Rrraaahhhh! Watch out for Dinos!

I think it is safe to say that we have finally made it through the winter! April was full of dinosaurs, worms and not being afraid to get a little dirty while exploring the outdoors!

Even though dinosaurs have been extinct for about 65 million years, it is always a fun and exciting topic to learn about! We have paleontologists to thank for that!! Paleontologists are scientists who study fossils. They use these fossils and other findings to make predictions about the size, shape, type and all sorts of other information about dinosaurs.

One of the biggest dinosaurs is the Tyrannosaurus Rex. With the help of some of the kiddos here at SEE, we compared ourselves to the big, bad T-Rex! We discovered that It takes 57 of our feet to fill just one T-Rex foot print, a T-Rex is the same height as 6 SEE students standing on each other’s shoulders and that their teeth are about the size of a large banana! Speaking of bananas, we learned that a T-Rex would never eat one since they are carnivores. They have 50-60 really sharp teeth that help them eat and dig into their dinner.

After a nice April break, we came back and wiggled right into our next topic, WORMS! Before break, the kiddos were having a blast getting dirty finding tons of worms out on our playground, so we thought, why not dig deeper into the daily life of a worm. We learned that worms have no eyes, lungs or noses but they have five hearts and breathe through their skin. We found out worms prefer the dark and put that to the test with a light vs dark experiment with Mrs. M and some worms we found under rocks in the garden. We ended our week of worms by making a compost bin. We added leaves, shredded paper, soil and some scraps from our snack to the compost bucket. Once it is ready, we hope to add it to our garden to help it grow!

This month we read the story “I’m a Dirty Dinosaur” by Janeen Brian. It was about a little dinosaur who loved getting dirty by splashing around in mud. By the end, he was covered from head to toe in mud but knew a nice dive in the water would clean him right up! Everyone then got a chance to make their own dirty dinosaur with “muddy paint” made from coffee grounds and brown paint.

On top of all that, we were also introduced to our artist of the month, Andy Warhol. He was a “pop artist” who used bright colors and layers or colors to print pictures of famous people and products that everyone would know and recognize. We were so inspired by his fun and vibrant works of art, that we created some “pop art” of our own. If you haven’t already, come check out our bulletin board in the classroom to see our creations. The bright colors are hard to miss!

What's Up Next?
Every year to celebrate a wonderful year, all of the learning and of course our students, we present the families of our school with a year-end play performance of one of our favorite books. We are going to keep the book secret for now but we can tell you that it's a good one! For the next several weeks we will be practicing our lines, designing costumes and creating scenery. We also have our final artist of the month, Henri Matisse, to study AND a unit on seeds and planting. It's going to be a busy few weeks! 

Upcoming Dates and Reminders:

May 11: Parent's Night Out 5:30-9:00pm
May 28: SEE will be closed for Memorial Day
June 1: June tuition is due
June 21-22: End-of-the-year performances and parties - stay tuned for more details!
June 29: Final day of the school year
July 2-6: SEE will be closed for summer break
July 9: SEE's summer program begins!

Pictures from the past few weeks:

Digging for worms in the garden

Working on our compost

Making our "dirty dinos" extra dirty!

Do you believe it took 57 shoes to fill up the T-Rex foot?!

Dinosaur cast, not to be confused with a fossil
which is actual bone

Our school year is winding down but we have another blog post or two left for this school year. We are looking forward to our final 2 months with our pre-K kiddos before they head off to Kindergarten. It's been such a wonderful few years with your children!

Ms. Tiffany