Valentine's Day and Groundhog Day

February started off with some fun in the snow!

During February we had several Valentine's theme activities in the classroom.

Our dramatic play area turned into a post office where each of the children had their own mailbox. Children could pretend to be postal workers selling stamps, envelopes and boxes or sorting mail from our letterbox.   Blue postal shirts helped the students get into this role.  However, what proved to be more popular was the writing center that was moved next to the dramatic play area.  Here students could write out postcards to their family and friends.  Students were able to draw pictures, use stamps, decorate with stickers and most importantly practice writing their names and the names of their friends.  Once a postcard was finished and addressed, students could "mail" them in our class letterbox and then wait for them to be sorted and delivered by our postal workers.

Our math focus continued to be shapes.  Students continued to work with circles and rectangles, but were also introduced to the square and triangle.  Comparisons were made between a square and a rectangle. Students worked on building big squares using smaller squares and other shapes such as triangles and rectangles.  We also read a story called, Not a Box in which a rabbit's imagination turns a box into new things such as a race car, a rocket ship and a pirate ship.  Students created a class book with their own ideas about what a box could be if one used their imagination.

We also read two multicultural shape books that introduced the class to various things found in the Chinese and Mexican cultures.  The children had to search for shapes on each page all the while learning about the different cultures.

In the block center students attempted to build famous structures that are a triangular shape.

 A new kind of painting was introduced- marble painting.  Students dipped marbles into paint and then moved them around on top of a paper heart inside of a box.  It was neat to see how the colors mixed together and formed new colors!

The children also created heart hot air balloons for our bulletin board display by painting with a mix of paint and shaving cream.

Our playdoh center became a chocolate factory with chocolate playdoh and all.  Children used molds to make small chocolates, cake pops and cookies which they then placed in decorative boxes.  Lots of great fine motor work and collaboration went on in this center.

Thank you to our room parents for a great Valentine's Party!  The children had so much fun!  Thank you to everyone who contributed to the party as well.

Special Guests:

Mr. Ken came to visit our class this month which is always a blast for both the children and adults!

Miss Nicole served as one of our Mystery Readers and read one of her sons' favorite books, How to Be a Pirate by David Shannon.

We also had another mystery reader this month which was so exciting for the class and made one little girl very happy!

We celebrated three birthdays this month!

 

Arctic Animals

Following our study of Penguins in Antarctica and South Africa, we journeyed to the Arctic to learn about the wildlife that inhabits our frigid North- polar bears, walrus', Arctic Foxes, Arctic hares, harp seals and orca.

The children's enthusiasm continued as the dramatic play area changed to an igloo with activities such as ice fishing, cooking, and building ice floes for our Arctic animal friends.

 Ice Fishing!

 Inside the igloo.

Building with blocks of "ice".

In the sensory table, the children found blocks of ice where some of our Arctic friends were trapped. The children put on safety goggles, grabbed a hammer and tried to chip away at the ice to free the animals.  This was a popular activity!

In the art center, the students painted using colored ice cubes.  

Our block center contained styrofoam "ice floes".  The students worked together to build homes for Arctic and Antarctic animals.  Some children even role played the food chain demonstrating orca and seals eating penguins and polar bears patiently waiting for seals to peek out through their air holes in the "ice".  It was great to see the children applying what they had learned into their play!

When we read nonfiction books about penguins and Arctic animals it was mentioned several times that the animals had special features to both keep themselves warm and dry.  We took a closer look at penguin feathers and how they help penguins in the harsh cold.  First we looked at a photograph of an actual penguin feather.  We talked about how it was fluffy at the bottom to keep the penguin warm and then thinned out at the end.  Next, we discussed how penguins have a slick oil on their feathers which helps to repel or keep water away.  The students saw firsthand how water does not stick to water as they tried to mix water and oil in Ziploc bags but they kept separating.  Next, the children colored small pictures of penguins with crayons.  The wax from the crayons was likened to the oil on the penguin's feathers.  The children then tried spraying water on their penguins with a spray bottle and noticed that the water beaded or created little bubbles on the penguin instead of soaking the paper.  This is similar to how the oil on the penguin's feathers keep them dry when they are swimming.

We read several nonfiction books about Arctic animals.  As a class we created a chart with all of the facts the children had learned about polar bears.  The students even held their hands up to a life-size polar bear paw cut from paper to help them understand the actual size of these creatures.  The children were fascinated by walrus' and their long tusks.  The children practiced moving around like these animals.

We read several fictional stories as well that introduced the children to the Inuit people who live in the Arctic and their relationship with the animals of the North.

The children also created a negative space painting of a polar bear.

Our math focus was shape recognition.  We started with circles and rectangles.  The students learned that circles have curved sides while rectangles have four straight sides, four corners, two short sides and two long sides.  The children made circles, sorted circles and made a painting with different sized circle cups.  They also made rectangles and used different sized rectangular sponges to stamp a picture.

The children were introduced to the letters C and D and spent the week practicing writing the first letter in their name with proper formation.

In the gym this week, the children went through an obstacle course where they rode big wheels, climbed through tunnels and on mats, jumped through hula hoops, ran around cones and just got out some energy!

The twins celebrated a big birthday as did another student whose mom surprised him 

as our mystery reader!