On Friday we were very fortunate  to watch our first butterfly emerge from its chrysalis.  When I arrived at school I noticed one of the chrysalids had darkened, so my morning question was, "Do you think we will have a butterfly by the end of the day?"  After the fourth child had arrived we noticed the chrysalis opening- a very exciting moment.  Then we saw the proboscis, and finally the whole butterfly emerged, small, wet, and wrinkled.  We continued to watch as the butterfly's abdomen shrank and it's wings grew.  Once it began slowly stretching its wings we noticed two large black dots on the lower wings, indicating it is a male. two large black dots on it's lower wings, indicating it is a male.  We kept it in the room for the day as it dried out and finally released it with good wishes at the end of the day. 

We have had a fantastic first week of school!  Getting a school year under way takes an enormous amount of patience and perseverance on the part of students, with a lot of time spent listening and learning new routines.  Everything from walking in line to eating in the lunch room needs to be taught, modeled, and practiced, ensuring future success and independence.  A few of the things we have done this week include:

• began our days with morning meeting, which includes a greeting and a morning message
• explored materials that we will be using during math 
• learned about several classmates as they shared their artifact bags
• practiced walking safely in line
• talked about school wide expectations - be kind, safe, responsible, and engaged- with a focus this week on ways we can be kind and safe
• learned about our system for rewarding expected behaviors with cards that we then trade in for rocks
• watched 3 monarch caterpillars  turn into chrysalises, with 2 more still eating and growing 
• learned how to use classroom materials including pencils, markers, scissors, and glue stick
• met our 3rd and 4th grade reading buddies

We will continue to practice all of our routines in the coming weeks and learn a few more as well!

We have had lots of activity in our last few weeks of school from boat building to Field Day and much in between.  A huge thank you to Preslee's family, especially Mr. Craig, who prepared the blue bird house materials and graciously led us through putting them together.  We had lots of fun hammering!  These can be hung outside about 4 feet off the ground.  The door should be screwed shut to keep squirrels and other non-bird visitors out.

Continuing with a bird theme, on Wednesday we spent time exploring different bird "beaks" to see which kind of beak is best for different kinds of food.  Most children agreed that a clothespin or tweezer like beak was best for most foods, although a straw beak is definitely best for nectar.

Thursday morning we read a book about owls and then dissected owl pellets.  Children were fascinated by the different bones they found inside their pellets and some children kept poking away right through choice time.  (The pellets I use have been sterilized, but we still washed our hands thoroughly when we were done.)

Thank you for a fantastic year.  Have a wonderful summer!

We had a fabulous time at the river during ECO on Wednesday morning.  Everyone did a fantastic job of adapting to new boundaries and safety expectations.  We offered three stations that children were free to float between:  rock sculptures, using mortar and pestle to make rock paint, and making mini boats with sticks and other natural materials.  Some children chose to have their boats released in the river and we had fun watching them try to make it down stream.  We finished the morning by silently making a group sculpture, with each person adding one stone to our creation.

During math we have been exploring different measurable attributes including length, weight, and capacity.  Children have spent time comparing objects to say which is longer or shorter and heavier or lighter.  They have also measured the length of objects with cubes and the weight of objects with tiles.  We explored capacity by estimating how many counting bears could fit inside various containers, and then measuring to find the actual amount.  As we explored different ways of measuring objects we noted that one attribute doesn't necessarily correlate with another, so something very long isn't necessarily heavy, while something with a seemingly small capacity can be quite heavy.  Children especially enjoyed measuring themselves!