Week of 4/29

Dear Sky Room Families,
 
This week we have been learning all about the Farm. We’ve had so much fun learning all about the farmers, types of animals, their different jobs.
 
Classroom Activities:

• We read books to explore the many types of animals (and learned the words porpoise and mammal!) that live in the ocean. The students learned that whales, sharks, fish, and other types of marine life live and thrive in the ocean. The students seemed to be very interested in whales and their blowholes. They were in hysterics when I explained to them that whales breathe through a blowhole on top of their heads. 
• We made fish bowls and counted out how many bubbles were coming out of the fishes mouths! 
• The students were given a choice as to what marine life animal they wanted to create – a fish or an octopus. Each project had multi-step directions, which required them to turn on their listening ears! Some students made both!
• For the students who wanted to make a fish, we first placed the paper fish inside of a tray. We then placed a couple of marbles and added a few dollops of blue, white and yellow paint inside of the tray. The students were asked to then hold the tray with two hands, and with small motions, move the marbles all around the tray to create different colored strokes on their fish.
• For the students who wanted to create an octopus, we showed them four different colored streamers (for the tentacles), and asked them to choose two colors to create an AB pattern. After creating and stating their pattern, they were able to glue down the streamers onto a round paper octopus body. Then, they were given a Q-Tip to dip into bowls of different colors of paint to create smaller, more precise streaks on the octopus. 

 
Songs We Sang:

• “Take Me Out To The Ocean” 
• “Row Row Row Your Boat"

 
Books We Read:

• Over in The Ocean: In A Coral Reef, by Marianne Berkes
• Hooray For Fish, by Lucy Cousins
• Clumsy Crab, by Ruth Galloway
• Dolphins, Sharks, Whales, and Sea Stars, by Carol K. Lindeen

 
 
Reminders:

• The end of year trip to the Central Park Zoo is on Friday, May 17th 

 
Have a great weekend!

Laura, Ashley and Desiree