May has been filled with many many Wonderful Adventures! CD Braun jumped right into May while visiting Luv2Play in Alsip. Braun Educational center also invited us to the Flying Fox Animal show and Tom Flynn's magical juggling experience. The entire CD program celebrated an amazing school year at Brookfield Zoo. CD Braun is still awaiting more adventures in May over the next few weeks. We can't wait for swimming with APE, Field day @ Braun, and Special People Day Carnival. 

Some of the animals that K18 has been learning about in the classroom came to life during our visit to Brookfield Zoo! K18 especially loved seeing the monkeys, penguins, fish, and giraffes.

     K22 participated in the CD Program outing to Brookfield Zoo.  We saw a variety of interesting animals, including a playful sea lion, a mama gorilla carrying her baby and a leaf-licking giraffe.  Even though the day was cloudy, students still enjoyed exploring the zoo's many members!

We’ve had quite an exciting week in K-9! A week filled with animals:) Ever heard of dog therapy?? Well, little did we know that dogs aren’t the only therapeutic animals! We had a visit from some very sweet, very friendly chickens! The students got to hold, pet and interact with these wonderful creatures! They were such a big hit! Then of course, we had our CD program community outing to Brookfield Zoo! A little rain and chill did not keep us from having an awesome trip! We saw monkeys, crocodiles, bears and tigers to name a few! Our favorite part.....the dolphin show! What amazing animals!!

   The chickens left the coop to visit Coop CD classes.  K22 students took turns petting "Harriett", "Bandit", "Winter", and "Violet".  We were thrilled to hold the chickens in our lap and calmly stroke their soft feathers.  What a wonderful experience!
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K-9 headed out for our 2nd community outing in 2 weeks! First stop, Sensory Depot! Sensory depot is run by SWSRA. It has a small sensory room with a bunch of cool sensory items our kids loved! We took turns using the sensory room, jumping on the trampoline, playing in the kinetic sand and making our own sensory bottles....so fun! We ended the trip with a stop at our favorite restaurant.... McDonald’s of course! What a way to start a nice long weekend! FYI, Sensory Depot is open to the public if you are ever looking for a fun activity!

K18 celebrated springtime with an egg hunt and dying eggs! The students had fun finding surprise treats inside the plastic eggs and choosing which color to dye their hard-boiled eggs!

Well, it’s a few months delayed, but K-9 was finally able to get to the Kidsworks Children’s Museum of Frankfort! We had rescheduled after winter weather prohibited our January trip and boy was it worth the wait! Everyone enjoyed the many fun activities they had to offer. From legos to fishing to dinosaurs, there was definitely something for everyone!

K22 got their creative juices flowing as they painted individual tiles at Rainbow Ceramics in New Lenox. Rainbows, fish, flowers, beaches and paw prints were only some of the paintings produced. We are anxiously awaiting our finished artwork once it is glazed and baked. Students returned to school for pizza and a movie. We are so impressed with our young artists!!!

K18 took a sensory break by having a bubble party! We practiced requesting more bubbles using our voices, sign, or communication devices. We also tried popping the bubbles with our fingers and feet!

B15 went on a scavenger hunt. The students enjoyed looking for the items on our list. They were able to find all the items on our list! 

    K22 welcomed the first day of spring with a visit to the Shedd Aquarium. Students saw scary sharks, crusty crabs, beluga whales, starving sea lions, electric eels, flying stingrays, juicy jelly fish, infinite fish an a colorful coral reef!!!  Everyone loved the dolphins as they jumped into the air and skimmed across the water!   A wet and wonderful time was had by all!!

K18 celebrated St. Patrick's Day by following directions to make green and sparkly leprechaun slime! They loved it!

Have you seen this leprechaun? Kerkstra Room 7 has a sneaky leprechaun who has been causing lots of trouble! Every morning our students come in to the classroom and find the messes he has made. We have been hard at work making leprechaun traps, wanted posters, and creating detailed descriptions of this little trouble maker. The students will complete their traps by Friday the 15th and other classrooms will come visit to vote on the best ones. We are hoping to leave our traps out over the weekend and catch this sneaky leprechaun when he comes to look for gold on St. Patrick's Day. Wish us luck!

We studied the Kingdom of Lesotho for Black History Month. We learned about where Lesoto is in Africa. We learned about the homes the Basoto people live in called Rondavels. They are made of stone and have thatched roofs. They are also round and have only one room and no bathrooms inside.

The students tried on Basotho blankets which most people wear at important ceremonies. Herd boys also wear them when in the mountains when watching the sheep.

The next day we learned about Kruger National Park in South Africa. Many students now want to take a field trip there.