This week in Camellia we have been enjoying the nice warm weather - taking trips to the bike yard, the big yard and picking apples from our apple tree. We also had a special school-wide assembly on Wednesday from a Wildlife rescue group that showed the children 5 different animals from the Arctic to California. Our sound of the week this week was "b" and we had a great turn out! We had "box," "bowl," "belt," "bark," "blue," "bell," a little "ball," and a great BIG "ball."  

Our excitement for learning is contagious.  As friends observe, they ask for lessons.  Ginkgo teachers are excited and very busy.  Our Ginkgo friends are practicing our grace and courtesy lessons.  We are singing the "Garden Song".  Inch by inch, row by row,.... ask my friends to finish the rest.  Be on the look out for an email about volunteers.  We will need help with our auction project.    

We have been enjoying the Indian Summer in Jacaranda this week. Perfect weather for hanging out our laundry! Cloth washing has been very popular. The sound of the week has also been popular and we thank you all for helping your children participate in this weekly activity. We have enjoyed learning new songs, reading stories about trees and having an exciting visit from some beautiful wild animals. Thank you to all who have sold raffle tickets for our GNO next month. Keep 'em coming!  

In Juniper this week the children enjoyed and have the desire to practice, perfect, and consolidate their body movements. We use "Walking on the Line" as a Practical Life exercise. This exercise helps the child control his body and develop balance, as well as to strengthen the mind's control of its body's movements. The "line" used during this exercise is a continuous and permanent shape on the floor in the environment. An ellipse is what we have found to be the most suitable for this lesson. During this exercise, we play some soft, steady, calm, rhythmic, or marching music in the background. Once the lesson has been given, this is a spontaneous individual or group activity.  

The Live Oak children have started the first in our science topics for the year. We began with the broadest category, learning about the difference between living and non-living things. We define living things as those that breath air, take in food and water, and reproduce. We then divided living things into two categories: plants and animals. Finally, we took a closer look at animals, dividing them into vertebrates and invertebrates. Have you heard your child using any of these words at home? In the picture, you see a child exploring another topic the children learned about: the elements of the earth. We simplify this subject and talk about the earth being made of land, air and water  

The weeks have flown by in Magnolia as we have been engaged with the living and non-living objects in our environment. We are continuing to learn that patience prospers great growth as we watched caterpillars evolve into pupa, and then finally into butterflies.When the butterflies are ready, we will release them in the garden.We've also learned that butterflies fall in the invertebrate category because they do not have backbones.  Categorizing whether animals fall within the invertebrate or vertebrate classifications has been a fun challenge.We have also continued to learn more about trees and their parts. This time around, however, we are learning the terms in Spanish. Los árboles tienen hojas!   

The children are really enjoying playing eye spy with the sound of the week. This week children brought things with the "B" sound. We had a book, battery, ball, baby, banana, brush, bee, broccoli and banana bread. The children enjoyed tasting the foods. Water play with the hot weather has been fun. Please remember to label all clothing and check your child's extra clothes basket. Reminder: class starts at 8:45. Please have a quiet goodbye in the kitchen so children who are working inside are not disturbed.