You might have noticed two new friends in the Olive room. I would like to extend a warm welcome to Ella Parker and Jason Chen , who joined us from the toddler classroom.
Geography: Winter has certainly arrived here in Michigan with its cold weather. The children were introduced to the coldest, driest and windiest continent on Earth - Antarctica. Antarctica an ice-covered continent (the 5th largest) has very little precipitation it is classed as a desert.
Most of the people who live on Antarctica are scientists. No one lives permanently as a citizen. Very few animals can make their home on Antarctica other than the most famous inhabitants penguins. There are several species of penguins, seals and whales that inhabit the Southern Ocean. Penguins were our main focus of study. Penguins are birds that cannot fly they use their flipper-like wings to swim through the water. Penguins find all their food at sea - fish, squid and krill.
Most penguins lay eggs in a nest made with rocks and feathers. Not the Emperor penguins, the males incubate a single egg on their feet while the female goes to sea to feed. The female returns several weeks later, usually just before the egg is ready to hatch. Then it’s the males time to feed. The children enjoyed our matching works involving penguins and other Antarctica animals.
In each snowflake there is a small picture of an object that the children used the Magnifying glass to enlarge. Our readers used the Movable Alphabet to build the names of the object.
Moving like Rockhopper penguins jumping from rock to rock is a great way to get those wiggles or waddles out!
A new Landform was introduced – an island. An island is a piece of land surrounded by water. We reviewed its opposite a lake – a body of water surrounded by land.
The children have been drawing and push pinning their own Islands and Lakes. There have been many variations of shapes and sizes here are only a few.
Science: We discussed 3 things that animals do during winter. They hibernate, migrate or adapt. Animals that hibernate go into a deep sleep; migration is when animals move to warm places to find food; animals that adapt stay active during winter. Animals adapt to the cold in many unique ways. Animals with fur grow thicker coats. Some like the arctic fox and snowshoe hare change their fur color as winter approaches to camouflage from predators. Many animals that live in the Arctic depend on blubber (body fat) to insulate their bodies for warmth. The children learned that animals hibernate in many different places. Animals like chipmunks and rabbits dig burrows. Snails, centipedes and ladybugs may crawl under rocks, leaves or logs. Turtles and frogs bury themselves in mud at the bottom of a pond. Bats, brown and black bears spend their winter sleeping in dark caves.
Sensorial: Two new Geometric Solids has been introduced, the cylinder and a cone. Both can slide and roll.
Moore next time! Mrs. Moore