Smart Apples

This week we finish our study on winter by learning about igloos and animals that adapt to the weather. We learned that igloos are made out of blocks of snow and are built as temporary houses by humans and in cases, as permanent abodes as well. Eskimos or the Inuits are a group of native people from the Arctic regions of Greenland, Russia, or Canada, who live in Igloos. We learned that some animals grow thick fur or change the color of the fur to keep warmer during the winter. At dramatic play, the children pretended to live in an igloo and ice fishing for letters and fish. At blocks the children continue building igloos and ice structure for the penguins. At the sensory table, the children played with penguins, snow and plastic ice cubes. They stack and pretended to build a mini igloo. At art table, the children made an igloo, played with playdough and drew pictures of animals that adapt. At book center, the children used the flannel board to retell the book “The Mitten”. At manipulat...

This week we learned about animals that hibernate during the wintertime. During the winter, temperatures drop and food supply decreases. In order to survive, certain animals will hibernate - meaning to enter a period of inactivity through deep sleep/unconsciousness. This allows animals to store food, suppress their metabolism and reserve energy. Some of the animal that hibernate are bears, snakes, snails and turtles. At art center, the children made a bear and snake with paper plates and construction paper. At block center, the children built a cave so that the bears can hibernate, and they drew pictures of their structures. At sensory, the children played with snow and letters. They recognized uppercase and lowercase letters. At dramatic area, the children continued dressing up for the winter, shovel snow and selling popcorn and drinks. At science, we used a variety of materials to measure different parts of the teddy bear and sort bears by size and colors. At manipulates, we used pat...