Butterfly Release!

I love to change things up in class to keep things interesting, and I have got to say- the butterfly life cycle was a huge hit in room 103! We watched our caterpillars grow and eat and grow some more, then form their chrysalis' and the finally emerge as a beautiful Painted Lady Butterfly! We fed our new winged friends sugar water for a few days then decided to let them go free in the little butterfly garden at school. Perfect spot to see them off!

Field Days

Well the month of May has kept our class VERY BUSY! We are working on end of the year projects, reviewing all our first grade skills and of course- what 'end of the school year' would be complete without a Field Day? Last Wednesday we got to have an indoor picnic lunch (I wanted air conditioning hehe) and then proceeded out to the old softball field for an afternoon of activities! The specials teachers set up over 30 centers with all kinds of games, activities and competitions. The kids had a blast! Then to cool off, we got to enjoy some delicious snow cones! Does life get any sweeter? =)

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Earth Day

After reading and watching "The Lorax" last week, we decided a good way that we could help our Earth right now would be to recycle! We collected paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum all week, then took a little field trip to the Recycling Center down the street and sorted it out!

Another thing we talked about was how plants help the earth stay beautiful. We planted grass seeds in clear plastic cups and are watching them grow in the window sill!

We also got CATERPILLARS! Our class is enjoying watching the little fuzzy guys getting larger and larger, pretty soon they will go into their chrysalis- then a butterfly! I will post pictures as they grow!

"The Lorax!"

Last week we read Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" in honor of Earth day! After reading the story we discussed the different ways we could help our earth. I was very impressed with the ideas they had, as well as what many of their families do already! I gave them a writing prompt "If I were the Lorax, this is how I would help our Earth..."  and this is what they came up with!

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Easter Fun!

This week we did a fun Easter craft- we made a nest with eggs! It took minimal supplies and the kiddos LOVED it! We used yarn, styrofoam bowls, liquid starch, plastic eggs and stickers!

All we did was dip the yarn into the liquid starch and wrapped it around the bottom of the overturned bowl. It was pretty messy, but the kids dug right in. Next they got to decorate some plastic eggs with stickers.

I let the nests dry over night, then turned them over, put some "grass" inside and completed the craft by placing the eggs in the nest! Adorable craft project and soo fun!

We have Tadpoles!

If you have seen my classroom, or even the name of this blog, you are well aware that I lika da froggies! So it makes sense that I had planned on getting tadpoles as a pet for our classroom for some hands on life cycle learning! I was going to order them from an online company but decided against it because it would have cost too much. Lucky me though, my aunt was cleaning out a fountain in her front yard and found some teeny tiny tadpoles. I rushed out and got an aquarium and welcomed some new class pets into room 103! Although the tadpoles are super duper tiny, the kids seem delighted any time they see one dart across the front of the tank. We will be learning about the life cycle of  a frog leading up to Earth Day, and will continue to watch the little guys grow and develop! I will post another picture when you can actually see the tadpoles!

St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun Hunt!

So I am pretty lucky- My sister works with a girl from Ireland and she has her very own pet LEPRECHAUN! She agreed to let Mr. Leprechaun visit our classroom on Wednesday! I was so excited when he came to school early in the morning- but when when I went to the teacher's lounge to make some copies he must have escaped! I returned to the classroom to find a mess of cubes on the floor with a riddle left by Mr. Leprechaun! So when the kids came to class, we decided we had to go look for him! We followed the clues left behind to classrooms all around the school. There were even little green footprints leading to the clues! We finally were led back to our class and found the last clue with a pot of delicious treasure! 

In the afternoon we came back to our classroom from recess to find green glitter leading into the bathroom and green water in the toilet! We kept spotting clues, but could never find that tricky leprechaun! 

I tried to capture good pictures along the way- but I had some very excited and eager first graders that picked up clues and footprints before I had a chance! Hope you enjoy the video and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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