Oh, yeah, folks, it's FRIDAY! And do you know what that means?
It's time to dance. Salsa? Swing? Nah, those are more Saturday type of dances. And don't try to teach me how to Dougie or bring back any old school Running Man.
Today, my friends, we are gonna dance like we have ants in our pants. 

Here's Eric Herman to show you how:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYWycl8vR5c

 Once you shake 'em out of your pants, ask your child about ants. What type of animal is an ant (insect, mammal, reptile, amphibian)? What characteristics makes an ant an insect? What are the body parts of an ant?

Ant art:

    

Here's a thinking, science, and art activity rolled into one. The students learned the parts of an ant: head, thorax, abdomen, antennae, eyes. We gave them a bag with foam balls (painted the day before in ant colors...did you know there are actually purple ants?), toothpicks, coffee straws, and googly eyes. The instructions were simple: Use these items and glue to make an ant. Some students welcomed this challenge and spent quite a while experimenting with their materials before figuring it out. Others took cues from their neighbors, watching carefully and patiently. Some needed extra teacher assistance and a few engine breaks, but everyone finished the project with a cool ant!

Ant reading and writing:

We read the book "Hey, Little Ant" by Phillip M. Hoose, in which a tiny ant pleads for mercy when a boy threatens to squish him. This book challenges the reader to step into the shoes, er, claws of a tiny ant.

After reading the story, we asked the students: Now that you have heard the ant's point of view, would you still squish it? 
Here is what they wrote:

"I would choose to not squish it because what has the ant done to me?"
"I would not kill the ant because I want it to live with its family. I would not want to be killed because my family would miss me."
"It depends. Some days I would. Some days I would not. The day I would not kill the ant is because it would leave one less ant to protect the queen. I don't know why I would kill an ant."
"I would squish it because I will make it die in two seconds."
"I would not squish an ant because it is good for nature when you do not squish an ant."
"I would squish an ant because my mom thinks they're gross."
"I would not squish an ant because its nature. I love nature."





Unfortunately, ants were not the only unwanted pests to join us in the room this week.
The beast below has been spotted, lurking under bridges, waiting for juicy goats to cross.

    You may have heard his name: El Chupacabra

He stars in the story "The Three Cabritos" by Eric Kimmel, which also features 3 musical goats who are looking to spend an evening jamming at a Mexican fiesta. It's not an easy task crossing the bridge over the Rio Grande, however, for the nasty Chupacabra lives underneath. The Chupacabra is a legendary creature in Mexico and Puerto Rico, famous for sucking the blood out of livestock. Chupar "is "to suck" and cabra "goat". The kids (your human ones, not the cabritos) had a blast acting this one out and were fascinated to hear tales of mythical this animal vampire. Or is it mythical...???

Side note:  After reading this book at home, my 9 year old son wants me to make sure that everyone knows that the Chupacabra is not real ("However, Mommy, I still believe Bigfoot is real") He insisted that I share this with you:

 http://news.discovery.com/animals/chupacabra-mystery-solved.html

Well, darn it, if that doesn't take all of the creepy fun out of it. Go on, let your goats roam free.



Conferences are on Friday, September 21. These  informal meetings are a good this time for me to let you know how your child is doing in class, as well as set goals for the year and answer any questions you have.

Here is the schedule. If you need to switch times, please contact the family you wish to switch with...but don't forget to let me know when you're coming in!

9:00 Aidan

9:30 Tani

10:00  Paul

10:30 Oliver

11:00 Bo

11:30 Annabella

12:00 Jakob


One last item:

It's time to start on our scarecrow (scaretroll? scarechupacabra?). I was thinking that it would be easy to find on local hardware stores, it being almost fall and all, but I sure am having a tough time getting my hands on a bale of the scratchy stuff. So, if anyone would like to donate some to the cause, we'd really appreciate it.

Have a great weekend!