After discussing the Winter season- what we wear, what we have observed outside, and winter activities, we moved into a study of what animals do in winter. Many of the children had heard of hibernation, but were new to the terms migration and adaptation. We spent a week learning about animals that hibernate (skunks, groundhogs, turtles, frogs, etc.) and read several books such as Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming and Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson. We also looked at pictures of hibernating animals and their dens, burrows or nests. Finally, we watched a short video on BrainPop Jr. about hibernation. In dramatic play, the children pretended to hibernate in a bear's den. They built their own burrows, dens and nests in the block center and made sleeping bears in the art center.
Students engaged in activities such as matching animals to their place of hibernation and sorting animals according to their winter behaviors. Below, students are cutting and pasting animals into their hibernating habitat.
One of the more interactive stories that we read was Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury and Michael Rosen. After reading the story, the students and I acted out each of the obstacles that the family had to overcome in order to find a bear (crossing a river, going through a forest, walking through grass, braving a snowstorm and tiptoeing in a cave).
After discussing hibernation, we moved into migration. We talked about how some of us travel to warmer places when it is cold in the winter. Some birds do the same thing. We also discussed the migration of the monarch butterfly and penguins. Below are the student's migrating birds.
In order to get a sense of the size of some common penguins, the children measured themselves against lifesize pictures of penguins (drawn by my daughter). The children were surprised to find that some penguins are taller than them. We used vocabulary such as taller than and shorter than to describe ourselves and the penguins.
Finally, we read A Mother's Journey by Sandra Markle and discussed how mother penguins travel long distances to the ocean to get food for their baby chicks while the dad penguins kept the eggs and then chicks safe and warm. Some children practiced holding a ball between their feet to represent a penguin's egg. Learning about this journey also helped us to understand how penguins travel- not just by walking, but sliding on their belly and swimming. They also need to huddle together to stay warm.
Following our study of penguins, we learned about animal adaptation with a focus on Arctic animals; polar bears, arctic foxes and arctic hares. We again read several fiction and nonfiction books and watched short videos. The children learned how several animal's fur changes to white in the winter to camouflage them from predators. Animals also build up a layer of fat to keep them warn. Below is a chart that demonstrates student learning about polar bears.
Games that the children played to practice colors, fine motor skills, turn taking and memory included Pengaloo and Thin Ice.
During this time, our sensory table contained animals frozen in ice. The children were asked to put on safety goggles and hammer the ice to free the animals.
Our dramatic play area turned into an igloo with activities such as ice fishing and ice block building.
In order to demonstrate how a layer of fat helps polar animals to keep warm we conducted a science experiment. The students first dipped their hands into icy cold water. They described how the water felt. Then, they put on a "glove" of blubber (two plastic bags with Crisco in between them) and described how the blubber protected their hand in the water. (It kept their hand warm so they couldn't feel the cold of the icy water.) We then connected this experiment to the animals in the Arctic and their warm coats of fur and layer of blubber.
In the Art center students painted with ice cubes and practiced cutting circles and triangles to make a penguin.
In the block center, the children used styrofoam to build the "icy" habitats of polar animals. There was great teamwork for this project. Of course, we had to discuss how polar bears and penguins would not be in the same place in real life, but it was more fun to include all of the animals on this ice floe.
In gym class, the students played a game called Hibernate. They were asked to move around the gym like specific animals (bat, turtle, bear, bird) and then when a teacher yelled, "Hibernate" the students had to find a den or cave (made of panel mats) and crouch down like the student below.
Many more skills were practiced this month including hand shaking. During our hello song, students were asked to practice shaking hands, looking your partner in the eye and smiling.
During our Letter Work, I introduced the Letter Leader who is responsible for leading our ABC song. The children were all given their own letter charts so that they can point to each letter and sing at the same time.
Other skills practiced over the past month include, letter and number recognition, counting sets of objects, identifying two dimensional shapes, sorting by more than one attribute, patterning, making personal connections to stories, identifying important information in nonfiction texts, using the words taller/shorter, heavy/lighter to make comparisons and identifying beginning sounds in words.
Spirit Days:
Hat Day!
Go Patriots!
As a class we've been talking about following the Group Plan. On the most recent day it snowed, it was great to see the students working together to build snowmen. And how cute are these children, helping out their friends by giving them a push?
