Hi JK Parents!
We continued our penguin adventure this week!
Math & Science
We learned more about the habitats of penguins, in both warm and cold environments. We studied maps to find where penguins live in relation to us/North America. We talked about the equator and what it means to be in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. Ask your child to name a few of the different penguins. We studied many, including the most common, Adelie, the largest-The Emperor, the smallest-Little Blue or Fairy, African, Chin Strap, Megellanic, Macaroni, Rock Hopper, King, Royal...to name a few.
We conducted an experiment with cold water and blubber aka Crisco :), to feel the difference between our bare hands and a hand insulated with blubber (and a plastic glove). We made predictions and talked about water temperatures in the Arctic waters, compared to the temperature of bath water or a swimming pool. We watched videos of the penguins in both warm climates as well as those in the frozen tundra.
The children loved playing with penguins on "frozen icebergs". We added orbies to our sensory table, and loved playing with all of the animals.
The children counted goldfish and added together two groups of fish each of our penguins were eating, to equal the sum. We talked again about "Odd Todd" and "Even Steven". We know that the "Odd Todd" doesn't have a pair like "Even Steven".
We practiced "coding" in our morning meeting and centers, writing a code for traveling from one end of the rainbow rug to the other, to find a friend. Each student wrote the specific code for how many blocks forward, left, right, or backward, to lead them to the end point. It was fun to see them use different paths to get to the same ending spot. We love coding in JK!
Fine Motor:
The class made penguin hats they cut and glued together. They carried their eggs around on their feet in their "rookery" while wearing their amazing penguin head dresses!
JK Bunnies also created observation drawings by observing a penguin placed on their table, and then colored them using pastels. They are outside for you to see!
We traced each student's outline and made penguins out of them! They loved the life-size project! They all chose which of the penguins we have studied was their favorite, and colored and labeled it with the correct colors and body parts. They are hanging in the hallway.
Literacy:
JK wrote stories with the writing prompt, "If I were a penguin I would...." and then illustrated their story. Some children said they would sled all day, and most said they would swim fast and eat lots of fish. I loved sounding out words as they practiced letter formation.
We practiced writing letters and words that begin with the letters "Oo" and "Pp". We talked about the different sounds "Oo" makes, including double "Oo" sound. We read the Oo and Pp books from our Alpha Tales series and hunted for beginning and ending sounds. We practiced stretching out words to be sure each letter sound is written in each word. Some groups practiced sight words, and CVC words, along with more difficult sight words that are not easily decoded. We are using both RAZ books and BOB books, along with our library of themed books, in reading groups. The students have all begun working on the letter scale when writing, and are slowly writing with smaller letters. Some have begun practicing writing their address and phone number, always beginning at the top (sky line) and continuing to the bottom (worm or grass line). We are working on the scale of upper and lower case letters as we use the "fence line" as a beginning point for lower case letters (unless they are "tall letters").
Have a lovely weekend!
Ms. Massey
