A waterfall flows from a river or stream then makes a steep drop.  Waterfalls can form due to erosion, earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes or glaciers.  

Today the kiddos made a Ribbon Water Dancer using a craft stick, markers and ribbon.  They made huge waves and danced all over the backyard!  We made a colorful waterfall in the backyard.  I set out a large piece of paper and gave the kids squirt bottles filled with water colors to create a waterfall. They took turns squirting water colors on the top of the paper and watching it drip down like a waterfall.  

We experimented with vinegar and baking soda making letter volcanoes!  

Alligators are reptiles that live in lakes, rivers, and swamps.  They are great swimmers and hunt for food in the water.  Alligators have about 80 teeth at one time, but in a lifetime they have a total of 2000-3000 teeth.  I set out golf tees and play dough, we took turns sticking in alligator teeth (golf tees) and then pulling out.  
For fine motor we traced a V and cut triangles to create alligator teeth! 

Boats are constructed to float on rivers, lakes, and oceans.  They are used in various ways such as for transportation, catching food, and recreation.  Boats move on water by motors, paddles, or sails. Today we played Race to the Shore.  They each had their game pieces, flip a card, and move that color boat until the first boat makes it to the shore!  

For fine motor we cut out pieces to a puzzle, put together and colored.  They were encouraged to draw a picture of themself in a boat. 
 
We took turns rolling a die, put that many family counters and ducks in the boat (foil boat) until it sank!  We counted the ducks and family counters; it took 54 to sink the boat.  

Beavers are large rodents and eat wood off of trees.  They use their powerful teeth to cut down trees to build dams and lodges in rivers and streams.  The kids made a Beaver puppet.   We used a die, play dough and sticks to build a dam.  They rolled the die and added that many sticks.  When completed we rolled the die again and took away that many sticks!  We  played with ducks, play dough, play dough tools and rocks.  
For fine motor we completed the other half of the sun and we drew Vv's in our fine motor journals.  

Rivers can start from a glacier or snow melting from a mountain.  They can also be formed from a lake.  They can be changed by people, weather, and animals.  Rivers are helpful because they give us food, means of transportation, and drinking water. Rivers can be found all over the world.  The longest river in the world is the Nile River in Africa.  These flowing sources of fresh water can be used for things like fishing, swimming and transportation.  
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A river is water flowing through a path.  Today they constructed their own river and decided if they wanted it straight or curvy.  We used paper, markers and cellophane.  

I set out a tray of sand and rocks.  They each took turns making a river using an eye dropper and water.  

For fine motor we wrote in our journals, we made worms in the dirt/grass.  We cut out sun rays to create our name and traced letters around the sun! 

Many shipwrecks are caused by big storms that create large waves in the ocean.  Pieces of ships can sink to the bottom of the ocean.  Treasures such as gold, jewels, and expensive art have been found in shipwrecks.  Today we created a treasure chest using paper and markers.  They picked a card and matched it with the jewel inside the treasure chest.
For fine motor we colored a dump truck and tore paper to fill up the dump truck.  
We made a rainbow fish for our names and colored our Rainbow Fish books!

Today we used a crab and sea shells to practice our names.  
​We cut ovals and made them into crabs and practiced drawing crabs in our fine motor journals.  We also glued letters in our journals.  We have been reading "What Am I?" and today they each drew an ocean animal of their choice.  

Happy Mother's Day!  Hope all you wonderful mother's have a fabulous day.

It's Friday and we have beautiful weather so that means we are outside!!  
Today we created  Xx is for xylophone and X-ray.  For fine motor they traced numbers and practiced cutting shapes.

They played with the truck/rock sensory bin.  I added some rocks with letters, adding literacy will always spark conversations!  I was asked how to spell words and how to spell names.  For the younger children they can find familiar letters.  A very simple activity with so much learning involved.
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They love playing with the nesting birds, they can sort by size, color or just line them up!