Thursday, May 8, 2014

Spring Has Gone and Sprung!

The end of the year is looming closely and we have been extremely busy with spring and all the activities that come with this wonderful time of year! Here are a few of the quick highlights!
The first thing we did was investigate three different kind of seeds. We looked at a kidney bean, sunflower seeds, and a pea. We wrote in our journals about what we noticed and then as a whole group we looked at the inside of a seed and labeled the parts.

We then planted those seeds and watched them grow! As we saw changes we continued to use this as an opportunity to journal about the changes we saw. This was a fun opportunity to discuss observations and practice writing the date! :)
Sorry for the yucky looking dirt on the tray! But this little friend's seeds all really took off and grew like crazy! :) We then began to look into plants. We read many books about seeds and plants and how they grow. We then, as a group, labeled this plant..
Can't take credit for the artwork. My wonderful Early Childhood Assistant majored in art in college. She. Is. The. Bomb. Dot. Com.
After we labeled that beauty, we made our own!
Of course some inspiration came from other bloggers. I believe Cara Carroll was who's plant labeling looked a lot like this one! The best ideas come from others! I am not as creative as the wonderful bloggers I adore!
Anyways - Our school's science curriculum not only has us looking at seeds and plants, but has us investigating some interesting little critters.........
Millipedes and Pill Bugs to be precise!
This is actually nice because this gives a wonderful opportunity to discuss habitats, organisms, and a thousand other things..but I can't lie. I really really REALLY do not like to touch put this bad boy together. We put some dried leaves, dirt, moss, and some sort of tree like plant (can you tell I'm practically a scientist?) together and then added a few millipedes and pill bugs (rollie pollies). Threw in some apples slices for good measure and taped that bad boy up TIGHT! I have never had it happen to me, but I have heard horror stories about the millipedes escaping and I was NOT going to let that happen to me. I would have just died....no exaggeration. The kids do really love this activity though, so I put on my happy face, helped them put the terrarium together, and encouraged them to observe and journal about what they saw. (I still didn't touch any of the bugs-love those little children!)
Another fun activity we did was that made a symmetrical butterfly!
 
The kiddos painted and folded the paper, we looked at how the pattern was the same on both sides and then they got to cut it out after it dried. They look pretty cute hanging up on my ceiling! :)
 
Before I go, I just have to drop in a little teaser for our mother's day presents....they are adorable, huh? Stayed tuned to see the adorable final product!
Goodnight and happy early mother's day!

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