3-Day: Sharks, Whales and Tide-pools!
This week was unexpectedly warm and sunny inside our 3-Day classroom. On Monday, we were greeted by a humongous jellyfish. Children playfully passed through tentacles to enter the classroom all week. The New England Aquarium was waiting for us on Monday morning in the big room with all kinds of creatures you find in a New England tide-pool! We touched hermit crabs, clams, muscles, sea stars and snails. We learned how some of these animals eat and stay safe in their homes at the beach. The Aquarium visit was a perfect segway to our study of sea creatures and the ocean.
Our creative art activities this week have been slowly making their way to the hallway as we create our under the sea bulletin board, complete with starfish, Rainbow Fish and purple jellyfish!
Our sensory play this week included water exploration, sand, play-doh, seashells and purple jellyfish slime. Your children had no trouble sinking their hands into ocean water beads and exploring textures, while using sea creatures to enhance their play. At our manipulative table we used small colorful fish all week to practice our one-to-one correspondence, while counting and sorting by color and pattern.
We are learning lots of new "Under the Sea" songs, including "Slippery Fish", "I Caught a Fish Alive", "Baby Shark" and more! We are reading some terrific literature, including Rainbow Fish, Swimmy, How Deep is the Sea? and some wonderful poetry about whales. It may be cold outside, but we are experiencing some warm "beachy" fun in 3-Day.
Next week, we will continue our study of sea creatures and will even have a beach party on Friday!! I know it sounds absurd, but we are going wear our bathing suits (under our clothing) next Friday. We hope everyone brings a beach towel and any accessories they'd like. Our flight will take off at PROMPTLY 8:45 am (boarding in our classroom), as we take off to the beach for a morning full of fun play and a "beachy" snack on our towels. We told coach John to wear his bathing suit next week for Creative Movement!
Lastly, we celebrated two birthdays this week! Natasha and Vivvy have both entered the wonderful world of FOUR! Happy birthday! We enjoyed celebrating with both of them.
Have a great weekend,
Karen and Mayson