Happy Earth Day...almost!

Metamorphosis!

Today while in the Kindergarten Music Program, "In My Backyard", in OUR own classroom two big, beautiful Monarch butterflies were emerging from their chrysalids!  We will release them this afternoon into our "Backyard"!

International Space Station

When Mr. Beutel visited our classroom, he told us that periodically you could see the International Space Station go across the sky.  In all the years that it has been in space, I have never seen it....until last night!  I heard on the news that it would be visible at approximately 8:30 last night traveling from the Southwest to the Northeast.  I didn't know what to look for, but once I spotted it, there was no mistaking it!  It was moving along at quite a clip and was quite bright!  Below is an iPhone photo.  Next time I will use a better camera!

Amazing Creatures!

Our reading theme now is Amazing Creatures and we certainly do have some in our classroom.  Besides my 18 amazing "creatures"  :-) , we have two others:



Monarch caterpillars (larvae)

It attached itself with "silk" to the habitat in the characteristic "J" before forming a chrysalis.



Just a few minutes after the children entered the room and saw the "J", one child noticed some green on the caterpillar.  This was the start of making its chrysalis.  The children were so fortunate to be able to watch it molt for the last time and form it's new "skin" that it would live in while the METAMORPHOSIS into a butterfly takes place.  This process takes between 10-15 days.  That didn't stop them from checking out the chrysalis MANY times throughout the day to see if it had changed!

 I took this one today at home.  When you view it in larger size, you can see the eyes much better.

Another type of "Amazing Creature" - found in my garden

And a bumblebee...

Okay, students, I have a question for you: 

How are the butterfly, dragonfly, bumblebee, and grasshopper alike?  How are they different?





Going Eggy! Oviparous Stories

Today we studied "oviparous" animals - animals that come from eggs

The students first were given a choice of writing an expository piece about oviparous animals or a fictional story about something that comes from an egg.  While I was conferencing 1:1 with the students, they were painting their egg.  Then they went back to their seats and wrote the "final draft".  Finally, they were to create a picture of the "main character" in their story.  We are at the very beginning stages of actual fictional story writing.  Also, the painting activity took so long, some didn't write as much as they often do.  But they didn't do too badly!

 

 

Dino

 

 

 

There's a start to "onomotopeia" in this story:  "Pop!"