Bug Week

We had a great bug week. It was so fun dressing up these little critters and watching them file out the door. Adorable. 

We learned a lot about bees and bugs and the children were able to get a lot of experience cutting circles for buggy eyes. They are all doing so well, cutting precisely on the line. I am so pleased with what I am seeing. 

Monday, the bee hats and bodies were so fun. The children had a great time planning and fashioning their faces, antennas and stripes “just so” to complete their bee. Twisted little faces of deliberation and satisfaction brought the room next to silent, as each toiled away. I always wish I could give all the parents a secret peephole into the things we get to hear and see. They are priceless moments. The best I can do is to try to capture what I can and report them here. We then sang another rousing rendition of “Baby Bumble Bee”. The children squirm and scream as I smear all of the pretended squished bee guts on everyone’s head at the end of the song, “It’s all over you! Ah, ha ha ha ha!” So fun! They beg to sing it again and again! 

The design for the bee hat was pretty simple as shown above. You can easily replicate it at home with some black and yellow card stock. 

 Teaching how to assemble the bee face and use tiny glue dots and not big gluey lakes. 

  

 Mrs McClure and Mrs Julie are always so helpful!

To assemble, we just stapled a few pieces of card stock cut long and
layered to make "stripes".

Our bee bodies helped teach "AB" patterns and how to use small glue dots.





We had so much fun with our busy bees. We love our bee hive friends!On Wednesday, we cut more circles and made a caterpillar face. We also linked lettered fuzz balls to create our names across the length of a caterpillar body. The children did a great job recognizing the letters of their own name and linking them together in the right order. Afterwards, we learned all about the process of a caterpillar spinning a cocoon and changing into a butterfly. 

Allison said, “I had one land on my head at the Butterfly Garden!” Taeya said, I saw a butterfly at my house!” Preston said, “I saw a butterfly in my flowers!” Que said, “Some butterflies are rainbow!” Rustin said, “I saw one at Lake Powell!” Navy said, “Caterpillars can turn into butterflies and make honey!” Eva said, “I saw a yellow one at camping but it went into the bathroom!” Josh said, “I saw a lot of butterflies at the museum! They have rules! No stepping on butterflies!” Lillian said, “I wish I could be a butterfly!” Lilly said, “I don’t want to be a butterfly! I’m a little girl and sometimes I’mscared of butterflies!” Trig said, “They don’t sting!” Navy said, “They just land on you. They’re nice!” Nash said, “I have seen butterflies on my dad’s truck. Miss Julie said, I have seen them on the front grill!” Nash was quick to rush to his dad’s defense, “But they’re alive!” So sweet! 

During our wonderful discussion, Cannon posed a question, “Why can’t zebras turn into butterflies?” So, I asked the children what they thought, and the classroom exploded with answers. Dani said, “There’s no stuff to make one!” Navy said, “They don’t have magical powers!” Kohl said, “If they turn into caterpillars, then they will turn into butterflies!” Avery said, “Zebras can’t spin and they can’t climb!” Trig said, “They don’t have the right stuff to do it!” Jace said, “They don’t have cocoons!” Madden said, “I think they turn into bees, but they don’t!” 

So, the next best thing about talking about caterpillars on Wednesday, was that the following day, our project was all about butterflies! The children had a great time gluing beautiful brightly colored pasta bows onto a page to display a colorful butterfly garden. They were all perfect masterpieces to hang up and adore, for at least a week! We ended with a butterfly story about Mittens, the Kitten, who followed a butterfly until he was lost. That completed our week. Next week is Red Week, but only after Labor Day, which is a day without school. We will plan to see everyone back on Wednesday, when we will learn the story of the Little Red Hen and crack some real wheat to grind it into flour and make our own little loaves of bread to take home. It will be a great day! We look forward to that. 

We hope you have a wonderful time with your families over the long weekend. We look forward to the stories and tales we will be greeted with as they return. We love our time with your perfect little children. Much, much love and devotion, Mrs. McClure And Miss Julie, too