Today we learned the five Spanish vowel sounds. We learned that they always have the same sound. We sang a song in which the vowels laugh so it could help us to remember our sounds.

Today while we were practicing our vowel sounds we danced with Elmo. We jumped and followed directions. We made vowels with play dough.

Today we went over vowel sounds and concentrated on A with a song, a craft, and a book of "A".

Laina and Gabriela enjoyed a field trip to Butterfly World in Boca Raton today. The girls appeared to enjoy the experience in its entirety - from sitting together on the bus ride to viewing all the pretty flowers, butterflies, birds, and insects pointed out to them during our independent exploration and guided walk about the facility. While initially shy and reticent about entering the aviary area, they eventually grew interested and entered, allowing the birds to alight on and around them. They also enjoyed experiencing the tickling feeling they experienced from certain flowers, and watched and giggled as butterflies gave butterfly kisses. Laina and Gabriela appeared to enjoy the experience and listened as the guide shared information with the group and pointed out the various stages of a butterfly life cycle, pointing out one that was emerging from the chrysalis. The girls appeared mesmerized by the various sights, smells, and the colorful butterflies and birds they got to see up close. It is expected that they will share and can add the experience to their knowledge base and share it with their friends and family.

group outing

Today the Laina and Gabriella painted butterfly gardens and added butterefly stickers. They then wrote stories about their gardens using interactive writing. The sight word we learned today was "see" and they completed the sentence I see ____ and ___. Laina wanted to know why I put a dot at the end so we discussed "a period" and when to use it.
With pink and purple butterflies, large and small the girls extended patterns and then created their own patterns. They both are able to create and extend ABA patterns and AAB patterns.
Today they learned about symmetry and they created symmetrical butterfly wings using the art process of folding the paper over and transferring the paint.
They read the story butterfly garden and looked for the animals hiding in the garden. Laina helped "read" the story and Gabriella enjoyed writing down letters. They sang the butterfly song (I spin and spin my crysalis and then I go inside, when I come out I have turned into a butterfly) and "The Three Bears" song today.
They ended the morning playing the sound game where each gets a chance to be "the teacher" and say an object in the room while the other writes down the "letter" sound the objects starts with. Through this game they are practicing sounds, connecting letters and practicing their letter formations. Both girls have improved on their writing skills as well as letter/sound recognition.

Today Laina and Gabriella experimented with magnets, made a tornado in a bottle/vortex and concocted their own play dough.
They both made a scientific guess on what objects would be magnetic and which ones would not and then they tested it out. They discussed what each object was made out of and why or why not it would be magnetic. They discovered most metal was magnetic and wood is not.
They followed a recipe to make cloud play dough and chose to use red food coloring. They used cornstarch and conditioner. They decided which one they needed more of as they mixed it together.
To make the vortex the girls added water and glitter to a soda bottle and then put a tornado tube on it. They used a strong swirling motion to get the vortex to form.
Throughout the morning we discussed sounds in words and the letters that make those sounds. They ended the day playing a game where an object is picked and they have to write down the letter that it begins with on a white board. They both enjoyed being the teacher in this game.

Gabriela and Laina were in good spirits today. They were very happy to see me and asked if they could sing a few songs we had learned earlier. We reviewed these, repeating beginning word sounds, and both girls were able to recall the lyrics well- laughing at the last words that they tried to rhyme but did not make sense. We then used dice to play a number correspondence game that they enjoyed, and they asked to play it over and over again. As it was an exercise that strengthened their auditory and visual recall skills, we repeated the exercise a few times, and both girls were able to attain, if not exceed, grade level expectations regarding recall and comprehensive abilities. Gabriela and Laina were happy to show off the beautiful matching dresses that they wore for picture day, and this allowed for a good segue into an exercise involving the comparison of sets. Finally, Laina and Gabriela shared that they were excited about going to Butterfly World tomorrow, and Gabriella asked me to sit next to her so that "Laina won't hit me" - as she is prone to do, according to Gabriela. The girls showed me the hands-on model they made in class earlier, which showcased the pupa stage. We discussed how the pupa stage is one of the coolest stages of a butterfly’s life for, as soon as a caterpillar is done growing, they form themselves into a pupa, which is also known as a chrysalis. We then reviewed that within the chrysalis, the old body parts of the caterpillar undergo a remarkable transformation - or change - called ‘metamorphosis,’ to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge. I further explained that the many parts of a caterpillar have all been changed by the time the pupa is finished, and that it is now ready for the final stage of a butterfly’s life cycle. The girls understood that, although from the outside of the pupa, it looks as if the caterpillar may just be resting, the inside is where all of the action occurs, and they understood that inside of the pupa, the caterpillar is quickly changing. Gabriela and Laina both shared that they're looking forward to seeing many colorful and varied butterflies during tomorrow's class trip and that they are looking forward to sharing their experiences with other classmates.

Today we hula hooped and played treasure hunt with the cones. They love this game!

We played Zingo, a bingo game which focuses on emergent literacy by matching pictures and words. After reading their cards, the girls took turns rolling and calling each word. Next, we talked about rhymes. I gave a word and they took turns giving a rhyming word back. We read, 'Sheep In A Jeep' and 'Sheep Blast Off'. We found pairs of rhyming words on each page. Next, we looked at rhyming picture cards. The girls took turns finding a match for each card. We discussed things in nature that can be found in spring. For example, rainbows, umbrellas, baby animals, etc. The girls practiced identifying the missing beginning sound from each spring word. We took a walk to the park to use our senses to observe nature in spring. We heard birds singing and saw a butterfly.