Blast Off into Space Week

Today we blasted off into our first day of the week. The Frogs and teachers are so excited to start this space adventure. We started the day by exploring our new classroom decor packed with rockets, planets, aliens, and stars! Soon we gathered to do our space exercises and got ready to read our book of the day I Can Read About Planets by Darrow Schecter. 

Today, Miss. Lenna read our book of the day.

After reading our story we listened to our Planet Song.  We repeated the order of the planets again and again until we were all experts! 

Our song of the day.

While reading our story, the Frogs even got to hold a planet. As we read the order of the planets, each Frog came up one by one to put their planet in order. Today, we also completed a Alphabox for our planets. Once we finished a group, each Frog put together their own Alphabox by taping down pictures under the correct letter category. 

 Dylan comes up to add his planet to the chart.

The completed planet chart.

The class listens to the Planet Song.


After writing, it was time for bathroom/snack. Soon after it was time to go outside! 

Bobby, Nikhil, and Aarav enjoying their snacks.

Miss. Aris helping Olivia jump down from the bee hives.


Garrison and William chasing each other around the play.

Caleb playing in the car with a yellow bucket filled with "gas" for his car.

Aashu and William playing on the seesaw. 

After coming back inside after a refreshing day, it was time for art! Today, we made a Shaving Cream Earth. After making a big pile of shaving cream, we added blue and green food coloring to represent water and land. The Frogs mixed the colors around with a plastic stick and we wrapped them up in plastic wrap for save keeping. 

William making a shaving cream planet.

Olivia mixing her food coloring together.

Garrison, Chander, and Dylan admiring their creations.

Austin mixing his colors around. 

After art, it was time for science! Today, we pondered the question, What Will Make our Balloon Inflate? 
Vinegar with Baking Soda
or
Vinegar with Sugar
After the Frogs make their predictions, we observed as Miss Hayley poured vinegar into a bottle with sugar. She placed the balloon on top, but nothing happened! 

Miss Hayley mixing the vinegar and sugar together.

Miss Hayley walking around to show the class that nothing happened. 

Right after, Miss. Lenna poured vinegar into a bottle with baking soda and BOOM! Our balloon started to expand! 

 Miss Lenna showing the class the balloon as the class observes the chemical reaction.

After, we discussed that what happened was a chemical reaction, the baking soda (a base) mixed with the vinegar (an acid) created a fizzy reaction that released gas which expanded our balloon. We also talked about some of the gasses that make up Earths atmosphere, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon, and Carbon Dioxide.

After art and science it was time for Centers! The Frogs really enjoyed the new layout for Space Week. 

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Austin and Chander playing with a toy rocket ship.



Aashu really loved being the special helper today and playing inside the rocket!

Dylan enjoying a book in the reading center.



Grayson having a blast bouncing around in the "moon shoes".








After Centers, it was time for our second bathroom break and lunch!Soon after, it was time for music and good-byes. Tomorrow we look forward to learned more about the stars and galaxies with Miss. Hayley. 

Don't Forget! Tomorrow is Parents Day! All parents are welcome to join their Frogs at 12:00 pm for Lunch and Music.
See you all tomorrow! 

Outer space communication forecast

Here are some things to look forward to during 

outer space week!

Books of the week:

Monday

I Can Read About Planets by Darrow Schecter

Tuesday

Henry's Stars by David Elliot

Wednesday

Mousetronaut by Mark Kelly

Thursday

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Theme goals:

• Increase initiation of communication between peers without teacher prompting
• Contribute to group discussions related to the theme using 3-4 word sentences
• Practice writing four-star sentences with vocabulary words of the week
• Expand vocabulary related to outer space
• Discuss concepts such as gravity and how they are relevant to everyday life
• Compare and contrast Earth and the other planets

Let's get excited about:

Our new space command center

Parent lunch on Tuesday

Science experiments about gravity, density, and gases

Shooting off our very own soda bottle rocket! 

Outer Space Centers

This week, the Frogs will get to explore new centers to go along with our outer space theme!

Dramatic play:  Campers will get to experience what it's like to be in outer space. They will ride in a rocket ship, control a rover, and even walk on the moon in "moon shoes!"

Goals: Increase imaginative play, initiate communication with peers, use 3-4 word sentences relevant to theme

Literacy: Campers may choose a book and read either to themselves, or out loud to a peer or a teacher.

Goals: Independence in reading, vocabulary expansion

Writing: Campers may practice tracing words of the week and writing four-star sentences related to the outer space theme.

Goals: Vocabulary expansion, written language, completing a task

Sensory play: Campers may explore different textures while playing with toys buried in the sensory table. 

Goals: Communicate with peers using 3-4 word sentences relevant to theme

Giraffes Can't Dance!

Day 4: The last day of our jungle adventure!

Meet Gerald the Giraffe!

The Fantastic Frogs started their day just like every other: by playing in centers until all of their friends arrived! After our friends arrived we all went to the carpet for welcome circle where we sang our Good morning song, introduced our friends, and found out who was the special helper for the day.

Caleb, Dylan, Bobby, Willam, and Nikhil playing in the jungle!

After welcome circle was done, it was time for language circle. We started by singing a song about giraffes, then introducing the book, Girrafes Can't Dance, as well as our friend Gerald!

Miss Hayley reading the book, Giraffes Can't Dance!

The book is about Gerald the Giraffe. Every year at the jungle boogie, all of the other animals make fun of Gerald for his bad dance moves! Gerald feels sad, but runs into an unlikely friend who tells him that he can dance, he just needs to find the right song! 



Read the book again here: 

Gerald showing the Frogs how to dance!

After we read the book, all of the Frogs had a turn to pass around Gerald and make him dance. 

Austin making Gerald dance!

Then it was time for our written language activity. Today we filled out a story chart answering questions about the book such as the title, author, illustrator, characters, and settings. Once we finished our whole group activity, the Frogs went to the table and filled out their own. 

Miss Hayley showing Grayson where to put the name of the Illustrator,

After written language, it was time for bathroom and snack. 

Austing playing in the beehive.

Then it was already time to go outside! The Frogs loved playing chase today. 

Bobby, William, and Garrison playing trucks on the playground!

After outside time, we played a quick game of "Gerald Says." Once Gerald said to sit at the table, it was time for art! For art today, the Frogs made paper plate giraffe masks to match Gerald!

Willam working on his giraffe mask, and Nikhil showing off his finished product!

After art it was time for science. For science today, we wanted to find out the answer to the question, "How do leaves breathe?" We would find this out by each placing a leaf into a bucket of water. Frogs made predictions between the following choices: Blow Bubbles, Rip in half, or Turn brown. 

On the left: our classroom predictions. On the right: Austin putting his leaf into the bucket!

After each Frog made a prediction, we took turns putting a leaf in water. After we did this, Miss Hayley told the Frogs that the leaves needed time to breath in the water, so then it was time to go to centers. 

Our leaves sitting in water!

This week during centers, the Frogs had loved playing in the jungle! After centers were done, Miss Hayley called everyone back to the carpet to pass out binoculars. We needed to use these to see what happened to our leaves. The Frogs all went to look in their bucket, and we found out that leaves breathe under water by blowing bubbles!

The Frogs looking at the leaves to find out they blow bubbles!

One of our Frog friends made the comment that when people go underwater we blow bubbles too! So all the Frogs decided that leaves breathe like people breathe. After we discovered the results for science, it was already time for lunch. 

Sparrow being silly at lunch!

After lunch, we went to the carpet for music time. We sang our giraffe song again, and this time we all used our giraffe masks from art! We also sang a few other class favorites. 

The class showing off their giraffe masks!

As music time came to an end, it was already time to go home. We all said our goodbyes to our Frog friend Sparrow, since it was his last day at camp. The Frogs all said goodbye to the jungle, and on Monday, they will be blasting off into Outer Space! 

Animal Boogie

Our Boogie into Day 3 of Safari Week

The week is flying by and the Frogs have been loving our Safari Adventure. After getting settled in for the day, we gathered in our circle to sing our Good Morning Neighbor song. We went over our Days of The Week song and introduced book and song of the day, The Animal Boogie.

Miss Lenna with out book of the day.

The Animal Boogie song 

Many of the Frogs already knew how to boogie along with the wild animals of the jungle! Miss. Lenna conducted our daily Safari exercises before we all sat down to read our book of the day, The Animal Boogie.While reading our story, Miss. Lenna provided visual cues that allowed each camper to come up and actively participate with the story. 

                                                                Sparrow and Caleb come up to add their pictures in our story.

After competing our story, we completed a Venn Diagram to see the differences and similarities between safari animals, a Lion and a Gorilla. Once we finished as a class, the Frogs went off to complete their own Venn Diagram. After our written language activity, it was time for our bathroom/snack break. Soon after, it was time to go outside! 

Sparrow hanging like a monkey on the monkey bars!  Aashu loves going down the slides!

Olivia with the Special Helper sign on the playground.

Garrison seen picking leaves for his roof garden .

Grayson and Dylan were inspired by Garrison to also pick leaves to make their own garden!

Once we came back inside, it was time for art. Today, each Frog was given a blank "necklace" to decorate into traditional African Jewelry. The Frogs got very creative with their designs and created beautiful necklaces.

The Frogs seen working hard on their art project!

Like clockwork, after art it was time for science! Today, the Frogs learned all about camouflage. Everyone selected a card with an African animal, some that live in the jungle and some that live in the Savanna Grasslands. The Frogs were called up one on by one to make a prediction on where they thought their animal would camouflage the best. After their prediction was made, they put their animal in the decorated backdrop of the Jungle, Grassland, or Arctic. After all the Frogs took a turn, as a class we observed where all the animals were placed. If they were misplaced, we moved the animals to their proper habitat and discussed why the animals live there and how camouflage helps them survive.

Miss Lenna disguising the placement of the animals and moving them to their proper habitats.

After Art and Science were completed, it was time to play in centers. 

Olivia enjoyed reading a book today during center time.

Austin and Caleb going on a "Lion Hunt"

William wearing his elephant disguise!

Our Safari Adventurers getting behind the wheel!

Soon it was time for our second bathroom break before lunch. The Frogs were very talkative about camouflage.

 Sparrow really enjoying his lunch!

The Frogs eating their food as fast as lions! 









After everyone was done eating, we cleaned up and got ready for music! We went over some of our favorite songs like, Peanut Butter, Tooty-Ta, and our new Animal Boogie song. Tomorrow we look forward to completing our Safari Adventure by reading Giraffes Can't Dance with Miss. Hayley!

Frogs! Don't forget to wear your blue shirts tomorrow.