June

We got to experience one of my favorite units to teach. Ocean Explorers is by far one of coolest ways to learn about our ocean life and their ecosystem. In the past, we’ve learned about sharks, sea turtles and jellyfish but this year was different. We learned about crabs, octopuses and sea shells.

Here’s some fun facts we learned about crabs

- there are over 7,000 types of crabs that live in our oceans from sand crabs, hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs and fiddler crabs just to name a few

- there are over 500 species of hermit crabs. We learned that as the hermit crab grows, he must move into a new bigger shell. Though spiral snail shells are their favorite, they will sometimes use coconut shells, coral or even tube-like pieces of wood for their homes. Did you know they even have a claw on the tip of their body to help attach them to their new home?

- sand crabs are found in beaches all over our planet and are very unique to other crabs. Females will grow up to 2 inches while males are much smaller and grow less than an inch. They use their feathery antennas to catch plankton as the waves rush onto the shore and only move backwards.

Wait till you hear what we learned all about an octopus :

- octopuses are incredibly observant and intelligent creatures. They build homes out of rocks that even have doors, can change color to camouflage themselves from other predators such as sharks and other octopuses, and have a poisonous venom they spray to paralyze their prey.

- though they are called an octopus, coming from the Greek word “októpus” meaning eight foot, they don’t actually have 8 feet. An octopus actually has 6 arms and 2 feet! Not only do octopus swim quickly and backwards but they can also use their arms and feet to walk across the oceans floor and coral reefs.

- now, here’s my favorite fact about an octopus. Remember how I said they were incredibly observant and intelligent? It has been know that octopuses in captivity, like at our local aquariums, have been known to complete mazes, open jars and even escape from their enclosures. That’s because they have 9 brains! 1 central brain and 8 smaller brains, 1 to control each limb of its body. Did you know they also have 3 hearts?

It’s been a fun month learning about these amazing creatures, playing some starfish bingo, collecting and counting shells in the water tables, making ocean patterns, spelling words, matching upper case and lower case letters, creating our own hermit crab house and having our meals and snacks in our adorable crab and shell plates. We celebrated our incredible Dads and even welcomed another little love bug into our daycare family It’s been a busy month, but we love busy! We’re officially half way through the year and can’t wait to see what the summer sunshine brings.