Caterpillar Update

The caterpillars are growing! Check out the pictures.  I hope that by Monday some move to the top and begin making their chrysalis.

You could draw pictures of the caterpillars or build them out of different materials.

Here is a great quick video of process a life cycle of a butterfly.

https://youtu.be/kVm5k99PnBk

Read Alouds and Questions

Good morning! Here are a few read aloud stories from some of our teachers at school!

Ms. Kelly reads Where The Wild Things Are
Here are some questions to answer about this story:

• Who was your favorite character?
• What was your favorite part of the story?
• Can you draw your favorite part? 
• What was Max's problem?
• How did Max solve his problem?
• How does the story make you feel?

Ms. Lacey reads Pigs Make Me Sneeze by Mo Willems
Here are some questions to answer about this story:

• Who was your favorite character?
• What was your favorite part of the story?
• Can you draw your favorite part? 
• What is Gerald's problem?
• How does Gerald solve his problem?
• What happened to Piggie at the end of the story?

Guess What I Ordered?!

I ordered something so exciting and I can't wait to share with you! Check out the video:

Here's a little read aloud video of The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Enjoy!

Scavenger hunt with a family member!

Good morning! We hope everyone had a great weekend and continues to stay safe.

Let's do a scavenger hunt! Read the clues while your child hunts for the items in your house! Feel free to change any of the clues, need be.

Enjoy the scavenger hunt! Here are the clues:

• Find something with letters on it
• Find something from nature in your house
• Find something that is soft
• Find something that turns on and off
• Find or point to a picture of you and someone from your family
• Find something that lives in your family room
• Find something that is the shape of a rectangle 
• Find something that has dots or a pattern on it
• Find something that makes noise
• Find something that is green
• Find something you can put on your body

If you have time, we would love to see pictures of your child doing the scavenger hunt on the google photos album!

Forest Friday with Ms. Liz

Forest Day- A River Walk

Check out the video linked below to see Ms. Liz go on a walk through the forest!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NWt06gYg5trsuNrCugDSR4i7ORTmWwEo/view?usp=sharing

On my Forest Day, I went walking on my family’s property in Leasburg, Missouri through the forest right down to the Meramec River. While I saw lots of cool stuff that can be seen in the video such as flowers, deer tracks, and a very beautiful Meramec River, on my walk back to the campsite I saw lots more!

During my walk down to the river I saw many different deer footprints. In fact, I followed the deer prints all the way down to the river! 

But on my way back I saw prints from a very different type of animal. These are turkey footprints! I hoped that I would see a turkey, but no luck...but I found something else!

A turkey feather!

Look at this over the trail..it’s a tree bridge! I wonder if animals use this to get over the trail…

But this bridge is too small for me to go over, so I had to go under the bridge.

One last thing to share. In the forest I found this little forest pond. Isn’t it so lovely? I did not see any animals or footprints around it or anything so I did not think there were any pond residents…

But then I saw these sticks around the pond. Look closely, does it look like something chewed on part of the sticks or pulled bark off of them? What sort of animal do you think would do that? Are there animals that eat or chew on bark that would live in or near a pond? What do you guys think?

Thank you for joining me on my walk through the forest today, I hope you guys enjoyed watching my walk! I really miss you, my friends. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing you kiddos at school, hearing your stories, and getting classroom visits to the office. I hope to get to see you again soon and until then, stay safe!

Ms. Riann's Banana Bread!

Enjoy watching this video from Ms. Riann and her son, Forrest! Ms. Riann is a teacher in the Sycamore room and is with the majority of the students at the end of the day. If you find the time, enjoy baking this yummy treat!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9HnAH7FqPI

Almond Flour Banana Muffins

Recipe via Seeded at the Table https://www.seededatthetable.com/almond-flour-banana-muffins/

Ingredients

-  2 medium ripe bananas mashed

-  3 large eggs lightly beaten

-  1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

-  1/4 cup coconut milk or cream    ** we use whole milk **

-  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-  2 cups almond flour

-  1 teaspoon baking powder

-  1 teaspoon baking soda

-  1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

-  1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners; set aside
3. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients in the order listed then scoop mixture evenly into the muffin cups  (We use a medium sized cookie scoop)
4. Bake 20 minutes or until thoroughly set in the middle

While baking you utilize many skills. Some of these skills include reading, measuring, closely observing and listening. You even learn how to utilize kitchen tools! But our favorite parts are working together and, of course, tasting the finished product!

We love to bake at our house. We have recipes we bake together each week such as breakfast muffins, waffles, bread, granola and oatmeal.

What are your favorite recipes to make at home?

Are there any special recipes from your family?

If so, please share those recipes as well as any photos or videos with us!

We would love to see you working in the kitchen with your family.

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day! To celebrate our beautiful planet Joe and I created animal feeders using Cheerios and string.  We hope we get some bird visitors but our guess is that the squirrels will get to them first.  This is a great activity to practice those fine motor skills!

Here is an Earth Day recycling challenge! Go through your recycling bin and see what you can create with whats there.  Maybe a house for an animal.  Maybe use the paper towel and toilet paper tubes to make a marble run.  Make a bird feeder out of plastic bottles. Share your creations with us!

Also the St. Louis Aquarium is celebrating Earth Day by showing-off different animals everyday on their Facebook page and Youtube channel.  Here is a link to a video from yesterday where they fed the sharks lunch!

Lunch with Sharks