Monday
No School

Tuesday
MLK Jr. Assembly – Lower school gathered in the gym to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr.  We had a wonderful storyteller tell us a tale about animals getting along in the jungle.  She also told us all about what MLK Jr. was like as a young boy.
The Great Kapok Tree painting –  We learned how all of the rain in the rainforest makes the root systems for the trees quite different than our trees in Illinois.  Students then used watercolors to paint a giant kapok tree for their rainforest books.   

Wednesday
Math – Patterns with Gooey the Frog  – Students pulled different pattern strips from Gooey the frog and worked with a partner to repeat the pattern using pattern blocks.  Students worked on AB, ABB, AABB, ABC
Science/Art – Rainforest Canopy Layer – Capuchin monkeys – Students added a capuchin monkey to the canopy layer of their rainforest books.  We first learned about this clever little monkey who uses rocks to open nuts and outsmarts jaguars to survive.

Thursday
Math – Greater than or less than – Students were introduced to the greater than and less than symbols.  We played a game with painted lima beans – the yellow side were seeds, the brown side were termites.  Students dropped them on a mat and sorted by color.  Pretended their hand was a chimp mouth, students pointed the mouth towards the greater amount.  They then translated this into a math sentence on paper.
Literacy – Guided Reading – I sat with each student and had them read to me at individual levels.  The Lemurs emergent reading skills are taking off!
Researcher – Jacques Couteau – This week we learned about the researcher and inventor, Jacques Cousteau.  In order to bring the world the beautiful photos and videos of life under the sea, Cousteau invented the aqualung, underwater cameras, underwater lights, water scooters, and many other underwater vehicles.  Inspired by Couteau’s ingenuity, the Lemurs were challenged to use classroom materials to invent a container that would keep a tissue dry when submerged under water.  I was impressed with the range of ideas and persistence to keep trying.  Two plastic cups taped together with duct tape seemed to work the best.

Friday
Exotic Animal Visit!

Video of skink walking

Video of Steve the sloth

Another sloth video