Friday, January 8, 2021

Hi JK Parents/Friends!

We have had a fun first week of remote learning!  I'm so happy with all they have accomplished virtually from home.  They have learned about our Penguin friends and where in the world they live, what they eat, how they swim, who the predators are that hunt them, and many other fun facts. 

Show n Tell!  Amazing Ghost Busters hand built car from Wyatt!  

"It plays Music too!"  

"I took a picture of the pink and purple sky and one of my mom and new sister!"

 
Zamir loves taking pictures too!  

We read about Froggy's Baby Sister- for all of the JK kids we have that can relate to having a little sister/brother!  


 







Literacy:

We read many fiction and non-fiction books about penguins.  We learned that they are able to hold their breath for almost 20 minutes!  That's as long as an episode of Paw Patrol!  We learned that they are birds but cannot fly.  They are excellent swimmers and spend most of their time in the ocean.  

We played an independent dice rolling game where each dice number corresponded to a sight word the children wrote to fill an entire page with sight words.  They worked very diligently to be sure the letters were all sitting on a line and not "floating in the air".  Some children used the words to write a story using the sight words!  

We all recited rhyming words as a group, along with beginning and ending sounds and compound words.  We also sang and danced to Zoo Phonics as we acted out each animal motion and letter sound.  

Fine Motor:

We made penguins by tearing paper and glueing the different colors, careful to be sure out penguins all have white tummies.  We practiced cutting helping penguins "find the fish" as the children carefully followed the curvy, zig zag and bumpy lines!

The children made January Calendars with doilies, markers and confetti, carefully drawing fireworks and then covering them with confetti.  



They loved dancing along to the Penguin Dance song by Jack Hartman, and watching Mr. Bailey try to waddle with a penguin egg balanced on his feet!  

Science & Math:

We simulated holding and passing a penguin egg on our feet, as the male penguins do when caring for the unhatched eggs.  We used pasta/spaghetti noodles to measure each other and then used a bar chart to chart the results.  An Emperor Penguin is the largest of all of the penguins, and measures about 45 inches long.  Most students were the same height or a little shorter than the penguin.  Mr. Bailey was much taller than an Emperor Penguin!  So was Mr. Massey!  

We talked about where penguins live, and colored a map of the world marking all of the continents that penguins habitat.  They reside only in the Southern Hemisphere, and live in Antarctica where humans certainly couldn't survive.  We studied the ways they protect their eggs and the male and female penguins take turns hunting and feeding (by regurgitating the chewed food into the chicks mouths-yuck :) ).  

The children practiced tracing and then writing using finger spacing numbers from 1-20.  

Charlie came to visit JK and loved exploring the classroom!  




Have a lovely weekend!

Ms. Massey

See below for more photos from before our Winter Break!  

Gingerbread Party!