dinosaurs

What's ENORMOUS, FEROCIOUS, and EXTINCT?  Why dinosaurs, of course.  It's these very qualities that make the topic so intriguing to young children.  Add to the mix that they lived in PREHISTORIC (vocab.) times when no real people could actually study them, much less observe them, and one has a field of study that promotes imagination.  The children had no problem trying to recreate the sounds of the "thundering lizards," or creating stories about their hunting and fighting.  By the end of the week they all knew a few of the long scientific dinosaur names and most had a favorite.  We have a wonderful collection of large plastic dinosaurs that allows for lots of hands on play and closer examination of the characteristics we studies in our books. 

We went beyond science and incorparated other curriculum areas in our activity plan.   Most everyone traced dinos of their choice on their book cover and inside page.  Afterwards, we dictated a few facts we remembered about these amazing creatures.  We pretended to be PALEONTOLOGISTS (v) another day as we made FOSSIL (v) prints in our clay.  We added and counted using our supply of dinos to practice some hands on math during circle time.   We do our best to prepare everyone for next year's kindergarten expectations.

FYI: We had a PM visit from Officer Sandy of the Lincolnwood Police Dept.  She talked about safety and STRANGER DANGER.   The AM will have their turn this week.  Please read and reinforce the important info  presented in the pamphlets she distributed.

Also, the Dec. snack list is being sent home with your child.

REMINDER: Parent/Teacher Conferences continue on Wedn. Nov. 14th for those who are scheduled.

THIS WEEK'S topic will be REPTILES. we will have the opportunity to COMPARE and CONTRAST the difFerences amongst reptiles (dinos, snakes, crocs, lizads, turtles) and other classifications of animals.