Español con Kindergarten: Insectos (Insects)

¡Bienvenidos familia, amigas, y amigos! Welcome! During our previous clase de Español, it was Shelby’s turn to choose our destination to a Spanish speaking country. Following our morning salutations, she recommended we go to España as our destination.  

reinforcing vocabulary words:

dónde – where

vamos – going

hoy - today

por favor - please

levantence - stand-up

alas – wings

vuela– fly

avión– airplane

carro - car

bote - boat

 bicicleta - bicycle

tren – train

sientencen - sit

círculo - circle

muéstrame - show me

To connect with our current theme of study, “Insects”, we read a book that gave us an introduction to the Spanish vocabulary for some bugs. We read Amy White’s book, Insectos.

Listening to the story we learned that the three parts of an insect are:

la cabeza – the head

el tórax – the thorax

el abdomen – the abdomen

We also discovered that an insect has seis patas (six feet) and dos antenas (two antennas). After the read aloud, using 3-D models, we learned the names of some insectos.

mariquita – ladybug

hormiga – ant

mariposa – butterfly

escarabajo – beetle

saltamonte – grasshopper

mosca – fly

mantis religioso – praying mantis

abeja – bee

libélula – dragonfly

We finished la clase with our traditional ¡Adios. Hasta luego! song and Shelby squeezing la vaca. ¡Gracias, Shelby!

¡Hasta nuestro proximo viaje!

Paz,

Alicia

End-of-Year Early Childhood potluck dinner celebration

We are having an end-of-year Early Childhood potluck dinner celebration on Tuesday, May 28 from 5-6:30 p.m. on our playground.  Please open the evite that you have received about the event and please RSVP to the evite. If you are able to join us, please sign up for a food item on the sign up sheets inside or just outside of your child's classroom.  

Hope that you can join us!

Stewardship Meeting for Worship

Last week we had the opportunity to have our annual Stewardship Meeting for Worship outdoors. This is an experience that the entire Lower School shares on an annual basis that allows us all the opportunity to reflect on our amazing blue and green planet.  It was a truly special and magnificent experience under the misty rain. We met on the center grassy area between the Lower School Building and Tyson House and listened to Shannon (our first grade teacher) as she read Chief Jake Swamp’s book, Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message. Afterward, we settled into silence as we settled our bodies while listening to the sounds and seeing the sights and textures all around us, all the while feeling the light raindrops falling upon us. A magnificent experience indeed! 

As a stewardship act, later that afternoon the Kindergarteners got together and released the ladybugs from their Ladybug Land. These little critters are beneficial to our environment, because they prey on tiny insects that can destroy crops and gardens. As part of our Insect Study, we observed their growth from larvae to adult ladybugs and it was time to set them free. We gathered in the Garden Area at the EC Nature Playground and each Kindergartener took a turn in sending along a message with the ladybugs’ departure.

Jade: “You’re the greatest animal cause I loved you.”

Saniya: “We’re going to miss you. You were the best pet we ever had. Never forget you. I love you.”

Matthias: “We all love you in Kindergarten.”

G.K.: “I loved you. Why don’t you show me how to fly?”

Hayden: “I liked having you in our classroom.”

Shelby: “I love you!”

Sameerah: “Have a good trip!”

Luc: “I hope you have a nice trip.”

Maura: “I love you.”

Jason: “We’ll all miss you.”

Oliver: “You are very pretty things.”

Neil: “Bye-bye ladybugs. I love you!”

Sophie: “I hope you like your new home.”

Insectarium

As part of our Insect Study, last week we got the chance to visit Insectarium to learn about the fascinating world of arthropods.  The Insectarium is located in Philadelphia and it is considered to be the “only all-bug museum” in the city. Their exhibit consists of thousands of live and mounted insects that give us a glimpse of the vast array of these little (and some quite BIG) creepy-crawlies that crawl around us. We got to see a collection of different praying mantis, butterflies, beetles, spiders, worms, centipedes, roaches, and much more.  Other than an extensive collection of unusual insects there were also tarantulas, scorpions and crustaceans. Some of us even dared to “pet” a scorpion or a Madagascar hissing cockroach while others played in the man-made spider web. Eeekkk!