Birthdays, Babies, Bunnies & More!

5/21/2020

Another busy week for the Rainey Room! We celebrated 2 birthdays: Wolf M and Fletcher. Grace introduced us to her new baby sister, Caroline. We also played games, and had play-doh and painting workshops. Here's an out-of-order recap of the week:

Tuesday: Happy Birthday Wolf M!

Wolf M's actual birthday is June 21st, but we celebrated on Tuesday. At first, Wolf was a bit shy about all the attention. Selina read a great book, "The Caterpillar and The Polliwog." Wolfie pointed out an illustration he enjoyed. But the definite highlight was watching Wolf's reaction to all the W's his friends made for him. His hobby horse went around the candle and Wolf blew it out. We made the most of the distant celebration!
(hover on the image to see who made it)

Grace's Baby Sister

Grace was very excited to let her friends see baby Caroline. She is very proud to have a new sister!
Lane was quick to offer advice:
Lane, "Is the baby crying?"
Grace, "No."
Lane, "Whenever she's crying does she interrupt you? You should use your headphones."

Friday: Happy Birthday Fletcher!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Fletcher's school birthday! He will be 5 on August 1st. We saw a lovely slide show of Fletcher through the years and enjoyed the book, "Nibbles the Book Monster," which Fletcher loves! And what a lucky birthday boy, Fletcher got 3 Fs from Cannon and 2 from Gigi in addition to all the others.

Monday: Rare Animal Bingo

On Monday we played rare animal bingo. It was fun to expose the children to unfamiliar animals and share tidbits of information about them. We were SO GRATEFUL to have Jonathan jump on during Wolf's group to share some of his expertise about these animals! It was fascinating! Thank you Jonathan!!!!
Here are some facts Jonathan shared:
Platypus: One of 2 mammals on Earth that lays eggs. They use their bills to help hunt for fish.
Narwhal: It's not a horn, it's a tooth! The tooth always has a bit of an infection and bothers the narwhal.
Hedgehog: When they're scared they roll up into little balls so nothing can get them. They are almost always covered in fleas. Oliver said, "They go into their ball and then they are a scratchy ball."
Pangolin: Their tongue is as long as their body! They don't have teeth!
Elephant Shrew: They only live in Africa and they are more closely related to elephants than shrews (despite being so small). They found a new species of elephant shrew in Kenya.
Kiwi bird: They are birds that do not fly. Their feathers are more like fur. They lay eggs about the size of their body.
Tapir: 4 species in the world, 1 lives in Asia, the others in South America. They're closest relative is species like the horse.
Purple frog: It lives underground and only comes out during the monsoon season to find a mate.
Bilby: It lives in Australia has a pouch where it keeps the babies.
Marine Iguanas: They are unique because almost no reptiles live in the ocean. When they come out of the water they snort to get the salt water out of their nostrils.
Gorilla: Jonathan studied them for 2 years in the Rain Forest where he tracked and watched them all day. (!) A silverback male is 7 times the strength of a regular human.
Stag Beetle: There 1,200 species and they live underground most of the year, only coming out to find a mate. They can be about 5 inches long!
Red Tail Panda: They live in Nepal and India. They live in the trees and are endangered because they are hunted for their fur.
Colombian Dwarf Gecko: Geckos have special toes to grasp the wall and climb upside down.

Wednesday: Rainbows & Rain Clouds

On Wednesday we played a variation of Chutes & Ladders that Melanie had drawn for us. For this game we used a virtual spinner instead of dice. The children had lots of fun playing! Gigi was cracking up when Brooke kept having to ride the rain cloud back 3 spaces.
Here are some other quotes from the game:
Gigi, "Everything is just SO silly!"
Alexandra, "I was at the raincloud and then I went down and ended up at the raincloud again!"
When we told the children Melanie had drawn the game board Lane said, "She's SO good at drawing."
Wolf M noted, "The spinner looks like a merry-go-round."
His comment prompted Cannon to break into song, "Here we go round the merry-go-round, merry-go-round. Here we go round the merry-go-round, merry-go-round."
When it was Cannon's turn he said, "I'm going to straight to the baby ants." (which were drawn on the game)
When Grace finally got the strawberry at the end she said, "Yummy, yum, yum, yum!"

The Bunny Connection

Lane has a bunny named Babas. She often shows it to her friends during sharing time. But for some reason this week, other friends really connected....
Lane, "Babas' nose got brighter. Babas eats lots of pink cupcakes to have a pink nose!"
Grace, "We have the same bunny!"
Lane, "I have a plan. When the virus is done we can have a bunny play date!"
Wolf M, "I have 2 bunnies."
(And Wolf B showed us his bunnies as well!)