Butterflies!

I apologize for the hiatus but I have been slowly recovering from quite a cold.  We have been busy in Kindergarten!  Over the long weekend all 6 of our butterflies emerged out of their chrysalises!  We enjoyed watching the butterflies in the classroom today and are hoping for sun so we can release them outside tomorrow. 

Today we started talking about community helpers.  We defined a community as as group of people who live and work together and helpers in our community as people how make our community safer, better and cleaner.  On Friday we will walk to Fire Station 4 and learn more about how firefighters are helpers in our community.

During Math today we talked about how we can use a number line or path to help us write number sentences.  I read Ready, Set, Hop by Stuart J. Murphy.  Two frog friends Matty and Moe compete to see how many hops it takes to get to the big rock.  If Matty hopped 5 hops and Moe hopped 2 more hops than Matty, then the score is 5 to 7. We used a number to keep track of the hops and write number sentences.

Shelburne Farms!

It was a super fun day at Shelburne Farms!  We were very glad that the rain help off and enjoyed the chicken parade, milking a cow, petting sheep, tasting cheese, and going a storywalk through the woods! 

Caterpillar on the loose...

This morning I opened the caterpillar jar to clear some of the 'webs' and didn't realize that one had gotten loose!  Luckily it was found and returned to the jar safely!

Caterpillars!

On Friday we welcomed some new friends to our classroom: 6 painted lady caterpillars!  It is day 3 with our caterpillars, and we have already noticed that they have grown bigger and shed some of their exoskeletons.  Today we read the book A Butterfly is Patient and learned that the changes that occur during a caterpillars life is called metamorphosis.

We also enjoyed our outdoor classroom and I read a book about bees Flight of the Honey Bee and we learned that both bees and butterflies are pollinators which means they bring pollen from plant to plant.  We have bees (and butterflies) to thank for many flowers, fruits and vegetables! 

Kindergarten Entomologists!

Did you know that an entomologist is a scientist who studies insects?  Today we started reading books about insects so we are all entomologists.  We read the book Insect Detective by Steve Voake and were introduced to some insects.  We learned that all insects have 6 legs, two antennae, and three body parts - a head, a thorax and an abdomen.  Some insects have wings.  We will be studying ants, caterpillars, bees and dragonflies over the next several weeks.  Hopefully it warms up so we can observe these creatures outside in the woods and playground!

On Friday at Community Meeting we will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo.  Kindergarten will be helping to sing the Pinata Song (I apologize in advance if it gets stuck in your head)!