In Literacy and Math the children sorted by color, shape, number, letter and size. Our sorting frenzy will continue as we begin looking at sorting initial sounds (e.g., box starts with the letter B).  The kids have also begun practicing invented spelling. They must sound out the title of their sorting groups and try to spell the word by themselves.

In Science, keeping in the spirit of both plants and recycling, we will begin making our very own indoor compost bin!  Soil, food scraps and worms galore!  We will also continue to spend time with our hermit crabs, which have become quite popular in the classroom again.  Stay tuned!

In Drama, we will tell the story, El Gallo de Bodas: The Rooster on the Way to the Wedding. The children will be the bossy little rooster, Gallito, who needs assistance to clean his muddy beak after he greedily pecks at corn in the mud.

In Art, we are going to start a new printing project!

In Music, students will create ostinatos (repeated rhythmic patterns) on the guiro, drums and xylophone.  They will keep this steady while the other students will sing and walk to the tune, Little Liza Jane! The song is about having friends in different cities and states, just like our Flatties got to visit. Also, we will have pictures laid out like the memory game. What song could this picture be? If you can find the match, we'll sing that song!

In Literacy, Flattie mania came to an end this past week after we milked cows in Pennsylvania, took a bus tour at the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in South Dakota, and went skiing in Colorado. We also fed alligators and shucked oysters in South Carolina, ate cactus salad in Arizona, rode a tractor in Maine, saw the sculpture garden in Washington D.C., rented a car to California and took a plane to Mexico.

In Math, the children will be sorting. Lori and Nicole need help sorting by color, number, size and so much more!

In Science, we spent this week catching up with our hermit crabs, per the children's requests. In similar fashion, with the end of the school year fast approaching, our last unit of the year will be voted on and decided by the children. We will spend next week gathering ideas and determining where our curious natures take us!

In Drama, we will reenact an Uncle Remus classic, Brer Possum's Dilemma. The children will decide if and how they should help Brer Snake get out of trouble. We will tell this story incorporating narrative pantomime and call and response techniques.
In Art, the children will be encouraged to explore line, shape and design using string and paint on paper.
In Music, we are singing our song, "Grumph, went the little green frog"!  The students get to play two different instruments: Guiros and drums! We will draw a chart of which instrument plays first. Also, we will sing a new recycling song to the tune of “Lidee lidee-O.”

"Every son and every daughter (recycle recycle-o)
Needs fresh air and sparkling water. (recycle recycle-o)
Foil and plastic - put it in a special bin,
Cardboard and paper, can be used again.
recycle recycle recycle-o, recycle recycle recycle-o"

The students will clean up the pond!  Each student will catch a piece of garbage and put it in a bin for recycling! We'll get ready to fish by singing our “Who's got a fishpole?” call and response song!

In Literacy, the Flatties started their travels this week on the Long Island Railroad.  We took the train to Washington and rode the elevator up to the top of the Seattle Space needle. We also cheered on the cyclists at the U.S Grand Prix cycle cross in Oregon, visited the turtles at the Turtle Hospital in Florida, ate prickly pears in California, cooked up a pot of gumbo in Louisiana and saw the light show in Nevada. We can't wait for next week's adventures!

In Math, we tallied and recorded the results for our April survey. Blue is CHP's favorite color in the rainbow! Make sure to check it out in the cubby area.  May's survey is up and ready in the math area.  Recently we've been talking about recycling and have created a new job: "CHP Sanitation Worker." Everyone will get a turn to recycle juice boxes and aluminum at lunch.  As a result, this month's survey question is "Do you recycle at home?"

In Science, our work with the plants is concluding.  Most of our plants have outgrown the classroom and have been moved to the community garden.  We will spend next week compiling all of our observations and data we have recorded into a class plant book!  And due to the large number of requests from the kids, we will spend a couple of days getting reacquainted with Caroline and Leaf, our hermit crabs, who have temporarily taken a backseat this year to apples, squirrels and plants.

In Drama, Westward Ho! We are moving to the American West and Southwest with some classics and Native American folk tales. Stories will include Brer Possum's Dilemma, El Gallo de Bodas, and The Story of Pecos Bill. Next week, the children will reenact the Hopi tale, Coyote Helps Decorate the Night.

In Art, the children will be finishing their “love tokens” for Mom…a surprise for Mother’s Day!

In ASL, the signs will be RECYCLE and a review of HOME for our new survey question.