Updates/Reminders

  • Join Rebecca & friends for the Garden Work Party Saturday, May 4 9:30a-11:30a. It will be a morning of pruning, weeding, watering, mulching, planting and community building!
  • If your child has a summer birthday and you would like to celebrate it early in Caterpillar class, please remember to sign-up for a date using this spreadsheet.
  • Warm, sunny days have arrived! If you would like your child to wear sunscreen, please put some on them in the morning. If they stay for extended day we will reapply with whatever sunscreen you have provided us. The sunscreens live in the little yellow hutch on the side of the Caterpillar classroom by the grassy area stage.
  • Please sign-up for Caterpillar class volunteer opportunities here

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Bird Nests

During our bird inquiry, Caterpillars showed interest in bird nests. Using glue and recycled materials, Caterpillars were invited to make a nest. There are also natural materials gathered from the yard to make a loose parts nest that can be built and taken apart on the bird inquiry table. We tried out a new art technique, papier mache, to make a bird and eggs for the recycled materials nest we made.

The Oak Titmouse

Some of you may have heard about the Oak Titmouse. The Oak Titmouse was first spotted on Sunday during the ECC playdate and storytime with Emily Butterfly. It was one of the birds that was nesting in the birdhouse by the big Live Oak tree. On Monday morning we found that it still hadn’t flown away and didn’t seem to be able to fly on it’s own. So Kirstie and a parenting adult from Live Oak classroom gently caught the Oak Titmouse and Daniela from Cedar class provided their butterfly habitat for the bird to temporarily stay in.  A Mariposa parenting adult volunteered to call the Lindsay Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital on behalf of the Oak Titmouse. While waiting to hear back from the Lindsay Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital, the Caterpillars visited the Oak Titmouse as it waited in the ECC office to bring it water and food. A call went out for transporting the Oak Titmouse to the hospital and Pop Pop Berniker, Alex’s grandpa and avid bird watcher, volunteered and safely escort the Oak Titmouse to the hospital. We now await more information on how the Oak Titmouse is doing. To be continued…

Molly’s Birthday Celebration

To celebrate Molly’s birthday, we made her a special painting using her favorite color and made moon pops with her favorite fruit inside. We had a dance party and got to hear stories about Molly as she grew up.

Additional Caterpillar Happenings

  • Big
  • Phone play
  • Box play
  • Squeegee work
  • rosemary pruning paintings
  • unboxing a delivery
  • cardboard tube fun
  • Hammer splat paint
  • ramps
  • contrast transfer/enclosure sensory bin- soft, light, tickly, opaque feathers vs. hard, smooth, bright colored, translucent rods and open vs. closed containers
  • contrast wet sensory bin: hard plastic bead necklaces vs. curly soft ribbons and absorbent vs. non-absorbent carriers of water (pom poms vs. buckets)
  • Creating with the “Wonder Bin” contents: “I wonder what you can do/make with this…”