Sunday, March 24, 2013

Dinosaurs /St. Patrick's Day

Dinosaurs!
We recently spent a week learning about dinosaurs. We mainly focused on the T-Rex, Stegosaurus, Apatosaurus, and Triceratops. We learned that some ate meat and some eat plants, some were tall and some were short, and we learned that we cannot see them at a zoo because they  are not alive, they are extinct. We talked about how paleontologists dig up and study dinosaur bones and that they build dinosaur skeletons at museums. At the sand table we pretended to be paleontologists by digging for dinosaur bones, brushing them off, looking at them with magnifying glasses, and trying to build dinosaur skeletons. At the playdough center we pretended to make fossils by pressing small dinosaurs into playdough. We also each made our own dinosaur fossil in salt dough which we will bring home soon. Each  morning at circle time we each had a turn to open a T-Rex egg to see what letter was on the baby T-Rex inside (good alphabet review). We had fun and learned lots of facts about dinosaurs!

Fossils in Playdough




Paleontologists at the Sand Table Center




 


Hatching T-Rex Eggs for Letter Review





 D is for Dinosaur Project at the Art Center





 Dinosaur Math- Clip the number of eggs



Dinosaur Fossils in Salt Dough

















St. Patrick's Day



Hard to see, but there are green pants stuck in the door and a green glitter trail.




Team work to find the coins!



The Leprachaun left a green trail leading into the bathroom...
He used our bathroom and he used it correctly! (Lesson for the boys on how everyone needs to use the toilet and not the corner of the bathroom, or the top of the toilet tank....)


Lucky Charms Sorting and Graphing







Pot of Gold Math




Saturday, March 9, 2013

Pets/Vets, V is for Volcanoes, Dr. Seuss week

The past two weeks have been very busy. The week of February 25-March 1 we learned how to take care of pets (they need food, water, to be played with) and we learned that veterinarians are animal doctors that also take care of pets, especially when they are sick. In our dramatic play area we had stuffed dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles, and hamsters that we pretended to take care of. We had doctors equipment and white vests that we wore to pretend we were veterinarians. We fed our dogs dogbones, brushed them, and pretended to check their vitals and groom them.

During our pet week, our letter was V for veterinarian and volcanoe. We learned that volcanoes erupt very hot lava. We then made our own volcanoes. First we painted milk cartons brown. Then we added baking soda, warm water,  and dish soap into the volcanoes. Next we pourred in vinegar that had been dyed orange with food coloring. Our volcanoes then erupted!

This week we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday by reading several of his books. We noticed that his books have a lot of rhyming words and opposites. We also talked about how his books are fiction (fake words, not real pictures,etc.).

Vets Taking Care of Pets

































Other Pet Activities

 Writing Center







Blocks- building a home for the horses



Math Center- matching the number on the dog to the number of bones on the doghouses





Feed the puppy a letter bone




Volcanoes!

























Dr. Seuss Week

Wacky Wednesday- we had wacky stuff around our classroom, we did wacky activities, and we read the book and searched for wacky things in the pictures.












Letter Review- Flipping Green Eggs