Penguins All Around!

Look who greeted me when I walked into class on Monday morning!

Oh yes, the Tigger Bandit strikes again!

I love coming in and seeing things like this first thing.  It just puts a happy, positive spin on the whole morning.  I definitely had a good chuckle, as "Cool Tigger" chatted on his cell!

 

When the kids came in, they wanted to see their gummy bear science experiments.  They were pleased to find that most of the gummy bears grew a little, and that the red ones ended up with a slight hint of red water.  They also observed that the gummies were covered in bubbles!  This was a simple experiment in which the kiddos learned to patiently "wait and see" to observe changes.

 

During Circle, we reviewed the letter Pp and introduced Qq.  We began our discussion on penguins, and the children excitedly told us all about their trips to the zoo to see them!

 

We read a very informative, kid-friendly book:

 

Our Centers included Penguin Play, where they got to imagine and create their own stories with {my favorite} Madagascar penguins.

 

The children also practiced coloring and cutting a penguin.  We're intent on developing those fine motor muscles!  Also at this center, they played a penguin matching game with real-life photos of different kinds of penguins.  Miss D used a yard stick to (get in some math and) show the kids how short or tall each kind of penguin can be.  Did you know that the tallest are the Emperor Penguins, which can grow to be 4 feet tall?!  Amazing!

 

For art, we started the first part of their cardboard roll penguin, which they will finish on Wednesday.  We also built cute sticker penguins.  They could use the bow as a tie or on the head.  They turned out cute either way!

 

For our movement game, we pretended to be daddy penguins, balancing an egg (bean bag) on our feet.  Not as easy as one may think!  We tried waddling, jumping and turning around in a circle.  We also got in some letter recognition, because the bean bag set we used has letters on one side.  I asked the children to pop their "egg" back into the basket by identifying the letter on the bean bag.  They did a great job!

 

See you on Wednesday for more Chilly Willy fun!

(I know the kids don't know who that is, but you do, right?!)