Winnie Bear Newsletter – March 26, 2010

Dear Winnie Bear Families,

For the past two weeks, we continued our “Tree” unit.

Language: Vocabulary
Below is a list of theme specific vocabulary words that have been introduced:
1.Blossoms – 花苞（hua bao）
2.Bark – 树皮（shu pi）
3.Seed – 种子（zhong zi）
4.Sprout – 发芽（fa ya）
5.Growing Roots – 长根 （chang gen）
6.Growing Leaves – 长叶子 （chang ye zi）
7.Roadside Trees – 行道树 （xing dao shu）

Reading: Stories
We read a few books on how plants grow and went through the different life stages of a growing seed.

Art: St. Patrick’s Day and Tree Bark Rubbings
We talked about the different symbols of St. Patrick ’s Day and why we wear green. We then practiced our cutting skills by making clovers with little pieces of colored construction paper. We also went to our local park and made tree bark rubbings with crayons.

Music: 树
We reviewed our song called 树.
树叶一片片轻轻地摇晃，（shu ye yi pian pian qing qing de yao huang）
花儿一朵朵慢慢地开放，（hua er yi duo duo man man de kai fang）
树干一圈圈越长越胖。（shu gan yi quan quan yue chang yue pang）

Science: Hug a Tree and Planting Lima Beans
We went to the local park and hugged trees to feel the texture of the bark and to figure out how many children are needed to hug trees of different sizes. We also started an experiment with lima beans. We soaked the lima beans and watched them start to sprout. We then transferred them to bowls filled with soil and placed those under three conditions: sunlight, indoors, and in a box with no sunlight. We are going to see which condition produces the best growing plants.

Next week, we will learn about which animals live in trees and grow our own grass.

Best,
Katherine
3/26/10