Last full day!

A few reminders...

• Please collect your child's extra clothing, sunscreen (if they are not staying for summer program) and belongings today or tomorrow.
• We dismiss at 4:30 P.M. today for Celebrate the Joy. We dismiss at 11:00 A.M. on Friday. 

Happy reading!

Can you believe that this is our last full day? The Birch teachers would like to thank you for a wonderful school year. It has been a great year full of building relationships, friendships, learning, exploring and...FUN! Thank you for your support and sharing your child with us.

The Birch room began their last full day by playing a few greeting games and singing some songs. The students made choices in the classroom that consisted of building with loose parts, designing at the light table, and creating shapes at the art table. The students enjoyed playing with the toy animals and visiting the tinker room! Later on, we enjoyed our delicious popsicle treats out on the playscape! The students played outside before lunch time. Their last lunch was a delicious cheeseburger...yum! See you this afternoon at Celebrate the Joy!

Wacky Wednesday!

A few reminders...

• Please collect your child's extra clothing, sunscreen (if they are not staying for summer program) and belongings on Thursday or Friday.
• We dismiss at 4:30 P.M. on Thursday for Celebrate the Joy. We dismiss at 11:00 A.M. on Friday. 
• Tomorrow is a treat day! No need to bring anything, the treat will be provided at school. Happy reading!

Have a few wacky things happened to you on this Wednesday? Things sure have been wacky in the Birch room! The students began the morning by showing off all of their wacky outfits. Some students had the same ideas, such as wearing two different shoes, wearing their clothing backwards and funky hairdos!

The students made choices in the room, such as building with loose parts, creating art designs at the light table and building with blocks. We continued the morning by playing outside on the playscape with the Maple class. When we came inside, we played a few games and read Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss. This book was super silly and continued to get wackier throughout the story! We ended the morning by eating our lunch outside on the hillside. It was perfect weather for a wonderful grilled cheese picnic! Happy Wacky Wednesday!

Different shoes and socks!

Beach clothes at school? How wacky!

Wacky hair!

Crazy braid group!

Pajama Tuesday

A few reminders...

• Please collect your child's extra clothing, sunscreen (if they are not staying for summer program) and belongings on Thursday or Friday.
• We dismiss at 4:30 P.M. on Thursday for Celebrate the Joy. We dismiss at 11:00 A.M. on Friday. 

What a great day to wear our cozy pajamas to school! The Birch room began their morning by showing off their fun pajamas. After sharing, the students made choices in the classroom. Some students experimented with creating art pieces, using Sharpie pens and dropping rubbing alcohol. It was an interesting science experiment to see what new colors appeared.

Other friends designed with colorful magnetic pieces at the light table. Some students built letters out of transforming pieces. A group of students went to the collaboratory and built a house with many rooms.

Back in the classroom, students made cakes out of sand and oatmeal and built a giant castle out of blocks! We continued the morning by reading a few stories and dancing to some GoNoodle. I'm sure the students are nice and cozy in the their pajamas, resting away!

Messy Monday!

Wow, what a great day for messy Monday! The students had SO much fun with Maple and Spruce! We began the morning by making choices in the classroom and preparing for our messy activities out on the hillside. The students prepared the paint and helped fill up a container of soap and water with some measuring tools and toys.

After the setup, it was time to get MESSY! The students had choices of painting with paintbrushes or using their hands, playing with water and creating art on a white sheet using water colors in a spray bottles. The most popular messy activity seemed to be the gel paint made by Maple! They cooked cornstarch, sugar, water and food dye to create a gooey material. We hug up a clear shower curtain between two trees and they created art by throwing the goo on the curtain. What a great, messy activity! Friendly reminder that tomorrow is pajama day!

Fun Friday

Happy Friday! The Birch room began their morning by making choices. Some students built with loose parts and other students designed with shapes with the projector. A group of kids played in the sensory table and others played with animals. Some students read some books and the class decided to go outside and play some instruments! 

Other friends cooked in the mud kitchen while others dug for worms and bugs. Once we returned to the classroom, we continued the morning by creating some art pieces, building at the light table and with colorful connector toys. We played a few games before lunch and enjoyed cheesy cheese pizza. Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday Adventures

Hello and welcome to the blog! The Birch room began the morning by making choices in the classroom. Some students drew self portraits while others built tracks for cars and made a car garage! Other friends played an uno game and built with loose parts.

We later went outside and dug for bugs and played in the sand! We found several worms, roly polies and created a bug house in a student's bug container. There were a lot of bugs under the weeping willow tree so the students enjoyed spending time with these bugs in the shade. Other friends cooked and baked goodies in the sand! The class enjoyed playing with Dogwood's bubble machine! We returned to the classroom and read a book. The students made choices and built at the light table and with blocks. Other friends drew a picture book and told the story to their classmates. The students enjoyed some delicious sandwiches at lunch! We are excited to get back outdoors and play!

New friend

Hello and happy Wednesday! The Birch room began the morning by making choices. The choices consisted of building with light table legos, building the alphabet with clothes pins and hangers, drawing more birds with different art materials, building with rocks and small loose parts and having car races!

The students were given a straw and figured out how to make the car move by using the straw and not touching the car with their hands. The students discovered how to blow into the straw and make the cars move! Some friends had races while others tried to blow the car on different surfaces, such as the table top, carpet and tile. After racing, they decided to make a track for the cars. The students used cardboard material and tubes for this activity.

Later on, we decided to go on a walk around the neighborhood and you'll never guess what we saw! When the walk began, there was a blue jay flying around in a yard. The bird followed us for a few houses, flying and hopping in the yards as we walked. The students said he was following us and wanted to join our walk...I guess they were right! As we were heading back to school, our new friend returned to the yard we were passing! They were so excited to see the bird! Keep an eye out for our bluejay in Webster!

New bird feeders!

What a great, beautiful day it has been! We began our morning performing our usual routines and making choices. Some students created birds using art materials while others traced pictures of birds at the light table. A group of students completed some puzzles, built with blocks and played a card game.

A group of students went to the tinker room while others discussed ideas on what to do about our bird feeder. The students found a tray and a cardboard cylinder to create bird feeders! We went to the kitchen to collect some birdseed and filled up the tray feeder. Two students wrote on the cylinder feeder "birds only, no hands" and "bird families only." Another Birch friend drew bright stars in order for the bird feeder to stand out for the birds and another friend drew a picture of a bird. We are continuing to decorate this feeder and we hung the tray feeder outside! We filled a part of the tray with water so the birds have a beverage right next to their food. Stay tuned for more bird fun and adventures!

Forest soup and secret messages

Good afternoon and welcome back from the weekend! Only nine more days of school left...can you believe it? The Birch room began our morning by talking about what we did over the weekend. Sounds like several students had sleepovers at Grandparents' houses, how fun! After greeting one another and completing our morning meeting, we began to make choices in the room. At the art table, the students were challenged to draw a picture and label their picture by sounding out the word. Their pictures and ability to sound out words was very impressive! Keep up the good work, Birch! Other friends studied pictures of birds and built their observations with loose parts. Some friends created letters out of light table toys. 

After playing in the classroom, we headed for the forest! It was too muddy at the bottom, but that did not stop us from playing at the top! Some friends made "soup" in the mud water and added ingredients, such as leaves, sticks, grass and rocks. Other friends found old bricks and stones and discovered that they could leave secret messages on them by scraping sticks across the surfaces! Tree climbing has become popular and the children are risking going hire on each attempt. A few students left messages for the birds of the forest...maybe next week the birds will respond to their messages!