they would thread beads onto a pipe cleaner.

Then record the number in our journal.

 First we would estimate how many beads we would need

then after measuring, remove or add beads as needed.

It won't be too many more days before most form their chrysalis.

Dragonflies

We made dragonflies for a craft.

I saw this idea over at Sun Hats & Wellie Boots.

The children loved it and the parents appreciated that their child could do it on their own.

All you need are pipecleaners, pony beads and wings cut from a clear material.

I used overhead transparencies.

This is what we did.

 Fold a pipe cleaner in half and thread a bead to almost the end.

 Slide the wings between the pipe cleaner.

 Thread another bead onto both sides of the pipe cleaner

to hold the wings snug.

Add as many beads to the body as you wish.

Then finish it off by decorating the wings with permanent markers.

Then make your dragonfly fly.

Spirals

Buddy day and I found a book

for a great activity.

This book is not about snails but about spirals.

How they can curl up tight then stretch out long.

The illustrations are wonderful.

It is a great book to talk about lines in art work.

The children designed and coloured their spirals.

Using different techniques, like putting two markers together to colour,

or zig zags were just a few.

I love how the children get involved with each other.

And confer about what they are working on.

The big buddies cut them out while the little ones waited.

A spiral starts out small but can stretch out far.

Almost taller than some.

Next few pictures show a little one playing with the spiral like a spring.

 Placing it together

 then quickly pulling it up.

And others made it spring around themselves as they walked back to our class.

The big buddies liked it so much that they made their own later in the afternoon.

Tea Party

Today we celebrated family.

We shared tea together.

I decked out our snack table elegantly with tablecloth,

flowers and

tea sets.

 The children loved drinking from the tea cups.

I think a few grown ups were, at first, nervous.
But they relaxed when they saw how the children used the cups
with care.

 The children drank water in their cups

or some ventured to try tea.

I made special tea cups too.

I was inspired by the Edible Tea Cups at FamilyGo.com

But instead of filling with candy, 

I popped a mini cupcake inside

then the children iced them.

Then ate them.

It looks like he's drinking a latte.

Cheers to families!

Celebrating Families

Today is Mother's Day but tomorrow we are having a tea party to celebrate mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

This is a song we will be signing and singing.

Jane Cobb taught it to me and I taught her the signs.

Come A'Look A'See

Come a'look a'see

Here's my mama

Come a'look a'see

Here's my papa

Come a'look a'see

My brother tall

Sister, baby

I love them all

 

Come a'look a'see
Here's my grandma
Come a'look a'see
Here's my grandpa
Come a'look a'see
My uncle tall
Aunty, cousin
I love them all.

Spuds in Tubs 2012

We are taking part again this year in BC Agriculture in the Classroom 

project "Spuds in Tubs".

In March we planted our seed potatoes in a big black tub.

 There are 5 seeds in the tub and we measured to make sure that they were

10cm from the edge of the tub.

We watered them and set the tub in a sunny spot in our classroom

and waited for them to sprout.

 When they had sprouted and it was almost our Spring Break,

we moved them out to the greenhouse.

They grew much bigger over the break.

 One day we went out to see how they were growing

and drew pictures.

 We looked at the shape of the leaves and how many were on a plant.

We looked at the lines on each leaf and talked about how the leaves felt.

This child said they felt fuzzy and is drawing lots of little lines to show that.

We were proud to show each other what we drew so I decided

that we would show the whole school.

Today a teacher asked when the potatoes will be ready.

Before summer holidays, I said.

When we harvest them we will have a potato celebration with our 

big buddy class.