We found all sorts of words that start with the /b/ sound and practiced saying those words while bouncing a rubber ball- "Bread starts with /b/, B!" .jpg)
Bb is also for balance, and we got lots of our wiggles out during the week by practicing balancing yoga poses with Ms. Marianne. Our most favorite is the Tree Pose where you have to raise one foot and press it against your calf while balancing on the other foot. I have pretty good balance!
One of my favorite parts of the week was when we got to blow bubbles outside. It was a beautiful day just after the rain stopped in the beginning of the week. There was a nice breeze blowing around us, and every once in awhile it would catch the bubble wands and blow our bubbles for us and take them away as we tried to catch and pop them. It was so fun! We danced and played and laughed as we enjoyed the sunshine and the letter Bb. 
Later we took a Book Walk and spent some time searching through various books on bugs that Ms. Marianne had checked out from the local library. There were books on every kind of bug! Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Jennifer Dussling. It was full of facts about Praying Mantises, who catch their prey with their "praying hands", hairy caterpillars whose predators don't like to eat them because they only get a mouthful of hair and brightly colored Monarch Butterflies, whose bright colors actually warn off their predators. (Did you know that bright colors in the insect world mean that the insect tastes yucky to those who want to eat it?) There were facts in all of our books and we shared all the neat pictures that we saw in them with each other throughout our Book Walk. 
Remember how Ms. Marianne said to dress to get dirty on Wednesday? Well, after our Book Walk, Ms. Marianne surprised us with a Bug Exploration Land she had made. There were so many full size bugs buried in the dirt, resting on the leaves and branches of the "trees", coming out of holes in the ground and climbing mounds of dirt all around the land. We had shovels, sieves, magnifying glasses and more tools to experience the buggy world as much as we wanted to. Ms. Marianne loved sitting back and snapping pictures while we dug to find and collect the various bugs, built houses for them, studied them under the magnifying glass and poured water to create mud to play in with them. One friend looked closer than anyone else and found a real spider web spun in the branch of a "tree" from our Bug Exploration Land. We all couldn't wait to look closer too. Our hands (and the floor!) got really dirty, but it was so fun! Ask me which bug I liked the most... 
This week in math we really focused on patterning. We discuss an AB pattern each day during calendar time because our numbering cards for the calendar create that type of pattern. This week we worked with AB, ABB and ABC patterns. We used colored rods to create patterns that we wanted to, but we had to be able to tell Ms. Marianne what type of pattern it was. If we couldn't figure it out on our own, she helped us to get it correct and be able to tell what the letters would be for it. We really liked being able to create the pattern type that Ms. Marianne gave us too. She would call out a pattern type and we'd quickly use our rods to make it. She only stumped us a couple of times, but then she'd help us make it so we could see and repeat with her the sequence.We made Bbs from beans, practiced our Bb handwriting and recognition, and learned the fairy tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We sorted the items from the story (bowls, chairs and beds) by size and determined who they belonged to. Then we did a cut and paste activity with this information so that we could sequence and tell the story to our families. Did I tell it to you yet?
One really important and special thing that happened this week is that we had a new friend join our preschool class. She is a great new friend and we're very happy that she is a part of our group. :) We welcome her and look forward to more fun times with her this year!Next week is going to be all about NUMBERS and the letter Nn. We will be learning rhymes to help us recognize and write numbers 0-10, tracing, painting and writing the numbers, as well as counting and practicing one to one correspondence while counting (counting things one at a time). You can practice the rhymes, writing and counting at home with me all week to help me retain the new things I'm learning.
My homework to be ready for school on Tuesday is to count out and bring 10 of the same thing that I can use all week long to practice counting. They can be anything (examples: lollypops, pennies, paper clips, toy cars, Q-tips, etc.) that I can fit into a gallon sized Ziploc bag, and they will be returned to me at the end of the week. Having my own things will make it more personal to me when we're practicing our counting all week!
Love,
Your Child
and
Ms. Marianne
