MARCH ROLLS IN

SALEM PRE SCHOOL NEWS, MARCH 2 012

As March rolls around we are usually talking about the weather. I put up my bulletin board showing the lion and the lamb, illustrating how the snowy cold weather (lion) usually gives way to early spring (lamb). Often Easter is celebrated in March adding to the idea of emerging from darkness into light! This year the gentle, wooly lamb has been around all winter. Does that mean we are skipping the “lion” this year, or is the “lion” waiting for March to make it’s entrance?

This year March will not include talk of weather and Easter. We’ll save that for next month. We will begin March learning about our state, Minnesota. Loons, lakes, farms, wilderness areas, and baseball (Twins) are just some of the things we will talk about. We are glad to live in the Northstar State!

Before we have our spring break (March 19-23 ) air and space travel will be our focus. Talk of men walking on the moon was awesome to me as a child. This generation takes it in stride. Living in a space station is the norm. What frontier is next in space? These children will be a part of that adventure! We are constantly expanding our knowledge of God’s world!

March will end with a unit on butterflies, which actually takes us into our Easter theme in April. Let’s hope the “weather lion” doesn’t show up then. We’ll be ready to think about “new life” in Christ and in our gardens by April!

DINOSAURS

Wow! What a fun day. We are learning about dinosaurs this week. There are big ones and small ones. There are meat eaters and plant eaters. And did you know that dinosaurs hatch out of eggs? They really do!

To help us learn about these prehistoric animals we invited Maija Sedzielarz from the Science Museum of Minnesota to come and talk to us. Ms. Maija brought many dinosaur treasures with her. She brought bones of several sizes. She explained how paleontologists decide how big each dinosaur is by looking at the size of their bones, teeth and claws. Big claws come from big dinosaurs. Little claws come from small dinosaurs. Ms. Maija also brought dinosaur poop! When the paleontologists look at the poop they can tell what the dinosaur ate. I mentioned that dinosaurs hatch from eggs. We know that is true because paleontologists have found dinosaur eggs! We sat in a circle with our class today and Ms. Maija passed around the bones, eggs, poop and teeth for us to look at up close. They were all very cool! Isn't it wonderful that we can learn about these prehistoric creatures even though there were no people alive when they roamed the Earth? We think so!

VALENTINE'S DAY

Cupid has had his special day for 2012 at Salem Pre School. Our parties started on Friday, February 10 with the Orange Class celebration. They continued on Monday, Feb. 13 for the Blue Class and culminated with the Green, Purple, Red and Yellow Classes on Feb. 14. That is a lot celebrating and a lot of love shared by all! We learned about the post office during Valentine's season, too. Each student mailed himself/herself a letter from school. We're hoping it got to their house before the "big day." There is something very exciting about opening all the cards and notes in your Valentine bag, even when you can't read the words. It's the thought that counts.....and also the candy that might have gotten included in the mix!