This week may have been a bit gloomy outside, but that didn’t stop our spirit in our exploration of bears, ladybugs, and sunflowers!
We started our week painting beautiful sunflowers and ended our week pulling them apart as they started to wilt! Nature is beautiful, colorful, and fun!
We started the week highlighting bears, an interest that emerged from their presence across our classroom. We have books with bears, toy bears, and even go on “bear hunts” during music and movement sessions. When a new bear puppet was introduced into the classroom, it was warmly welcomed. We searched for bear caves on the playground, caught fish to eat, and walked like bears with big claw hands! The book Leaves, about a bear’s concern for the falling leaves and his preparation for his winter sleep, became a favorite.
Check out our bear in his cave outside and some of our bear faces!
On Wednesday, our week took a pleasantly unexpected turn as we found a bunch of ladybugs on the playground. We started with a tiny jar, but decided to collect natural items for a larger jar. We made an excellent home for our 5 ladybugs! The ladybugs spent the next few days in our classroom, inspiring us in so many ways! We painted small ladybugs with black spots, and even worked on huge ladybug together. Drawing dots and circles can be very different from drawing lines. A few ladybugs even escaped, but the children suggested a ladder and a stool get get them down.
Check us out while we paint, search for things for our ladybug home, and set the ladybugs free!
To finish our week, we set the ladybugs free on the playground!
“Good bye ladybugs!!” we shouted and waved as they flew away one by one. Some brave souls even let them crawl on their hands!!
Next week we will work toward creating bear caves, inside and out, as well as carry forward with our observations of insects. We hope to have some in our classroom soon!
Have a great weekend!