“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard” A.A. Milne

We’ve had such a wonderful year together! It’s amazing how quickly it went by. We made memories that will stay with us forever.

Birthdays. We wrapped up our week of birthday celebrations. It was wonderful to see our students go out of their way to make each birthday boy or girl feel special, even when it was just a pretend birthday.

Yearbook. On Thursday, we signed our names so many times! Students from other classes came by to ask for our signatures. We were surprised and proud to see some of our youngest students happily signing yearbooks. Their faces lit up whenever an older student asked for their signature. This is just one of the reasons we love Plato. We’re more than a school—we’re a family.

Spirit days. We had so much fun during our last days, doing things like ditching our backpacks and enjoying a movie day. Since our students are still young, we watched a Magic Bus episode about bees, which was just the right length for them. Field day was definitely the highlight for many, especially since it was their first time. They were a bit nervous at first, not knowing what to expect, but soon they were having a great time with water games like Water Frisbee, Sponge Relay, and Water Balloon Toss, as well as other games like Army/Navy Game, Clothes Relay, Pool Noodle Frisbee, Gaga Ball, Basketball Knockout, and Corn Hole. By the end of the day, everyone said they had a blast and wished they could do it again. Ask your child which game they liked best.

Butterflies. The Lembesis family donated dormant butterflies to our class. After briefly explaining what dormant means, our students opened their envelopes and gently woke up their butterflies. Some butterflies flew away right away, while others took a little longer. We loved watching them take off and hope we’ll see them visiting the flowers around our school.

Graduates. We said our final goodbyes to our eleven Plato graduates this year, some of whom first joined us in PreK ten years ago: Sokrates, Marie, Christina, Dante, Petro, Julia, Teddy, Soti, Yianni, Charlie, and Fotini. We cheered loudly for them. It was a joyful experience and a glimpse of what the future holds for all of us.

As teachers, we’ve had a remarkable year! We look back at the “itty bitties” entering in August (some since the fall of 2024) and see the older, more mature problem solvers with strong self-identities walking out of the classroom. We cannot say enough how very proud we are of every one of them! Whether they return to Plato or begin a new story at another school, we know they will go far!

One last assignment for summer break: read, read, read, and play, play, play!

Have a safe and happy summer vacation, and stay curious! Efi & Soraya

“Often when you think you’re at the end of something you’re at the beginning of something else…” Fred Rogers

Hard to believe we just had our penultimate week of school. On Monday, we had the opportunity to join the other classes in the parking lot for a Walk-A-Thon to help raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This organization is dedicated to granting wishes for children facing critical illnesses, and we were proud to support such an important cause.

​This event marked the conclusion of our school’s service projects, which have been a wonderful way for our students to engage with the community and learn about helping others. Ask your child what a service project is and why we participated in the walk around the parking lot. It’s a great opportunity to discuss the importance of kindness and support for important causes.

Wonder Wall. As we come to the end of our explorations, we’ve been reflecting on all we’ve learned about bees, worms, butterflies, and the intriguing little critters we’ve found in the playground. This week, we took the time to tackle the last questions on our Wonder Wall, and while we learned a great deal, we ended up with even more questions! One fascinating fact was about worms—did you know that some can swim? We learned about leeches and how surprisingly agile they are in water. We watched a short video of worms swimming, which left us quite amazed.

We also had a question that wasn’t directly related to animals: How is paint made? We delved into a bit of history regarding how people have traditionally used various natural materials to create colors, such as minerals, fruits, vegetables, and even dead animals to dye clothes. One fun fact that intrigued us was about dead sea snails, which produced a reddish-purple dye. It was hard to get and required hard labor, which made it very expensive. That is why purple became the color of the richest.

Nowadays, new technologies make paint faster, cheaper, and easier to get. They are now made with pigment, a resin, and a solvent. Students were surprised to hear that we could paint with things we can find in our fridge, so we took the opportunity to try it ourselves, and it made a perfect excuse to experiment. First, we smeared a blackberry on white paper, but we first predicted the color it would leave behind; some said black since the blackberry looks black, others said blue and purple. The color winner was purple, and it was nothing but amazing.

Science. We took a purple cabbage and asked students to predict what color it would leave behind; the almost unanimous answer was purple. However, after putting cabbage leaves in hot water, we were surprised to see the liquid turn blue.  We then poured the liquid into other substances to see what would happen. One by one, students guessed the substances by smell and confirmed whether they were solid, liquid, or gas. We used lime juice, vinegar, white milk, water, baking soda, bleach, and egg whites. We then predicted what would happen if we put the cabbage water in it. We watched the colors of each substance change as soon as it came into contact with the cabbage juice. The most surprising one was the egg white, which did not mix at all, even after stirring it! We could see the egg white and the juice separating just like water and oil! Ask your child what happened to the egg whites. Here’s how the colors changed:

• Lime juice- turned bright pink.
• milk turned pastel purple
• The water turned light blue.
• Vinegar turned red
• baking soda turned teal
• The juice seemed to have disappeared in the bleach!

We even tried the bleach twice because it looked so cool! We do love our magic potions.

Finally, we poured the vinegar into some baking soda, not before asking what would happen to it, “It will explode!” Which it did! The science behind it: when we mix an acid or a base with the cabbage water, the hydrogen ions break off from the molecules in the cabbage, demonstrating how acids and bases affect the pH of a solution. The cabbage contains a natural indicator called anthocyanin, which changes color depending on the acidity or alkalinity of the solution it’s mixed with.

Spirit Days. We are having so much fun with spirit days. Some of which needed a little prep, like our annual paper airplane competition. We first discussed the significance of having fun during the event, emphasizing that while there may be moments of disappointment, the main reason for the competition is to have fun. We invited Ms. Anna’s class to teach our little ones to make a paper airplane, then to teach them to fly them, which requires a special technique. We made one for home and one for school, and the following week, our little ones practiced during the day, prepping for the big day. On Monday, students took turns launching their paper airplanes to see whose creation could fly the farthest. We cheered on our finalists, Gianna and Leo, and our winner, Cristiano. We were so proud to see them show sportsmanship and camaraderie as they celebrated each other’s efforts. On Tuesday, we joined the rest of the school to compete against the other finalists. Cristiano represented our class with pride and did his best. We were thrilled to see Krishev from Ms. Beth’s class take first place. Yay for Krishev!

Birthdays.  This week, we started our celebration-palooza of summer birthdays.  Each student deserves to celebrate their birthday in our class, even if it falls during summer vacation.  We talked about how we all deserve to feel special on our birthdays and how amazing it feels to be celebrated by our classmates, friends, and teachers at school.  We have shared many of our favorite books, shared a special treasure, dressed in our favorite costume or outfit, and danced to our favorite songs.  We sing Happy Birthday in English, Spanish, and Greek. We love to share so many languages and cultures.  We still have more birthdays to celebrate, and one more week to go! Stay tuned! Efi and Soraya

Other fun things we did:

The best time to celebrate is whenever you can!

Yay! What an exciting week! The highlight was our Mother’s Day celebration. The students worked so hard to get ready, and their efforts really showed during their final performance. They learned songs, auditioned for various roles, helped with the welcome, and made everyone laugh with their skits. Some even became understudies by learning everyone else’s lines, which is a big achievement for our little ones! Besides performing, the students also made gifts for their moms and grandmas. This took several days, and they put a lot of love and patience into each one. They picked out colors and added special details, which was great practice for their fine motor skills. The students enjoyed it so much that many said they wished it could be Mother’s Day again. It was truly a success!

Visit. On Tuesday, we had Ms. Cheryl from the library visit, and as always, we had so much fun moving our bodies to the tune of Teddy Bear and reading Grandma’s Tiny House by JaNay Brown-Wood and Truck Truck Goose! by Tammi Sauer. She always teaches us fun songs to dance to.

Critters. On Wednesday, we observed that our butterflies had successfully emerged from their chrysalides. We initially counted six, then seven, then nine, and finally all ten butterflies emerged, including the one that had fallen into the cup before pupating. We noticed that its wings differed from those of the other butterflies, which may explain why caterpillars hang before transforming into chrysalides. Our small butterfly remains beautiful, even with its crooked wings. We will care for all of them equally until it is time to say goodbye.

We learned that the most surprising part of a butterfly is its proboscis (ask your child what a proboscis is). It is so funny looking, and we imagine how we’d look if we had a straw attached to our face. It would make drinking water very easy, for sure!  

We also learned other facts about butterflies:

• Butterflies need their proboscis to drink nectar from flowers.
• Nectar is a type of sugary liquid.
• Butterflies are pollinators, just like bees!

Bees. This week, we finally had time to work on our Wonder Wall and answer the questions that have been piling up. The students asked about bees, worms, and even things like paint and other animals. We started with the bee questions since we’ve been learning so much about them. It was exciting to see that we could answer many of these questions ourselves. Now, the students can explain if bees pee and poop, if they fly in the rain, and if they talk to each other. We’re proud of what we’ve learned and have enjoyed sharing our discoveries.

Chicks. Ms. Ela’s class had baby chicks hatch last week, and we got to babysit them for a day. There were four fluffy chicks, and we loved watching them. We learned that chicks are predators and eat worms! The students went on a hunt to find the longest, fattest worms so the chicks could have a tasty meal. It was a great way to see the food chain in action.

Songs. We introduced the songs for the end-of-the-year program. As part of our preparations, we are painting flags representing some of the countries our students in our school come from. We feel a sense of pride and appreciation for the diverse backgrounds in our school community. Stay tuned! Efi and Soraya

Other fun things we did:

“Bees don’t need ‘save the bees’ written on a shirt. They need flowers, no harmful sprays and wild places to live and work.”

Save the Bees. Thank you to everyone who registered their children for the Save the Bees Parents’ Night Out. Your support truly makes a difference. We also appreciate the parents who donated funds for snacks, juice, pizza, and those who contributed to last week’s shrinky dink craft project. We are pleased to announce that our recent events raised over $2,000 for The Bee Conservancy, doubling our original goal. Woohooo!

Most importantly, our little ones are learning that, even at a young age, they can make a meaningful impact in our community through collaboration and raising awareness. We are tiny, but mighty!

Class presentations. In addition to our fundraising, Ms. Beth’s class presented an informative session on National Parks in the United States. Students learned about native plants and animals, notable landmarks, and our shared responsibility to protect the environment and its species when visiting these sites.

Surprise! And now for some exciting news—tomorrow is the day! Our little ones are all set to celebrate their amazing mommas. This week has been filled with preparation and final touches. While we can’t share pictures just yet, we assure you it’s going to be a wonderful surprise. We look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Other fun things we did:

“Pollinators are the unsung heroes of the natural world, silently working to keep our planet blooming and thriving” 

Service Project. We had an amazing response for our main event, Parents Night Out. We kicked off our evening by welcoming our participants and making a coaster as a fun craft. They decorated them however they desired, using as many colors as they liked. After crafting, they went for an outdoor time, followed by pizza and juice. The night ended with a great movie, popcorn, and cheese puffs. The money donated for this event will go directly to The Bee Conservancy organization. We will provide the final fundraising total next week.

Bees. This week we talked about pollination, which is the transfer of pollen from one flower to another. We discussed who the pollinators are, like bats, butterflies, hummingbirds,and of course the main ones, the bees. Even the wind is a pollinator! (ask your child why the wind can be a pollinator. After reviewing the anatomy of bees, each student made a bee using pine cones, yarn, googly eyes and pipe cleaners. It was tricky for some of our little ones because it required a lot of twisting and bending. Students from Ms. Ela’s class helped us glue their eyes and legs with hot glue, since they are experts by now. Some students went above and beyond by making their bees anatomically correct, portraying 5 eyes, 6 legs and antennae . Once our bees were ready, we played a freeze-pollination game. We made big flowers full of pollen (chalk dust) that our bees visited while music played. When the music stopped, students were supposed to freeze and continue when the music started again. At the tune of the fun classical song, The Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov, students “flew” their bees around our pretend garden, making a buzzing sound and drinking nectar from each flower. Students noticed how the pollen stuck to the fibers of the pipe cleaners, just like natural pollen sticks on bees. At the end of the game, we checked our flowers and saw how the “pollen” had mixed up from one flower to another. We had so much fun pretending to be bees!

Surprise. We were busy as bees making the stage decorations for our upcoming celebration. We painted cardboard boxes and sheets in many colors. We even made flowers in Kandinsky style, which adds a fun artistic touch to our decorations. We also practiced our lines and songs. It is going to be epic!

Critters. We received a delivery of special critters. Students analyzed their bodies and drew them in their journals. Then they gave educated guesses about what these critters might be, what they do, what they eat, and how they move. Their guesses included: it’s a worm, it’s a super worm, it’s a caterpillar. They noticed a web forming inside the cup; some guessed it was some type of “worm spider”. We watched them double their size in just one week! We are excited to see what we’ll find on Monday. Stay tuned! Efi and Soraya

“How wonderful that nobody needs to wait a single moment to improve the world,” Anne Frank

​Service Project. On Monday, we proudly launched our Service Project Save the Bees. We chose a good spot to hang our poster boards, and volunteers decorated a donation jar. As part of our initiative, we presented our plan to the whole school. Each student learned a line or two explaining the reason for our project to four groups, and Ms. Ela’s class presented it to the other four. We shared our plans to raise money to donate to The Bee Conservancy https://thebeeconservancy.org/. Together, we set up a Bee Craft Fair on Thursday, and students had the opportunity to make a keychain, a hair clip, or earrings. As a class, we’ve been busy bees, encouraging everyone to help out.  As families, we can pitch in too! (ask your child how you can help as a family)

• Planting flowers in your garden
• Stay away from garden chemicals.
• Donate money (due on April 30th)

Last year, we raised over $ 1,000, and we can’t wait to see how much we can raise this year for this important cause.

Bees. As part of our ongoing Service project, we keep learning about bees and all the amazing things they do. We talked about their life cycle and learned how worker bees care for their babies (larvae). The life cycle of honeybees consists of four stages: eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults. This entire process varies in length amongst the different honey bees. It takes about 16 days for the queen, 18 to 22 days for the worker bees, and 24 days for the drones. We watched a short video that showed us how the whole cycle looks in real life! If you are curious, check it out: https://youtu.be/f6mJ7e5YmnE?si=0-8fDStxeDiaajJB  We could see the entire transformation, and it was mesmerizing.

Pollination. In addition to the life cycle, we also discussed pollination, which is the transfer of pollen from flower to flower. Insects and animals that help with pollination are called pollinators. (Ask your child what other animals are pollinators besides bees (butterflies, bats, hummingbirds, small mice, etc.) While we heard about the pollination process, we learned why bees are a crucial part of pollination (ask your child why bees are essential during the pollination process and what could happen if bees go extinct)

Earth Day. To celebrate Earth Day, Ms. Anna’s class visited us to interview our little ones with questions they’d prepared themselves. We were proud to hear our little ones answer with such confidence. Here are just a few of the insightful questions Ms. Anna’s class posed:

Why did you choose to help save the bees?

After you help save the bees, would you help other animals?

How can you make people stop spraying chemicals on flowers?

Tell me something you learned about bees?

Do you run away from bees?

What are some ways you can help bees?

Do you tell your friends not to be afraid of bees?

How long will it take you to save the bees?

How old were you when you started saving the bees?

What do you like the most about saving the bees?

What do you like about bees?

How can you save the bees without planting more flowers?

Oak tree. Arbor Day was on Friday. As a class, we visited a tree that some of our students helped plant two years ago. They remembered how we planted dozens of acorns that a student had donated. Out of those, about ten sprouted, then when transferred to a bigger pot, only four survived. We then planted them together in our school’s garden, and after two winters, only one tree survived, and it’s thriving!. This spring, we can see it growing strong, and there’s a good chance it will grow into a big old oak tree one day. We can only hope to see it grow and become a home for many critters around. After hearing the short story from the ones who helped plant and water the seeds, our little ones decorated popsicle sticks to rebuild a fence around our little tree, which had been damaged over the past year. Ask your child to take you to see our tree. We are now in the process of giving it a name, and we’ll update you next week, once we’ve made a decision. Stay tuned!

Other fun things we did:

We are little, but together, we are strong. We can help bees!

Chicks. We visited Ms. Ela’s class to check out their egg incubator. The experience left our students in awe as they observed the miracle of life inside the eggs, with baby chicks starting to move within their shells. How cool is that? Our students observed the egg incubator in action, which gently rotates the eggs every hour. This rotation is crucial for the development of the chicks inside the eggs. Ms. Ela explained that chickens naturally rotate their eggs three times a day to ensure even heat distribution, prevent the embryos from sticking to the eggshell, and promote healthy growth. She also explained that the eggs need to be warm, summer weather warm! We can’t wait to see the baby chicks!

We also got to see her canary baby birds!

Surprise. Our big secret is out; we are planning a big celebration for all mommies and grandmas. Students dictated what they wanted to say in their invitations, then painted them in a Kandinsky style, and, for a final touch, drew their moms on the font. Older students wrote the invitation themselves. As part of our planning, students are involved at every step. This is their party for you! Can’t wait to tell you more details!

Bees. We joined with Ms. Ela’s class to learn more facts about bees and how each bee plays a role inside and outside of the beehive:

• Queen, she is the mom of all the bees. She is in charge of laying all the eggs in the hive.
• Drones, they are the boys of the beehive. Their only job is to mate with the queen.
• Workers, they are the girls of the beehive. They perform a multitude of jobs throughout their lifetime, as soon as they are born, they perform a job, and then switch jobs as they get older:
• Cleaners (clean the beehive)
• Nursing (feed the babies -larva)
• Queen caretakers (care for the queen)
• Engineers (build and fix the beehive)
• Undertakers (get rid of bee bodies that die inside the hive)
• Food Processors (receive the nectar, process the nectar, make the honey)
• Guards (guard the door from other insects and predators)
• Scouts (look for flowers)
• Collectors (collect nectar)

We have so much to learn about bees and have so many questions for our wonder wall:

• Do bees sleep in flowers?
• Why do they have a queen bee?
• Do bees drink water?
• Why do bees have wings?
• Do bees eat flowers?
• Do bees play?
• Do bees poop, pee, and fart?
• Why do bees have a beehive?
• How do bees wake up?
• How can bees sleep if they can’t close their eyes?
• Do bees have a honey cave?

We’ll ponder on these questions and try to answer them ourselves as we keep on reading and learning more about bees.

Service Project: We read the book “Give Bees a Chance” by Bethany Barton and learned that bees are very important to our ecosystem. We learned that entire honeybee colonies are disappearing in large numbers and are, in fact, in danger of extinction. But why? There are many reasons why bees are dying. Some reasons are still unknown; others include climate change, cell phone towers, chemicals we spray on flowers, pollution, habitat loss, and parasites.

Let’s help the bees! How can we help them? Students dictated their ideas, and together, we made poster board signs:

• Plant more flowers
• Make signs
• Leave bees alone
• Make bee hotels
• Ask people not to spray chemicals.
• Do not cut flowers
• Plant more trees
• Make bee fountains

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  

We can also raise money to send to an organization that helps bees. We will attend other classes on Monday to spread our message to the other students and teachers. Stay tuned! Efi and Soraya

“A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered” Ralph Emerson

Bees. Ms. Ela’s class joined us to read the book Why Do We Need Bees? – by Katie Daynes. Together, we learned that bees are very important, and learned more interesting facts about bees:

• Bees are insects
• They have five eyes, four wings, antennae, and six legs.
• There are about 25 thousand different kinds of bees in the world!
• Male bees don’t have a stinger.  
• There are three types of bees: queens, Drones, and Workers, and each has a particular job(ask your child what their job is).
• Bees make honey
• They don’t want to attack us; they only sting when threatened.
• Bees are social, and they live in large groups called colonies.
• Honey bees harvest nectar and pollen from flowering plants.

We also learned that dandelions are the first food bees and other insects need to survive, as they are among the first flowers to bloom in spring. However, people don’t appreciate dandelions and remove them or kill them with chemicals as soon as they appear. This is one of the reasons why bee populations have diminished, affecting the entire ecosystem. How can we help? To address this situation, our classes brainstormed ways we can help protect dandelions. Their ideas included:

• Make signs
• Tell mom, dad, and grandparents to stop spraying chemicals on their gardens.
• Ask people not to cut flowers.
• Plant more flowers

After discussing these ideas, we got to work on our mission and made individual signs for our yards to spread the word to our neighbors about why it’s important to preserve the dandelions in our gardens. We also agreed to tell everyone we know about the importance of dandelions. Ms. Ela’s class went to the office and asked them to tell our gardeners not to cut the flowers and not to spray chemicals. We also put up signs around the school, so everyone knows about our project. Students went home with their signs, excited to tell their families about the bees.

Pledge. We finished our turn to say the Pledge of Allegiance for the whole school. Every student had the chance to do it at least once; most did it twice. We could see the increase in confidence they showed the second time around. Such a meaningful experience. We can’t wait to do it again. (Check out videos on Parent Notes.)

​Theater. On Wednesday, our class took a bus trip to the Des Plaines Theater to watch a play inspired by the book “Pigeon Rides the Bus” by Mo Willems. Students had a great time watching the characters sing catchy songs and cheer for Pigeon as he tried to fly. As always, our little ones did a fantastic job practicing their social skills. They were not only a wonderful audience but also respectful bus riders on the journey to and from the theater. It’s great to see them growing in their ability to engage with others outside of school in a positive way. We’re already looking forward to our next adventure!

Surprise. We have been busy preparing for a special day coming up in May. Preparing a big event like this is hard work! While we want to keep the details a surprise for now, we promise you are going to love what we’ve planned. As part of our preparations,  students made a list of the things we need to prepare for this special celebration, including: invitations, decorations, gifts, refreshments, music, and entertainment. Our little ones are part of every detail, and everyone has a say.

In addition to our planning, students recently auditioned for their roles in a special activity related to the event. While we cannot provide much information, we can say that they all did their best to get the role they wanted. Stay tuned for more about this cool activity!

Efi and Soraya

“A day without laughter is a day wasted.” Charles Chaplin

​We had so much fun and learning, all packed in a short school week. We celebrated April Fool’s Day by playing pranks on each other. We loved watching students’ faces while they figured out it was just a silly joke. Research shows that a mutually playful environment helps students engage intellectually and build stronger, more trusting relationships. Ask your child what funny things they heard.

Art. We drew more inspiration from Wassily Kandinsky and created colorful masterpieces. Students were challenged to use pipettes to drop watercolor onto their canvases. The task was to drop only one at a time, which proved quite the challenge for our little artists. They had to focus on controlling the strength in their fingers and thumbs to achieve just the right amount of pressure. This exercise allowed them to express their creativity and develop their fine motor skills, which are so important at this stage of development.

Think. We started an activity called “Think outside the box”. Students had an open-ended drawing challenge that really got their critical thinking skills flowing. Each child was given a piece of paper with a specific shape on it and tasked with completing the drawing in a unique way—without creating the obvious object. For instance, a simple circle could transform into a wheel, an eye, or a donut. The goal is to encourage them to view shapes from different perspectives, illustrating that the same shape can be interpreted in a dozen ways. Our first challenge began with the prompt: “It’s not an egg; it’s a…”. Their responses: a ladybug, a caterpillar, a pirate, a carrot, and even a Labubu. Others created a spider, a face, a chicken, a person, a labyrinth, a worm, a rolly polly, a house, a cherry, and a turkey. They really put their creativity to the test! Ask your child what they created with their oval.

Hunt. On a rainy day, students enjoyed an indoor egg hunt, but with a twist. Instead of the traditional candy-filled eggs, students played a letter-themed scavenger hunt. Students had to find the matching capital and a lowercase letter egg. This meant that no other egg would fit unless it had the same letter on it. Students tallied how many eggs they found, with some finding as many as 8! As the kids explored, they were not only practicing their letters but also developing important problem-solving skills. Ask your child how many eggs they found.

Other fun things we did this week:

Efi and Soraya

Find magic wherever you are! 

St. Paddy’s. On Tuesday, we found a big mess the Leprechaun left for us to clean up. We could see his path of shenanigans, with green footprints everywhere. What a mischievous little guy!  While students cleaned up all the mess, they found a letter. It was from the Leprechaun himself, telling us that he’d left a treasure for us. Just like all leprechauns, he is a trickster, so we had to solve the riddles first to find the treasure. Each card we found led us to another clue, but we had to solve the riddle, which would uncover another clue: “A Leprechaun can be as quick as a flash; go and look now where you put all the _____.” Students used their rhyming skills and critical thinking to solve the riddles. With teamwork and determination, they solved all the clues that led us to a hidden treasure, Yay! We were lucky, after all.

Rhyming. We’ve been reading a lot of books about hibernators that happen to have rhyming words. Rhyming is a lot of fun; we get to  pay attention to the “ending  sounds” of words, and match them with other words that have the same ending sound. By engaging with rhymes, children enhance their phonemic awareness, which is essential for reading and writing. It allows them to recognize patterns in words and improves their ability to decode new words as they learn. As we continue our exploration of hibernation, we’re excited to see our understanding of the topic and language skills grow through these engaging rhyming stories!

Science. We made Elephant Toothpaste. While not really a toothpaste, it does make a cool foam eruption. We combined yeast (catalyst) with warm water. On the side, we combined hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, and green food coloring in a flask. Students recalled that warm water helps break down the powder more easily than cold water.  Once mixed, the yeast breaks down hydrogen peroxide into oxygen gas and water, with dish soap trapping the gas to create a huge, foamy “toothpaste.” We smelled the yeast, and it reminded us of a smell we all like. Ask your child what the yeast smells like (bread). After making our predictions, we combined the two solutions, which resulted in a cool, slow explosion.

We also explored art through chemical reactions! Using the same ingredients, baking soda (solid) and vinegar (liquid). We poured the baking soda on our canvas, then, using a pipette, we used our fine motor skills to pour drops of the vinegar and food coloring solution on top of the baking soda. Students watched and heard as the chemicals reacted on the canvas, leaving bubbles of gas. Once everything dried, we had a beautiful background for our masterpiece. We finished by drawing a garden on top using oil pastels.

Rainbow. Inspired by the books we read about Leprechauns, we did an exciting color experiment. We poured the three primary colors into separate cups and invited the students to predict what would happen when we placed a piece of paper towel connecting the cups. Many of them suggested that the water would “walk” along the paper towel, which set the stage for our experiment.

We took a moment to discuss primary colors and how they combine to create new colors. Because we’ve often discussed color combinations, most students already knew that mixing certain colors would result in different colors. Once we connected the cups with a paper towel, we observed what would happen next.

At first, the water moved quickly along the paper towel, showing capillary action. Then it started to slow down. Gradually, we saw blue and yellow mix to make a beautiful green. We also noticed orange and purple appearing as the colors blended. It was truly magical!

Pledge. This week, our class got to lead the school in saying the pledge. We love watching how confidently the students speak into the microphone. We have one more week to participate after Spring break. If you want your child to join in, please make sure they arrive on time. Stay tuned! Efi and Soraya