Peek into our Week - Cherry Blossoms - week of 10/23/23

Our Focus Lesson: Vertebrates, Invertebrates, & Arachnids!

This week we started our study of the Animal Kingdom. We began with the two biggest categories – Vertebrates and Invertebrates! Vertebrates have a backbone and are classified into 5 groups – mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. We will spend a week on each of these categories over the upcoming weeks. Invertebrates are animals that do not have a backbone. We will learn about 2 groups of invertebrates this school year – insects and arachnids. However, we were also introduced to some other categories this week – crustaceans, worms, mollusks, sponges, corals, and jellyfish!

Speaking of Arachnids… we learned all about arachnids this week, but mostly about SPIDERS! Spiders have two body parts and eight legs. There are many types of spiders, some are poisonious and others are not. We learned the life cycle of a spider – egg sac, eggs, spiderlings, and spiders. We learned the parts of a spider. And we ended the week with an adorable spider craft!

Preschool Corner:

Some of our older Preschoolers were introduced to one of my favorite work activities this week – the Moveable Alphabet! We use the Moveable Alphabet for so many concepts, including isolating the beginning sounds of words and sounding out words phonetically! This material allows children to work on their writing skills without the pressure of forming each letter – although we work on that skill within the classroom as well!

Kindergarten Corner:

Kindergarteners from all of the primary classrooms participated in their first “Author Share”! At the end of each Writer’s Workshop unit, the children read one of their pieces of writing to their peers. We celebrate the hard work of our friends as well as practice some public speaking skills. I am so very proud of my favorite authors! At the end of the Author Share event, Ms. Kelley surprised the group with a fun, Halloween themed reading game of choosing words out of a cauldron and using their “sound detective” skills to read the words!

TRUNK OR TREAT!

We had SO MUCH FUN at our Trunk or Treat event! We started the day by decorating our classroom and then played some games with our wonderful parent helpers! We saw so many wonderful trunks during Trunk or Treat and ended our day by watching Room on the Broom!