Week of March 9-13, 2015!

What a change in everyone's mood! With the recent warm weather and daylight savings, I feel like nothing can get us down! The kids are happy and the teachers are happy! Spring is almost here, I can feel it!

Here is what we were up to this week:

Our Map Month continues with the (almost) completion of the Jasper John "Map" recreation! The children cannot stop pointing to the map trying to figure out who made which state! I love how they are naturally becoming more familiar with the names of each state.  Bravo, children!

I mentioned last week that we discussed as a class how a map doesn't have to be just roads, states or countries.  We can map anything! We have been talking a lot about Burlington (and surrounding towns) and what we see around town and on our way to school.  The children have been drawing familiar landmarks including Trader Joe's, the fire department, Burlington Mall, H Mart and so many others! As the month progresses, we hope to incorporate the drawings into a big map of Burlington.  

Mapping the town lead us right into a discussion about where we live.  Do you live in a house, apartment, townhouse, etc?  The children discussed the people who live in there home and we decided to incorporate some math into our discussion by graphing the number of people who live with us.  The graph is a great way to show children how you can organize a group of numbers and 
quickly find out which one has the most/least. 

In addition to all of the learning, the children have been so happy to be back outside after so many weeks indoors! A huge thank you to all of the families who spent an hour or so of their weekend with us to get those kiddos back outside. We love snow explorations especially now that it is getting warmer! Our families rock!

What's happening next:

Next week will begin our compass explorations! The children will become more familiar with the terms north, south, east and west and they will have lots of opportunities and activities using the compass!   

Reminders:

- Picture day is next Thursday and Friday, March 19th and 20th!  Please reference the form that went home with your child so you know which day your child is having their picture taken.  I will be sending out a more detailed email at the beginning of next week.  And don't forget to return the form so we know which color background you want for your child.

- Our March Gathering will be on Saturday, March 21st at 1pm at the Barefoot Books store in Concord.  There will be story time and a craft.  All of the teachers here LOVE Barefoot Books and we know you and you child will love the shop and the activity too! The cost for the event is $5/child. If you are interested in attending the event, money will be collected at school prior to the 21st.  Please bring exact change.

Lastly, another huge thank you for all of the families who participated in our fundraiser and/or who donated money! We raised just over $500 and we are so excited to add more plants, trees and equipment to our outdoor classroom! We are so grateful for all you do for us! 

And check out the awesome Jasper Johns recreation of "Map" (Missouri in progress):

And our new sign-in system:

Have a lovely weekend! 

Joanna