We have been doing a lot of different things in EE5 that we want to share with everyone.  We started out thinking that we would start a Gardening Project, but all of a sudden we were hearing about dinosaurs and decided to set up a Dinosaur Museum in our Dramatic Play Center.  Awesome experience so far.  

We have a lot of things going on in our museum.  We have workers who help customers and decide when the museum is open or closed.   (The lanyards around their necks tell you what each child's job is.)

We have a dinosaur habitat with dinosaur nests and eggs with babies in them.  
We have an excavation site where our paleontologists can dig up fossils using tools.  

We made our own fossils, which will find their way into our excavation site.

We have done some fun dinosaur art.  (We continue our obsession / love affair with tape!)

There is a lot of writing and reading and research going on for sure.  

In other news, we have been taking a lot of different materials outside for special activities.  We bathed the baby dolls in the sunshine this week....

We took a writing activity outside, which morphed into tracing shadows onto the paper.  

We also had a wonderful Valentine's Day Party in conjunction with EE4.  We set up several activities in each classroom and the children were free to move from room to room however they chose--this was so much fun!

We started out with an obstacle course that we had to go through holding a friend's hand.  We helped each other get through it.  

We had some yummy Valentine's Day Punch.

We played a game where we predicted how many candy hearts we could stack up, then we tested out our theories, then we ATE them!

We had a valentine making station.

We had a dance party.

We made special heart necklaces.

We played Valentine's Day Bingo with M&Ms.  Guess what we did with them when we finished the game?

We decorated cookies.  YUMMY!

 We played Ms. Amie's favorite game ever called Musical Hearts.  There are hearts on the floor, but not enough for everybody, so when the music stops, we all have to hug so everyone can fit onto the hearts.  Everybody wins this game!

We took silly pictures with our friends.

We still have a lot of fun things planned for our Dinosaur Study so keep your eyes open for our work!

Happy New Year!  I know it's well past the new year, but we have been SO BUSY in EE5 that I haven't found time to blog at all since we came back after winter break.  We have been having a lot of fun though. 

 

 

We made our own musical instruments.. colored water in glass jars.  It was pretty amazing how they each made different sounds.

 

 

We made a HUGE map of our playground, labeled and drawn by our friends.  It was amazingly accurate and they were very thoughtful about where everything was placed on the map--not really an easy concept!

 



 

 

We do a LOT of reading every day.  (Sorry about the clarity, but I had to take this picture from across the classroom...)

 

Guess what we were reading that day....!

 

Taking time out to do a little natural art.  These were sweet gum pods that I collected  and we painted them by dripping paint over them, and sprinkling a little glitter on them for good measure.

 

We had an ABC Hunt in our classroom.  After a lot of discussion, the children decided that the best way to see if we had all of the letters was to put them in order.  Geniuses!

 

 

The light table and the projector (remember these?) are always fun for the kids.  And I'm sending out a special thank you to my husband who always calls to ask me, "Do you need this for your classroom?" before getting rid of anything interesting he comes across.   They have so much fun writing on the white board and tracing the items they put onto the projector.

 

 

We have been engineering a lot lately.  We build forts, pig's houses, zoos, cities, towers, animal habitats, and a lot of other things with paper-covered boxes.  

 

 

A lot has been going on outside too.  The garden looks as gorgeous as ever, and we are all enjoying eating the herbs and produce with our lunches.  You can't get any fresher than that!

 

 

 

Our class had a nice time planting seeds in pots.  We planted radishes, lettuce, peas, carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  Nearly every seed sprouted, which is amazing, and we have been enjoying watching how much they grow each day.  We hope to be eating some yummy vegetables soon!

 

 

 We planted to peas out in the garden so they can grow up the fence, now we wait.  Won't it be fun to pick peas right off our fence?

 

 

 

We've also decided that the children love the garden so much that we are going to start a Garden Project with them that will probably last the rest of the year.  We have a lot of ambitious ideas, and we will see where their interest lead us. 

 

 

We made zero waste birdfeeders.

 

 

We have been bringing special activities out every day.  This is a writing activity, we can't seem to get enough writing.

 

Outside provides a different perspective on art.

 

 

I just want to mention how much we enjoy every one of these kids--they are ALWAYS engaged and interested, and it's amazing how much they have all grown already.  We can't wait to see what lies ahead this semester!