Week of 5/13

Dear Star Room 3AM Families,

What a great week we had in the classroom! Here are some of the fun activities we enjoyed during classroom. 

Theme this week:
This week we focused on our trip to the Central Park Zoo. To collect prior knowledge, we discussed if anyone had been to the zoo before and if so, what animals they had seen. I displayed a map of the Central Park Zoo and we learned that a map is a picture that shows us were to find things. We pointed out all the different animals we will be able to see at the zoo and were to find them. Afterwards, we charted the animal we want to see the most during our trip. We also had a rousing discussion of what some of the animals at the zoo eat and where they live (eg. land vs. water). 

Books we read:

• Zoo Day by Anne Rockwell
• 1,2,3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle
• Noisy Farm by Rod Campbell

Songs we sang:

• “We’re Going to the Zoo”

Places we went:

• At Art with Julia and Janae, we had fun with finger-painting. The children selected green, orange or purple paint and then added glitter on top of the paint scoop. Then they went to town, mixing it all together with their hands. Once sufficiently mixed, they created patterns in the paint which we preserved by pressing white paper on top to make a print. We also used dry erase crayons on white boards and built structures with colored blocks at the light table. 
• We read Bam & Kero’s Sunday by Yuka Shimada and took out books from the library with Lindsay.
• We sang It’s a ABCs, The Wheels on the Bus and I Love You, a Bushel and a Peck.
• We played in 2nd floor indoor gym and the roof!

Classroom Activities:

• This week created sea lions to reflect the ones we will see at the zoo next week. The children painted a sea lion cut out with gray watercolor and created ocean waves by painting light blue paper with dark blue watercolor. Once dry, the children glued the seal onto the “water” and added a circle for a beach ball as a fun detail.

Reminders:

• Library books due, Wednesday 5/22
• Central Park Zoo Trip, Monday 5/20
• No School, Memorial Day, Monday 5/27

Enjoy the photos! As always, please feel free to reach out through email with questions or concerns.

Have an excellent weekend,
Sarah and Jill