Our students are like busy bees, gathering knowledge as the bees gather honey. It is so exciting to watch and hear them making connections between the various stories, activities and their world. They are keeping their teachers on their toes as they explore, they keep making new discoveries and coming up with new questions. In recent weeks, Alpha had a visit from Mr. Dan from the Animal House pet store. Among the things he taught them were that snakes are cold-blooded while the guinea pig, rabbit and ferret are all warm-blooded.
The Junior Kindergartners had a visit from Sharon Hauser from the SPCA. She brought Rusty, the dog she rescued 9 years ago and used a flannel board story to teach the children about adopting and caring for pets. Ms. Hauser was thrilled by the supplies the children had collected as well as by the dog biscuits that each class baked for the animals at the SPCA.
Last week the Junior Kindergartners learned about hydroponic gardening at the First Fruits Hydroponic Gardens in St. Petersburg. The children got participate in the process of building the towers and planting strawberry plants in them. They also walked through the gardens and saw tomotoes growing as well as zucchini, lettuce, and kale that were almost ready to harvest.
Back at school, the children enjoyed acting out the process using piping, styrofoam pieces and artificial plants.
Other recent activities involved seasonal products such as apples and pumpkins as well as lots of fun with spiders, bats, and cats.
 |
| Here Mrs. McIvor and the children act out the words to a favorite Halloween song. |
 |
| The produce area features farm style dress-up clothes as well as other props for the children to use in their socio-dramatic play. |
 |
| Apples are fun to use for printing. Did you know that cutting an apple cross-wise reveals a hidden star? |
 |
| Transferring activities help strengthen small motor control and can also teach sorting and one-to-correspondence. |
 |
| During exploring on Friday, the Alpha students enjoyed holiday cookies and "ghost" milk made from milk and orange sherbet using a blender. |
 |
| In JK, there was a wide variety of October themed activities including making ghosts from tissues and drawing and dictating Halloween stories. |
|
Remember the good old days when families sat around played board games together? Children still love playing that kind of game and they learn so many skills from them including taking turns and sportsmanship. They also can teach and reinforce numeral and letter recognition, counting, one-to-one correspondence, letter sounds and more.
Here are a few more pictures of recent fun and learning to enjoy:
 |
| Ms. Bowen's class planted mystery seeds in a special plant food and are documenting their growth as they eagerly wait to find out what kind of seeds they are. |
 |
| There are so many things you can do with silk flowers: sort them, count them , "plant" them, arrange them and sell them in the flower shop. |
 |
| After their leaf walk, Mrs. Jotch's class used the leaves to create collages and drawings. |
 |
| The special potting mixture was fun to feel as the children filled the plater. |
 |
| During clean up time, the children spontaneously bust into a chant of "teamwork, teamwork, teamwork!" |
 |
| Sharing time is extra special when two friends share together. |
 |
| There are lots of pictures you can make by stamping your fingerprints and adding details with markers. |
 |
| Sometimes the children enjoy seeing photos of themselves engaging in activities as much as they enjoy the activity itself! |
 |
| A yarn spider web provided lots of fun and an exercise in agility and coordination. |
 |
| The teachers showed the children how to move over the "web" from one place to another by lifting their feet high, but the children discovered that crawling under the web was just as much fun! |
This week promises to be just as busy and exciting, watch for more documentation of our adventures in learning next week!
