Hoppin' Into Junior Kindergarten!

Hi JK parents!

We are having a great time learning about our Southern Hemisphere friends, Penguins!   

Literacy:
We worked on our zoo phonics, beginning and ending sounds of words, compound words, and writing our capital and lower case letters using Handwriting Without Tears.  We have read many books about Penguins, mostly non-fiction, but have also learned from our fiction books about penguins that are different and how that makes them wonderful! 

We talked about the setting and characters in a story as well as different events or sequences of events. 

Fine Motor:
The children made January calendars and used inventive spelling to label their mittens.  Some made patterns and others chose to write winter words on their mittens. 

We practiced scissor skills as the children first cut out a penguin shape, then used torn paper to decorate.  They all labeled their penguin and glued on eyes and a beak. 

We played a penguin game that required careful balancing as they took turns placing penguins on an "iceberg".

Everyone used colored pencils to complete their January self portraits!  I love seeing all they are adding and the amazing details. 

Math & Science:
The children chose cards as part of our game, and then added two numbers together using pom poms as manipulatives.  They wrote each number on a penguins tummy, and practiced talking through an equation, saying, "three plus eleven equals fourteen". 

We measured ourselves to determine if we are shorter, taller, or that same size as a Fairy penguin as well as an Emperor penguin. 

We talked about everything a penguin is, does, and has as we charted everything as a class.  We learned that a penguin is a bird that does not fly!  They were most impressed that a penguin can hold it's breath for 20 minutes, and that penguins swallow fish whole, without even chewing!  They were also a little disgusted to learn that penguin chicks eat regurgitated food from their parents.  Ewwwww.  They have all learned characteristics of their favorite penguins, and that the larger penguins lay one egg but the smaller ones lay two.