I can never remember!

Both crocodiles and alligators are reptiles, and they are related! That is why they look so similar. They only have a couple of differences…

1. Their snouts are different shapes! Alligators snouts are wide and U shaped, while crocodiles’s are more point and V shaped.
2. When crocodiles mouths are shut, you can see some teeth poking out like they are smiling. Alligators do not show any teeth when their mouths are shut.
3. Crocodiles like to live in saltwater, while alligators like freshwater marshes and lakes.

Do either of these reptiles live near us?

Alligators and crocodiles can be found in America.

• Alligators live in the south east part of our country in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas.
• Crocodiles in America are found in southern Florida, where they live with Alligators!

Crocodiles and Alligators are both carnivores.

Do you remember what they means? Do carnivores eat meat or plants?

• Alligators are 10-15 feet long and weigh about 1,000 pounds!!
• Crocodiles are up to 15 feet long and weigh about 2,000 pounds!

Book readings

Julia reading The Selfish Crocodile:

Kayla reading If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, DON’T!:

Activity ideas

• Green art! Gather all of the green art materials you have… paint, paper, crayons, markers, pompons, scrap materials, etc. and create a crocodile, alligator, or whatever you want!
• if you have crocodile/alligator/reptile toys put them in bins of water with dirt or mud to create nice mucky environment for the reptiles to live and play.
• Journal: Would you want to have a pet alligator, like in the book? What would you do with it? What would you name it?

It’s that time of the month to make your new May calendar. Attached is a blank calendar to fill in, and a calendar with the numbers on to copy. You can use pencil, colored pencil, markers – whatever works!

May Calendar Picture

Before starting our calendar picture, we are going to listen to this book Beautiful OOPS! By Barney Saltzberg.

This book is a wonderful book that shares the story of “When you think you have made a mistake, think of it as an opportunity to make something beautiful” Often children (and adults) worry when they think they’ve made a mistake, or they want something to look ‘perfect.’ This book encourages children to feel that even though you ‘think’ you have made a mistake, you can turn it into something else.

So for our calendar pictures today we are asking a parent/sibling for your help.

– Please choose a piece of paper (about the same size as the calendar numbers paper.) 

– On that piece of paper, if you can, do one thing to the piece of paper. It could be a splodge of paint, a small dot, a bend in the paper, a drawn line on the paper, a cut on the paper (no longer than 3”, and the cut can be zigzag, straight etc)

– Now Orange Room children, you can now make a picture using the cut, splodge or line etc. This can be used for your calendar picture. You can use markers, pencils, colored pencils, crayons etc.

Here is an example of something in the book. A rip in the paper can be turned into the alligator’s mouth!