We celebrated the end of our box study with a drive-in movie theatre day. The children made cars at home, and were served a movie snack pack of popcorn, drink, and gushers. Best. Day. Ever.

Our focus question was what do we know about gardening? Here are our answers:

Logan - "plants need water"

Kayden - "gardens need sunlight"

Zachary - "you can plant seeds"

Vance - "they need plant food"

Belle - "you can grow different fruits"

I taped white butcher paper to the wall and had the students create a flower mural for the flower shop. So much fun!

Our focus question this week was what jobs involve boxes? We were so lucky to have Mr. Butler, from UPS, visit with our class to help us answer this question! Mr. Butler talked with the kids about different boxes, what they can hold, how UPS ships packages, safe driving, and much more. The kids absolutely loved it! Thank you, Mr. Butler!

Each child was able to create their own picture on a quilt square. Their creativity blew me away. We put everyone's name in a bowl, and Mrs. Diane drew Zachary's name, and he gets to take the quilt home today!

The tooth fairy spent all night flying so she could come and talk to our kiddos about the importance of having healthy teeth. They learned they need to brush twice a day for two minutes, and need two yearly checkups. She also sprinkled a little fairy dust on her way out. Thank you to Dr. Glass with Pediatric Dentistry of Texarkana, for providing this service to our community.

We read the book Not a Box by Antoinette Portis. The children were given paper with a box on it, and they had to turn it into whatever they wanted. This is one of my favorite activities because it shows each child's creativity.

Our home living center has turned into a fitness center.

The students had fun building their name snowman! I gave them snowballs with letters of their name in random order. They had to put them in order correctly and glue them to their paper. Knowledge of letters and words is an important component of literacy. The idea that written words are composed of letters that represent sounds is called the alphabetic principle. Children's understanding of the alphabetic principle is a predictor of future reading success.

Tearing paper might not seem like a big workout, but it helps children strengthen their hands and fingers, enhances hand-eye coordination, fosters bilateral coordination, supports pincer grasp development, and encourages creativity and self-expression.