Penguins, Penguins, Penguins!
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We have now moved from the Arctic to Antarctica. We are just as cold now but on the opposite side of the world. Everyone was full of questions; do they keep warm the same way as polar bears do?, why do the babies look different than the mommy penguins?, how do they walk? Some things we have learned are that penguins don’t fly, they have dense feathers to keep warm, daddy penguins keep the egg warm and mommy penguins hunt for food. We even heard the sound a penguin makes; who knew they were so loud!? Penguins are so fascinating!

We had an interesting discussion about why the ice around the world was melting and how global warming affects the living conditions for animals. It is great to have such inquisitive children here at Blooming Butterflies, to ask questions that cam have such depth.  We used the melting snow at the park to play a make-believe game where we were all penguins and our environment around us was melting. When hoping from snow patch to snow patch, it helped us to understand that with the warming of colder climates the animals that live there have a harder time.

For arts and crafts we had a heavy focus on our cutting skills this week. We cut on straight and wavy lines to produce the pieces of a paper penguin and glued it together, and we made a popsicle stick penguin. Everyone is getting increasingly better and can cute on more complicated lines. Great job!
For our counting practice this week we played “What time is it Mister penguin?”, and we practiced matching numbers with their quantities (dots). Everyone played a parachute type game where they pretended to be penguins diving into the ocean (under the parachute) to eat fish. They then had to read the number that was on the fish and throw it on top. If they were unsure of the number, they then counted the polka dots on the other side of the fish to figure out what the number was called.

I was asked an interesting question this week. ”Does snow rot?” So we decided to do a science experiment. We put a bunch of snow into a container and also put an orange and a piece of bread into separate containers. Now we wait. So far the orange is getting mushy and the snow has melted. We’ll have to see what happens this coming week!

Some other things we did this week include; practicing “at” words by reading the letters, sounding them out and copying them in writing. We also worked with Mat Man, as it is a favourite, and we had a little one whose first time it was to build him. She was so excited, and even more excited about Mat Man’s song. We also used the Big Lines and Little Lines to form letters (had to identify letters that used only lines). We did some yoga and practiced threading beads onto a strong to make a necklace.

See everyone next week!

Xoxo Miss Audra

Our fascination with ice and water continued this week when an amazingly long piece of ice was found coming out of a pipe on our way to the park. We broke off this long piece of ice and let the remaining water drip out into a puddle, and came back the next day to see if the water had frozen. It sure did!
This week we started learning about the Arctic and the types of animals that live there; with a particular focus on polar bears. We looked at a map of the world to try and find where we thought the Arctic was located, based on knowing that the Arctic is cold and when it is cold there is often snow. Many were able to connect the dots to figure out that the white parts of the map may be the Arctic. They were also quite excited to find out that the North Pole was in the Arctic and polar bears live there.

How do polar bears stay warm up there? Well we learned that they use their fur (much like our snow gear) and fat/blubber to keep them warm. We created a fluffy polar bear craft using cotton balls and a handprint polar bear where we practiced writing the letters that spell polar bear. Learning about how fat/blubber keep an animal warm is a bit trickier. We did a science experiment where we put our hands in ice to see how cold the it was to us and then compared that with the warmer feeling we felt when fat/ blubber was a barrier in between our hands and the ice.
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We had periods of ice play this week where there were multiple utensils to use to scoop of pick up the ice. We figured out that tongs were the hardest tool to use and that it only got harder as the ice began to melt.
We dressed up in our snow gear and had polar bear races! We also created two part patterns with images of arctic animals.
 
For letter practice this week we played a game called I SPY LETTERS, where we had to choose a letter from the pile, tell us what it is and find all the other uppercase and lowercase letters that match. We then would count and compare the amounts there were of each letter. We also continue to practice writing letters and identifying letter sounds they hear in words.
During story time we have been making appropriate predictions about what will happen in the story, based on the cover image. Everyone is doing a wonderful job of creating a story to read to their friends based on the images they see.

Some of the other things we did this week include; using Mat Man to practice drawing people with details and using Nose Hill Park as our natural playground to practice flipping, sliding, rolling and climbing. And don’t forget the Echo tunnel where we can be as loud as we want!

See everyone soon!

Xoxo Miss Audra

This year started off with a bang! We had the pleasure of welcoming two new little girls to the Blooming Butterflies family. It’s always great to see new faces. We celebrated the New Year by watching recorded fireworks displays and creating our own firework splatter painting.

It has been almost a couple weeks since we have been in school together, so re-emphasizing routines has been important. We continue to do our daily name writing practice. Some are super excited to see that they have letters in their name that are missing and they need to figure out what they are. During our daily Circle Time have continued to practice counting the days on the calendar and recording the temperature on the thermometer. Boy it was chilly this week! We are teaching our new friends how to figure out what day of the week it is and what the letter sound is at the beginning of each.

Pointy the Dinosaur came out of his bucket to visit us twice this week, as some of us learn for the first time about what it means to be a Bucket Filler. We continue to make reference to the storybook “How Full is Your Bucket?” by Tom Roth and Mary Reckmeyer. This story teaches us that every person and even animal has an invisible bucket above their heard. When that bucket is full we feel amazing and when it is empty we do not. We are learning how to empathize with others and work as a team to create a caring environment. With this concept in mind, we continue to learn how to identify the difference between a Bucket Filler and a Bucket Dipper. We were big Bucket Fillers this week; being Snow Angels for three neighbours. Everyone worked hard as a team to shovel our neighbours’ sidewalks. We also made and put cards in their mailboxes to tell them that we came. While indoors we worked as a team to make a Bucket Filler chain. It was tricky at first but we got the hang of it.

While outside shoveling, a large icicle containing twigs and grass was found outside, so we decided to bring it in to see what would happen. By the end of the day it was all melted and we were able to get to the twigs and grass that were within. Then we thought we should put it back outside to see if it would freeze back to the way it was or freeze to the shape of the container. This produced a fun square ice cube that we took turns trying to melt with our hands to release the twigs and grass.

Outdoor time was more limited this week so we added yoga, stretching and extra dance songs to our days. They loved having the chance to be the teacher for a moment to teach everyone a yoga move they knew…or made up. It was quite cute! The chicken dance was a hit this week as well. Boy did that tire us out!

We started creative journaling this week. Everyone has their very own journal to take care of. They can draw and create anything they like, then they have to choose one word that relates to what they made, to write; practicing letter formation and letter sounds.

The mail lady comes every day at the same time and this week we loved going through all the junk mail she brought, including many food coupons. We used these coupons to order pretend food from our friends and we had to pay them the appropriate number of dollars displayed on the food coupon. This was quite a hit and great for practicing number recognition, following instructions and organized social play.

It was Pan and Tinkers’ birthdays this week! We gave so many treats to the kitties, made kitty faces and baked cookies for ourselves since we cannot eat the treats the kitties do.

Some other things we did this week include; painting inside circles that formed our names (some of us practiced making 3 part patterns with the paint colours we chose), practiced with our counting mats, using pompoms and colourful sticks to represent numbers, and built puzzles to practice identifying opposites and letters.

We’ll see everyone real soon!
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Xoxo Miss Audra