News from the Outdoors

One could hear dinosaurs  stomping around the woods of Audubon this week as the Detectives continued our dinosaur unit at preschool!  The dino-detectives were using their long necks to reach leaves in the trees as well as swooping down to catch “fish” from the creek beds!

With the rain in the mornings, the AM kids experimented with making “cement” in the sandbox, and in our sunnier afternoons the PM got to play with ice in the outdoor lab table

This week the classes headed up the hill to the flying squirrel feeders to discuss different things dinosaurs liked to eat. After feeding the squirrels, the kids got to dawn dinosaur masks to look for food! We also discovered another bamboo forest down at the edge of Audubon by Briarly Road.

On our hike with Alex this week, we hunted for living fossils! We spied dinosaurs in the woods, as well as moss and ferns, which were both around during the time of the dinosaurs. Alex also showed us different types of fossils, from petrified wood to fossilized bones and shells!

We also took a trip to the ultimate climber this week. The kids experimented with balancing as well as putting together large games of dinosaur families and secret passwords!

News from the Classroom

This week in the classroom the detectives noticed similarities and differences between different dinosaurs. They compared different sized dinosaurs in a dino-footprint art project, as well as experimenting with a life-size Allosuarus footprint in the block area! We also discussed different things that dinosaurs eat, as well as the different habitats they lived in.

This week during Mindfulness Monday, we talked about different ways we can be mindful of our feelings/emotions. We practiced identifying our feelings, saying them three times, then giving ourselves space to think about new ways to act when we have big feelings!

We continued building dinosaur bones with zoobs, as well as opened up a new dinosaur matching game to play! The kids also had the chance to created their own dinosaur spined hats by painting the middle of egg cartons and attaching them to crowns. The detectives also stumbled upon a magical “dino island” that the kids used as a dinosaur habitat!

To end the week all the Detectives got to add a new journal entry that was dinosaur themed, as well as getting to create our very own dinosaurs for a Nature Preschool Dinosaur Museum! Some children drew and wrote about their favorite dinosaurs, while others chose to create new dinosaurs all together. The museum exhibition is now hanging on the hallway as you enter the preschool!

Books we Read:

Berenstain Bears and the Missing Dinosaur Bone by Stan & Jan Berenstain

How do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague

The Magic School Bus in the Time of Dinosaurs by Joanna Cole

Sammy and the Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow

Weekly Top Hits

Habitat (Forest Verse) – AM

Chorus:

Habitat, habitat hafta have a habitat (x3)

You hafta have a habitat to carry on!

Verse:

The forest is a habitat, a very special habitat,

Where the tallest trees are at

Where a bear can scratch her back

Keeps the soil where its at, renews the oxygen in fact

The forest is a habitat tha we depend on!

Chorus again!

 

Rattlin’ Bog – PM

Chorus:

Ho, ho the rattlin’ bog,

the bog down in the valley-O (2x)

Verse:

And in that bog there was a (blank),

a rare (blank), a rattlin’ (blank),

(blank) in the bog and the bog down in the valley-o!

Chorus again! Sing with as many nouns as desired!

Spoiler Alert:

Next week we are talking about spring time!