what's BUGGING you?

INSECTS!!!!  We started our Insect Expedition and the children have been very busy learning what makes and insect an insect ... All of the children should be able to answer the question -- What things MUST an insect have?

 

Antennae

 

Head

 

Thorax

 

Abdomen

 

6 Legs

 

Eyes (Compound or Simple)

 

SOME INSECTS -- have wings

 

 

Spiders are NOT insects ... they have 8 legs and they do not have 3 body parts!

 

 

We have been studying the Ant. The ant is very interesting to study and a great specimen for the children to see every body part when viewed through a hand lens. We received our Ant Colony on Thursday, March 26 and the children have been able to complete 3 observation sheets so far. It is absolutely amazing how BUSY the ants have been. Also -- it is really awesome to see the children really making sure they get the tunnel details as exact as they can.  Enjoy our initial pictures from our Ant Expedition!



 

Finding out What the children thought about insects before we began studying them

I think that ... insects

The children working hard on writing FACTS about ANTS!

 

What is this ANT missing? 

How many legs does he need?

What kind of eyes does he have?

What does he use to pick up things?

He needs 6 legs

He has simple eyes (some ants are blind or barely see)

They use their antennae to see, smell, and feel!

They use mandibles to pick up things like sand and food!

 

Our Space - Aged Ant Colony

Our ant colony has a gel substance in it ... the gel contains water and food so we don't have to

add any and they also tunnel through it!

 

By the morning of March 27, the ants have already tunneled down the sides of the colony!!

 The white "crystal like" stuff at the top is the gel that they have moved to the top to make their tunnels. The children said it looked like ICE!

 

 The ants tunneled all the way down the side and are at the bottom.

I am amazed that the gel doesn't collapse onto them!

 

DAY 2

Not many ants in the tunnels ... but they have certainly been hard at work!

On the LEFT -- the front of the Ant Colony from DAY 5 (Monday, March 30)

I decided to turn the colony around to see the back (On the RIGHT) -- the tunnels look so much clearer that way.

The kids said that it looks like under water! It is crazy to see how much of the gel they moved to the top of the colony! I still can't believe it hasn't collapsed onto them.

We have seen a couple of the ants die and they are then eaten by the remaining ants to keep the colony clean.

Ants live about 45 days -- this colony has no Queen so we will not get new ants ... so the children know that the circle of life will end when by the end of April with our Ants.

 

 

 

 

 

 



READ Across America

The week before Spring BREAK we celebrated Read Across America Week. Here are some pictures from our culminating event -- THE PARADE!

PINKALICIOUS!

TRANSFORMERS!

CINDERELLA!

PETER--THE SNOWY DAY

 ANGRY BIRDS

DOC McSTUFFINS

ALICE in WONDERLAND

SOFIA the FIRST

 SPLAT the CAT

"Steven" from The MUFFIN Books!

All dressed up as our favorite characters!

 

COACH Behr reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

 

Waiting to parade around the school ....

 

Miss Torretti & Mrs. Ingram

Pinkalicious & Purplicious

SO CUTE!

Three BLIND Mice!

 

Cindy Lou WHO  &  Hermanie from Harry Potter

 

Pippi Longstocking  &  Mary Poppins

 

Some sisterly hugs during the Parade of Book Characters!

 

We had a great time sharing our books and talking about our characters!!!

Read Across America Week is a great way for children to learn about

new authors and new books that they can read!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SILLY SEUSS SLEEP BOOK

Today was the start of Read Across America and we started out with reading Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book! The kids had lots of fun wearing their PJ's to school and while reading the book, the kids got really silly and began to pretend to FALL asleep .... we had a great day!

I also read my two "Muffin" books as part of our Read Across America events! I sent home What's In the Corner? A Muffin "Tail" with every child today ... I explained to the kids that these books were ones the printer made a printing error (they are missing apostrophe's throughout the book).  All of the What's are typed like What s! My publisher wanted to destroy the books -- but I just couldn't destroy them!!!  I hope the kids enjoy them!  There is a code at the end of the book and you can download it and the book becomes an audio book that you can listen to on iTunes! 

Here is our SLEEP BOOK fun!

Are the ALL Sleeping????

 

Ready to listen to Dr. Seuss's

SLEEP  BOOK

Oh no ... they're starting to SLEEP

 



Sleepy SLEEP BOOK silliness!!!!!

We were so still the LIGHTS went out!!!!!

THE END!!!!

 

Don't forget tomorrow - March 3rd -  is C R A Z Y   S O C K

and we will be reading FOX in SOCKS!

 

Also -- Mr. Steve Singleton from Buckner, Int'l will be at school tomorrow at 9am and we will be presenting him with the check for the Water Kits -- if you can make it that would be GREAT! The kids can share their water expedition work with you!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese New Year

 HAPPY  CHINESE  NEW  YEAR -- Year of the Sheep / Ram


The Kindergarten students learned about China and the Chinese New Year which began on February 19, 2015 -- This is the year of the Sheep/Ram. Our table at the Culture Fair will be China--The Culture Fair has been postponed until March 28 from 11am - 2pm in the Middle School Gym. 

We got together with Ms. Miller's class and we read Goldie Luck and the Three Pandas ... which was a take on Goldie Locks -- but the story goes further and Goldie shows Empathy and Caring at the end of the story .... We then made Chinese Lanterns.

 

Our Lanterns came out PERFECT!!!!!

 

 

We also learned about the Dragon Dance and the children watched a Chinese New Year

parade that showed the Dragon / Lion Dance

We wrote in our journals about our Chinese Dragons and made Chinese Dragon masks

These will be on display at the Cultural Fair on March 28 from 11am - 4pm in the

Middle School Gym.