The Sunflower class has been buzzing with excitement these last few weeks. Perhaps you might have heard that some fuzzy, chirping guests appeared at Gillen Brewer recently: chicks! The Strawberries and Coconut Trees incubated eggs until they hatched and we have had the pleasure of visiting with the chicks these last few days. The Sunflowers have been so sweet and gentle with the little chicks, and are even starting to recognize them by name (Miss Lady, Sunshine, and Jump, to name a few.) We all seemed pretty big next to these tiny birds, especially after we measured one another with blocks and tape measurers. The Sunflowers explored how many blocks they needed to make a line as long as their foot and even their whole body. Last week, the class had a picnic in the park to celebrate reaching our school-wide Reading Goal! The Sunflowers had so much fun eating their lunches on the little picnic tables at Asphalt Green. On top of all of this, we have also embarked on a Slime Exploration and have been experimenting with all different kinds of recipes: rainbow slime, sparkle slime, even bubble slime! Ask your child how to make slime—maybe you happen to have all the ingredients at home! (baking soda, contact solution, glue, food coloring)
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The Sunflowers have been reading different versions of "The Three Little Pigs" and talking about the similarities and differences among the different books. They thought "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig" was hilarious! In this story the pig was the one doing the huffing and puffing, and The Sunflowers realized how strong they could huff too when they blew big soapy bubbles and moved paint with their breath. In our explorations about wind, and comparing the forces of our breath, blow dryers, and fans, we found that some objects could be pushed by wind while others could not. To investigate why, we embarked on a study of weight--and The Sunflowers were thrilled to experiment on the scales we borrowed from Braque! Ask your child to tell you how a scale can tell us which object is heavier. The Sunflower class has been exploring the force of wind in our "Three Little Pigs" unit. We have discovered that we can move some objects with our breath (like pom-poms and bear counters) but that others require a much stronger force. After some brainstorming (and a rainy morning where Sydney's hair got wet) the Sunflowers proposed that we use something that many of them have seen at home: blow dryers! Now we are experimenting with what we can move with the strong force of our blow dryers, all the while quoting the Big Bad Wolf in saying, "And I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house down!" Ask your child to tell you which has a stronger force: their breath or a blow dryer?
The Sunflowers had an action-packed week filled with special visitors and new activities. Lily and her owner, Nina, returned for their second visit and everyone was thrilled to walk Lily up and down the hallway on her leash. The Sunflowers asked such wonderful questions such as, "Where does Lily sleep?" and "Does Lily get a haircut?" Later in the week, we did a lot of hand-strengthening exercises with Brittany and even drew Mat Man. We also explored magnets around the classroom and experimented with different materials. Our week was capped off with an exciting Read Aloud with The Cat in the Hat! Ask your child what book he read to our class! The Sunflower class enjoyed a cozy pajama day together. We started our morning with coloring, listening to a read aloud, dancing to some of our favorite songs, and exploring different color sand. The afternoon was followed by book buddies with the Bean Sprouts, music with Robert, and roof! Ask your child what his or her favorite activity was today! Today the Sunflower class enjoyed afternoon activities with their VIP's! The class and their VIP's created a tree and decorated leaves for the scenery for our upcoming play, "Are You My Mother?". The Sunflower students also shared their research books about their character with their special visitors. The class was so excited to show their VIP's all of the birds we created and some of their favorite books. Ask your child what his or her favorite activity was during VIP Day! What a cozy way to spend a snowy morning! A sweet terrier named Lily and her owner, Nina, visited the Sunflower Class and were so excited to have a pet in our classroom. To prepare for their visit, we talked about how to take care of animals (using what we learned from Gabby at Art Farm), engaged in pretend-play of walking stuffed dogs around the room, and practiced the safe ways to pet a dog. When Nina and Lily arrived the Sunflowers gave them a warm greeting and everyone had a turn brushing or petting Lily. We even got to walk Lily up and down the hallway on her leash! The Sunflowers were happy to tell Nina that there's a dog in our upcoming class production of "Are You My Mother?" Ask your child who they will play in the upcoming performance! The Sunflower class started the week with a visit from Hank, Boris, and Curly--three new friends from Art Farm in the City. Gabby showed us how they hide in their shells when they're afraid, and even let us have a turn holding them. The Sunflowers were surprised to learn that turtles and tortoises hatch from eggs and also have claws, just like birds! Ask your child to share something they learned about box turtles, red-eared sliders, or tortoises. On a cold and snowy Thursday, the Sunflower class took a field trip to Petco Animal Supplies to learn more about birds! We braved the cold and walked to the bus stop to get our tickets. The Sunflower class gave a jolly hello to the bus drive and thanked him for waiting for us! The class was so excited to arrive at Petco. The Sunflowers became detectives and went on a scavenger hunt searching for bird food, cages, different types of birds, and bird toys. After the scavenger hunt, we then explored different types of animals, such as mice, hamsters, fish, lizards, and even dogs! The Sunflowers asked a lot of questions about the animals to a Petco employee and learned that the birds could not come out of their cages because they would fly out the door! To end our trip, the students problem solved which two toys Penelope would like to play with. After much conversation, Penelope is the new owner of a ladder to climb up with her claws and bells to play with her beak. Penelope is super excited to play with her new toys! She squawked ten times when she saw them! Lastly, we took the bus back to Gillen Brewer where we warmed up with lunch and discussed our favorite part of the trip. Ask your child what his or her favorite part of the Petco field trip was! This week the class welcomed two new members, Penelope the Parrot and Ivan the Eagle. Penelope and Ivan heard that the Sunflowers were learning about birds and decided to fly over to GBS! The Sunflower class welcomed Penelope and Ivan with open wings and excitement. Penelope and Ivan were very curious about the classroom. The Sunflowers were helpful and showed them the different areas and materials in our classroom. They were brave enough to venture out and join our special activities, Music with Robert and Roof. When it was time to vote about which bird would travel home with each Sunflower, Penelope the Parrot took the lead! Even though Ivan was a little disappointed, he was excited to join the classroom book area. The Sunflowers then decided that Penelope needed a comfortable bed in her cage. After brainstorming what Penelope might need in her habitat, the class used different materials to create a safe home for her. Penelope was so excited when she saw her new home and is even more excited to spend time with each Sunflower and their family. Stay tuned for more Penelope adventures with the Sunflower class.... :) |
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