What a great week! The Blue Whales were busy with classroom activities and alumni visitors that taught us exciting new things.
On Monday we wore our favorite socks and took off our shoes to show them off. We talked about fiction and nonfiction stories and read a nonfiction story about how Band Aids were invented. We had fun with Band Aids in an art project. Our busy fingers were hard at work trying to open all those Band Aids. Levi, Isabelle Z.’s brother and a former Blue Whale, visited the classroom and did a science experiment. He was able to blow up a balloon just using vinegar and baking soda and then he gave all the Blue Whales a chance to see what happens when you mix baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring. We really enjoyed having Levi visit and thank you to Isabelle and Levi’s mom for setting up this fun science experiment for our class.
Team Tuesday had a lot of UNC fans but there were other college and professional teams represented. We even had a Team Earth fan. We talked about our home addresses and practiced writing our house numbers. It was so exciting to learn that other friends had some of the same numbers in their addresses and that we all lived in North Carolina. We celebrated Emmy’s half birthday and enjoyed a great story and tasty snack with her mom.
The Blue Whales came in strong on Wacky Wednesday. It was so fun to see everyone’s interpretation of wacky. Liam, a former Blue Whale, and his mom came in to talk to us about Chinese New Year. They told us the story of how it began and taught us a few Mandarin words. This is the year of the snake, so Liam helped us make a paper snake. And they sent home a red envelope with pretend gold money that was chocolate. It was so fun and informative to spend the morning with Liam and his mom.
And to end the week on Thursday everyone wore their cozy jammies and some fun slippers. We continued working on our home addresses and it was amazing what our Blue Whales already remembered about their addresses. The highlight of the day was our snack of pancakes, syrup and fruit. Thank you to all the wonderful parents for all of your help with this special day.
Next week we will continue with our home addresses and have a few special projects focusing on our addresses and houses. We also will start investigating and discussing the letters in our first and last names.
We have some fun events coming up over the next few weeks. Below are the ones with scheduled dates to add to your calendar:
Monday, February 3rd: We will be taking a Southern Village Walk to further explore house numbers, house features and street signs. Please wear comfortable shoes for our walk.
Thursday, February 6th: We will be taking another short Southern Village walk for a special surprise your Blue Whales will tell you about on that day.
Friday, February 7th: Valentine’s Dance (6:00 -7:30 pm). Join us for a fun night in Ascension Hall. The Blue Whales will be practicing their dance moves in class all week.
Monday, February 10th: We will have another art project with Cailan’s mom and sister. This one will not be messy but be on the lookout for another email on how you can help contribute to this fun project.
Thursday, February 13th: Valentine’s Exchange and Spa Party (I sent an email with more information about how we exchange Valentines in the Blue Whales last week and Kyle sent out a Sign Up Genius with more information about our pampering spa party).
We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends. Hope everyone has a nice weekend.