Zoo Week

After a crazy week, it's nice to think there's only 6 more days of school. And then I think, "Six more days of school!?" I can't believe how time has flown! I hope you're looking forward to more time at home together, but I will miss these kiddos! I hope you enjoyed their graduation performance and got lots of great photos and memories. Our adventure at the zoo was a fun experience, meeting new animals and playing with our friends. The days in the classroom were a little out of routine (less centers and activities) due to all our graduation prep. We did involve ourselves in the following activities:

Centers:
Data Collection – Roll a die of zoo animals and chart your data
Mrs. Marisha – begin assessments
Writing – “Willoughby Wallaby Wee” book--a book of rhymes involving an elephant sitting on us!

Word Work – zoo animal word family mats
Shapes and Patterns – I can draw it! zoo animals

Additional Activities:
created Noah's ark craft
read I Like Monekys Because... by Peter Hansard
read Lunch at the Zoo by Brenda Cartee Lee
sang and danced to "Animal Action"
made graduation caps

Checking ou the Cheetah

AM Class at the Zoo



A quick game of tag

using one finger to pet the rabbit

looking at a constrictor snake

Isabelle's excited by the armadillo

Hank crafts an animal out of clay

Tanner made a long snake

Alexa points out a hiding animal

Jade studies the habitat

Cade looks at the wallaby

Charleigh feeds a sheep

Kacie reaches in with treats

a peacock shows off its feathers

We put on listening ears for our tour

checking out hyenas--nice ones, not like the Lion King!

Ashley knows the answer!

Freeze tag!

Digger, this snake, likes to hide in the dirt

Armadillos walk up on their claws and curl to protect themselves

Adrianna and Lydia meet Elvis the Emu

the tiger rests in the shade

Ayla peeks in to the exhibit

Brynn makes friends with a goat

Fearless Micah, meeting a peacock

Eric, a monkey of our own

PM Class at the Zoo

Rodeo

We had a great time at our rodeo, eating hot dogs, roping cattle, shooting cans, and tossing cow patties. I hope everyone in attendance had as much fun as I did!

Math Centers:

• Yee-Haw Round-Up Game--draw a card from the cowboy hat. Identify the number correctly to move ahead one space. If a "Yee Haw" card is drawn, automatically move forward one space.
• Examine cards with various dot patterns on them. Draw the card and write the number of dots contained.
• Tangram puzzles
• Estimate how many stars in the desert sky, then decorate the scene.
• Paint on bandanas (a great use of our fine motor muscles!)

Lit Centers:

• "I have, who has?"--play your cards in order according to the letters written on them. EX: "I have S, who has P?" is written on a card. The player with P then places their card in the pile and says, "I have P, who has X?" The game continues until all cards have been played.
• Reading Loft
• Find rodeo words in the room and write them next to their correct image
• In Bingo fashion, spin a letter on a spinner. Place a marker on a picture beginning with that sound. EX: spin an f, place a marker on the farmer.
• Fish in a bowl for sight words! Practice word identification by coloring the fish containing that same word on your worksheet. Even without reading the words, it is excellent introduction to letter recognition in words and reinforcing reading concepts.

Other Activities:

• Wanted for Fun poster
• Jesus called the disciples picture
• read Rodeo Time by Stuart J. Murphy
• read Armadillo Rodeo by Jan Brett
• made a Venn Diagram comparing horses and cows at the rodeo
• acted as the 12 disciples following Jesus
• Rodeo Day!

Twelve Disciples

Tune of "Jesus Loves Me"

 

Jesus called them one by one,

Peter, Andrew, James and John,

Next, came Philip, Thomas too,

Matthew and Bartholomew.

 

Chorus-

Yes, Jesus called them,

Yes, Jesus called them,

Yes, Jesus called them,

He called them one by one.

 

 

James the one they called the less,

Simon, also Thaddeus,

Twelfth apostle Judas made,

Jesus was by him betrayed.

 

Repeat Chorus

 

Friends play Round-Up

Working to squeeze out color

Kacie decorates the desert

Alexa finds the next letter

Lauren finishes a horseshoe toss

Cade pulls the rope tight

Hank winds up to toss

Kaylee practices riding

Friends enjoy lunch together

Cheese fingers add to the fun!

Nicholas ropes a cow

Ashley decorates her bandana

Ayla finds a fish

AM Rodeo Stars

PM Rodeo Stars

 

Rodeo Day Reminder

Our schoolwide rodeo will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, April 17, from 11:30am -1 pm. Lunch will be provided. Come dressed in your cowboy and cowgirl best for an assortment of center based play. We look forward to a wild ride!

Seeds and Plants

Our Bible lesson and theme went hand in hand this week. We were able to correlate the growth of God's word in our hearts to the way a plant grows, just as Jesus compared in his parable. Encourage your children to have a good heart that is ready to hear God's word and to grow instead of dying because of thoughts and actions that don't honor God. Take a look at what else we accomplished:

Math Centers:

• Measure images of transportation vehicles by counting how many blocks long each is.
• Discuss the life of a plant and its different parts (petals, stem, leaf, roots). Grow a lima bean...results to come next week!
• Draw a card and record the number written. Draw that number of images in the box.
• Use spring stamps to create a pattern.
• Color shapes by assignment, then count and graph.

Lit Centers:

• Assemble plastic eggs by matching captial and lowercase letters
• Write the color words along the arc of the rainbow
• Create a class book using your imagination to think of what a seed might grow
• Play memory by matching capital letters on flowers to their lowercase letters on the pot
• Practice identifying meaning in words by writing, drawing, cutting, and gluing sentences

Additional Activities:

• April showers mobil
• toilet paper roll tulip
• create a class terrarium
• read The Leaf Men, by William Joyce
• read Scarlette Bean, by Karen Wallace
• graph "Do you like rainy days or sunny days better?"

We have been doing our best to practice songs for our upcoming graduation as well. We encourage pretty singing voices, good motions, and no talking between songs. Feel free to practice these with your child at home!

School is Fun

School is fun for you and me,
Come along so you can see
Some like the playground best of all,
Some like the flags that wave so tall
Some like snacks we share and eat,
Some like story time it can’t be beat
School is where we learn to share
and make new friends that really care

Praise the Lord

Praise the Lord , everyone who is small,
everyone who is small, praise the Lord

Praise the Lord, everyone who is tall,
everyone who is small or tall, praise the Lord

Praise the Lord, everyone who is little.
Everyone who’s a little kiddle, praise the Lord

Praise the Lord, everyone who is grown.
Tell the wonders that he has done, praise the Lord

I’m small but growing bigger and bigger and bigger
and bigger and bigger, and I praise the Lord
When I’m small I will praise him and praise him and praise him,
I’ll praise him, and praise him when I am tall

L-O-V-E

Why does God put the rainbow in the sky?
L-O-V-E  love that’s why.
Why does God make frogs jump high?
L-O-V-E  love that’s why.

Why does God make grandmas to hug?
Why does God make such fascinating bugs?
Why does God put the twinkle in your eye?
L-O-V-E  love that’s why.

Why does God send stars at night?
L-O-V-E  love that’s why.
Why does God give birds their flight?
L-O-V-E  love that’s why.

Why does God give the snail a house?
Why does God give a tail to a mouse?
Why does God make snow so white?
L-O-V-E  love that’s why.

Why did God send Jesus to die?
L-O-V-E  love that’s why.
Why on the third day did he rise?
L-O-V-E  love that’s why.

Why does Jesus live again?
Why did he forgive my sin?
Why do I lift praises high?
L-O-V-E  love that’s why.

Why do I lift praises high?
L-O-V-E  love that’s why.

Tony Chestnut

Tony Chestnut knows I love you,
Tony knows, Tony knows.
Tony Chestnut knows I love you,
That’s what Tony knows.

Tony, Tony, and his sister, Ilene.
And Ilene loves Neil, and Neil loves Pat,
but Pat, still loves Bob.
And there’s Russell, and Skip.
This song is silly, but it’s hip.
How it ends, just one man knows.
And guess what?
It’s Tony Chestnut.

Great Big God

You are my great big God, you are my great big God.
Nothing in the world is big enough to be bigger than my great big God.
You are my great big God, you are my great big God.
Nothing in the world is big enough to be bigger than my great big God.

He’s bigger than a toy, bigger than a frog,
bigger than a baseball, bigger than a dog,
bigger than a swing, bigger than a tree,
bigger than a sandbox and bigger than me.
I’m so glad…

You are my great big God, you are my great big God.
Nothing in the world is big enough to be bigger than my great big God.
You are my great big God, you are my great big God.
Nothing in the world is big enough to be bigger than my great big God.

He’s bigger than a bike, bigger than a car,
bigger than a house, bigger than the yard,
bigger than a school bus, bigger than a plane,
bigger than a church or choo-choo train.
I’m so glad…

You are my great big God, you are my great big God.
Nothing in the world is big enough to be bigger than my great big God.
You are my great big God, you are my great big God.
Nothing in the world is big enough to be bigger than my great big God.

Cade checks for letter matches

Tanner erases letters as he copies a sentence

We set free our butterflies!

Bye-Bye Butterflies!

Brynn searches for letter matches

AM Yellow Day

Connor adds a plant to our pot

Ayla shows the roots to her classmates



PM Yellow Day