Week of January 24 - 28

We celebrated two birthdays this week!!!  Happy Birthday to Jazz and Sara!  The children were very happy to sing and listen to what each of them will do for their special days.




The math center this week focused on simple addition and subtraction problems.  The children rolled a die, took that number of pom-poms, rolled the die again, took that number of pom-poms and then added the two numbers together.  After they did this a couple of times they were able to glue the pom-poms down on the paper to show their number sentence.

The Language Arts center focused on a story called, That Hat.  The children looked at the pictures to predict what would happen in the story.  They counted how many times they saw the word that and pretty in the story (two sight words that will be formally introduced at a later date).  They tracked the words as the group read together.  Then they picked a word that popped up all over the book, such as: that, pretty, is, my, and stamped it on paper.

The fine motor center focused on scissor skills.  The children had shapes to cut out and glue onto paper.  They could creatively make a design with the shapes or simply glue them down and see how many shapes they could cut out.

The technology and listening center focused on tracking words, listening to Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear on CD in both English and Spanish, and phonics skills with Leap Pads.

The children learned about the northern polar Arctic region of the earth this week where polar bears live.  We shared a book called Polar Animals and read about the northern polar animals such as polar bears.  The story showed how animals fur can change to match their environment which camouflages themselves from their predators.  They also learned that polar bears and other arctic animals have a layer of blubber that protects them from the cold weather and icy waters.  In small groups, the students delved into what it would be like to have a layer of blubber around their hands.  Each child experimented with a "glove" (plastic bag) with "blubber" (layer of Crisco) and a plain glove (bag) to see which one would keep their hand warm in a bucket of snow.  Then they charted their results.  Most students agreed that the blubber kept their hand warm in the snow!  To help us learn what polar bears eat and how they live, we also shared the book Little Polar Bear.  After reading the story the children helped retell and sequence the events of the story with images from the story.

On Friday we viewed a short video from the national geographic website about polar bears.  We watched them scoot across the icy waters and even saw these enormous animals wrestle an interact with each other.

During circle time we continued to review the popcorn words: have, he, and, the, is.  The children finished sharing the Winter Fun Backpacks.  Also, they learned a song based off the book, If I Were a Penguin.  They sang about what a penguin could do (eat, swim, porpoise, toboggan) and what a polar bear can do (eat, swim in icy water, camouflage itself).  We have been singing this song to the tune of "The More We Get Together."

Children were able to work in homogeneous reading groups during small group time and focus on their own individualized skills.  In their journals they started drawing and writing about if they were a penguin or polar bear and what they would do.  

A Peek At Next Week

Mr. Kyler (JST student) will be with us one last week!

We will focus on the polar regions and animals one more week with lots of science, social studies, and language experiences.

Our centers will incorporate Language Arts, Math, Fine Motor, and Technology.  

NO SCHOOL FRIDAY, February 4 and MONDAY, February 7.  This is a teacher in-service day and there is no EDP available.

Week of January 17 - 21

Don't forget:

TRANSITION NIGHT: JUNIOR KINDERGARTEN TO KINDERGARTEN On Tuesday, January 25, from 5:00-6:00 p.m. is the Transition Night for parents of  the older Junior Kindergarteners (those that will be 5 by September 1).  Ms. S, our  kinderdergarten teacher, will describe the excellent kindergarten curriculum, plus a panal of parents will be available to tell you of their children's experiences and answer any questions you might have.  We hope you all will attend.  Our Extended Day Program is available at no charge for those of you who will need child care. If you know of a friend who would like to come, he/she is more than welcome.

We welcomed Mr. Kyler this week!  Mr. Kyler will be with us for two more weeks, helping in the classroom and getting a hands on understanding of the development of the young child.  JST is a unique opportunity that the Upper School students have at Roycemore to independently study something of interest!

We continued our study of the popcorn words: "and, have, the, is," this week during circle time, morning meeting, and centers.  The word, "he," was introduced this week too.   The children have a great time finding these words in our writing and when reading stories!  We made popcorn word signs this week in centers and read our Popcorn Word of the Day poem.  

During centers and in small groups, the children continued reading independently and in groups as well ass continued assessments for our February conferences.

In the math center, the children played a game with a partner.  Each pair had a mat that showed a picture of two penguins and then had a blank number sentence at the bottom of the page, that looked like this: _____ + ______ = ________. The students took turns rolling a die, then taking "penguin eggs" and placing them on the belly of the penguins.  Then they added the numbers together.

In the art center the children started a penguin painting by using one of their feet as the body of the penguin.  They painted the bottom of their foot black, then waited for it to dry, then added the parts of the penguin body: white belly, small beak, eyes, flippers, and webbed feet.

 We have been reading stories about penguins and watched a movie about polar bears!  We have looked at a map to see where in the world penguins live.  Did you know that there are 17 species of penguins and they live all over the southern hemisphere, even in warm places?  The JK kids are crazy about our new penguin song that let's us move like penguins

Mr. B has been working with the JK kids on their Palio routine and performance.  The performance for JK and K is on Tuesday, March 22
from 8:45 - 9:45a.m. in the gymnasium.

A Peek Ahead

We will continue our study of the penguins in the southern hemisphere and add to our cold, winter studies by investigating polar bears in the northern hemisphere.  We will work in the math center continuing to learn about addition number sentences, in the language art center on sight words, the fine motor center concentrating on scissor coordination, and the art center finishing the penguins and working on polar bears.