Hello everyone!

It has been so wonderful to have the lovely weather we’ve been having – we are getting to spend more time outdoors playing and exploring in the environment.  Our surroundings and environ have been a point of focus for us in the last few weeks.  Even though the weather on Earth Day was rainy and cold, we celebrated by discussing all of the ways we effect our planet, and our own neighborhoods.  The children came up with things that have a negative impact on our environment, and different things WE can do to help change that and take care of our earth.  We spent time walking our trails and collecting garbage from the long winter months.  The children were very proud of their efforts and especially enjoyed the trip to the dumpster to dispose of our finds!   On our outings I heard some of them talking about how the earth was “waking up!” from it’s long sleep, and they were observing small plants sprouting and buds forming.  You can see them putting together the concepts of growth in relation to our sun and how important a healthy planet is for our own well being.

In the classroom we are in full Spring mode!  The children will begin to do some individual seed plantings that they will be bringing home.  The seed planting is a work on the shelf that allows them to construct a pot out of newspaper, fill with soil, plant the seed and take it home with them to watch it grow!  If anyone is willing and able to bring in some simple potting soil and newspaper we would greatly appreciate it!  We will be able to supplement their plantings with some of our very healthy worm castings from our worm condo in the classroom- it has been a HUGE success this year!  The children have been so attentive and nurturing to our worms, and the growth in population is the evidence- we have baby worms galore!!  Ask your child to show you sometime, it is so cool.

We are in the thick of preparing for our biggest event of the year, International Night.  The P3 community is Africa this year and we are so excited!  We have already learned a good deal about mummies, masks, the difference between a monkey and an ape and what you might see on a safari.  Olly’s mother, Georgina came in to talk with us about Primates – did you know you are one?!?  Eve, Zachary’s “Bubba” ;), came in to talk with us about growing up in Kenya.  She brought in some tropical fruits for the children to try and shared some great stories and information about Africa with us.  Finnegan’s mom, Terri McElhinny, will be coming in for International Night with an assorted collection of African animal skulls from the Michigan State University Museum collections – this is always a huge hit and one of my favorite parts of our exhibit for the night.  If you have anything at home to help us represent our continent, please let us know. We are looking forward to the transformation of our classroom into the continent of Africa, and, as always, let us know if you can help in any way.

Here’s to celebrating these longer, warmer days-

Trish