We had a blast finishing up our Polar Bear unit.  I am impressed with how much the children have absorbed about polar bears. On Friday, we shared all of the facts and new information we learned together.  Here is look at the week and the fun activities we participated in!

Morning Meeting

We explored BrainPopJr. and our robot friend Moby Max shared a video about Arctic Animals.   We also met the zoo friends Vinny Vampire and Umber Umbrella. 

Reading Buddies- Our fifth grade friends came to read us stories!

P.E.- Practiced throwing and catching with beanbags.

Music

                                                                                     

Centers

Language Arts- The children played a matching game with magnetic letters. 

Math- The children measured polar bear paws using a counting bears, wooden cubes, and paperclips.   Also, they estimated how many marshmallows it would take to fill up their polar bear.  Once finished, they counted the actual number of marshmallows they used. 

Fine motor- The children used pipe cleaners to sew polar bear paws together. This focuses on hand and eye coordination.  They enjoyed decorating their feet after by adding claws and pictures. 

Art- The children painted an Arctic scene with watercolors. They made polar bears and seals out of foam to add to their pictures.   This was a fun open-ended project where the children could be creative.

Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You See?

This week we dove into our Polar Bear unit.   We explored together through non-fiction stories, videos, activities, and a blubber experiment!

In Morning meeting, we discovered that polar bears have a thick coat of fur and blubber under their skin to keep them warm in the Arctic environment. We made blubber gloves using Crisco and tested to see if they could keep our hands warm in icy water. One hand had ‘blubber’ and the other did not.  The kiddos were quick to see how the blubber glove kept their hand warm and insulated.

Centers

Math- Addition race where the polar bears had to race to their iceberg based on the number they rolled on the dice. 

Reading – Beginning sounds and letter recognition.

Language Arts— We filled in the blank.. Polar bears can, are, and have.  The children did a great job brainstorming words together and compiled a list of the words. 

Art- The children used shaving cream to make an Arctic environment for the polar bears.  Also, on our door you will see the kiddos creations of polar bears using cotton balls and pipe cleaners to make fur and a face. 

Fine motor- play dough

Journal-  The journal questions was, “How do polar bears keep warm?” This question stemmed from our blubber experiment. 

P.E- Learning new gross motor skills for the Palio performance.  

  

Reminders/ Upcoming events

EXCITING news! We will have a new friend, Kai join our class on Monday.  I am sure the PK kiddos will take him under their wings and make him feel welcome in our class J

Conferences- February 10^th and 11^th

Check out our week in PK!

 

FUN working together building snowmen outside :)

Centers

Language Arts- We read the story, Hey, Mr. Snowman!  The kiddos found popcorn words and had to complete each picture with a winter clothing item to dress the snowman. Also, they matched uppercase and lowercase letters, reinforcing letter sounds and identification. 

Math- The children used snowballs (cotton balls) to count the corresponding number and  match it to a tens frame. 

Art-  We completed our monthly self-portraits. I have seen the children’s independence progress with this project and it is impressive! 

Fine motor- Used plastic tweezers to strengthen their fine motor grip and eye and hand coordination. The children used these tweezers to count marshmallows and match to the correct corresponding number. 

Free choice:

P.E:

The children are making their way through an obstacle course with tunnels, scooters, and trampolines.  

 

Music: The children are learning to keep the beat and play new instruments. 

Upcoming events

Preview Night- Wednesday, January 20.  Come to the JK room to meet Judy Wahl, the Junior Kindergarten teacher and hear about the exciting upcoming year. 

Next week we will be learning about Polar Bears!