Welcome to the rainforest!

The Ladybugs have been busy these
last couple of week learning about the rainforest.

We are learning about the layers of the rainforest
and some of the animals that live there.  This
is the Blue Morpho Butterfly.  Turns out they aren't
really blue-they just look that way!
 

Everyday we add another animal to our rainforest
mural.  Today we added the aye aye. 

If you haven't checked out our rainforest wall yet, come in and see what we've been working on.  Everyday we add a new animal to one of the layers of the rainforest.  The kids are learning about the habits, diet, predators and the quirky nature of these animals.

Dr. Seuss and Read Across America

It takes a lot of cooperation and patience to
build these towers.

Success!

Dr. Seuss day, we had a room full of
Hortons and Thing Ones.

Read Across America today, the Supernovas joined
us for some reading time

We're going to the zoo!

The perfect conclusion to our study of . . .

polar animals.

It's a real treat to see the animals that we had  been . . .

learning about and recreating in our books.

It was a good way to make our learning more concrete .

Swimming lessons, there were few nerves before the first lesson.

Those nerves didn't last long!

We had lots of fun packed into a short school week!  Swim lessons started with very excited children and the visit to the zoo was a big hit.  Thanks to all our parent volunteers for all of their help.

Explorations in the Ladybugs

It's been a busy week in the Ladybugs as we built marble runs with our mentors and investigated the properties of water beads with the Bumblebees.  So much learning and fun happening at the same time!

Scientific Method

It all starts with a question.

It requires the appropriate equipment.

The question in this case, what are we looking at?

Is it similar to anything you are familiar with?

We generated lots of possibilities.

Further observation using more than just our eyes, is it soft or
rough?  Pebbly or like sand?

Crystals or a powder?

What happens when you add water?

Has it changed or does it look different?

Does it take up more space in the cup?

How does it feel? Hot or cold?

Could the property of evaporation . . . 

or absorption explain what happened?

The insta-snow powder absorbed the water
turning the powder into artificial snow.

 We love doing science experiments and explorations with the Bumblebees.  We put on our safety glasses, use the same precautions that scientists do (don't put it in your mouth), and start generating ideas.  What could it be?  How does it feel?  What does it look like?  Have you seen it before?  What is it similar to?  The children have so many ideas that I can hardly keep up with  the writing on the board.  The enthusiasm is amazing and the volume in the classroom amps up with new discovery.  What could this mysterious powder be?  After much discussion and many observations, it was revealed to be insta-snow.  

Busy times

What do we do all day?  These Ladybugs are busy from the moment they walk in the door until the end of our day together.  We do math (some days with our mentors), play with sensory materials, read, paint, build, learn about a variety of integrated subjects (polar animals are next), run, play and mostly laugh!