Transitional Kindergarten News
Week 18, January 12-15
This week we explored the North and South Pole using movie set snow in two
sensory tubs. The South Pole tub has penguins, seals and whales in it. The North
Pole tub has polar bears, Eskimos, igloos and other artic creatures. A few of the
kids were disappointed when they didn’t see Santa in the North Pole tub but they
still had fun exploring the two tubs.
We read more penguin books and made some different kinds of penguins this
week. We learned that the Emperor Penguin is the only penguin that doesn’t use a
nest. It lives in the coldest parts of Antarctica, and the dad incubates the egg by
holding it on his feet and covering it with a flap of skin called a brood pouch while
the mom makes the journey to the sea to hunt. Dad has to walk around with the
egg balanced on his feet for 2 months. If the egg rolls onto the ice, it is so cold
(ˉ70º F) it will burst, and the chick will die. Dad doesn’t eat during this time, so
he loses a lot of weight. The
Emperor Dads huddle together to
keep each other warm. We
practiced huddling up in a circle
like the penguins with some kids
inside the circle who could stay
warm then slowly trading spots so
the kids on the outside could
move in to get warm. It takes a
lot of cooperation, perseverance,
and patience to be an Emperor
penguin!
Did you notice our Macaroni Penguins? This is one
of the kids favorite Penguins because of its name
and because it has funny orange feathers sticking
up on its head.
We have been doing penguin math using the number five. Last
week we used a five frame that had some penguins stamped in
some of the spaces and the kids had to figure out how many
plastic penguins they had to add so that all the squares had
some kind of penguin in it.
This week we worked in pairs. One person hid penguins
behind an ice berg while the other closed their eyes and
then tried to figure out how many were hiding. It was
lots of fun and most kids caught on quickly.
Another game we played was how
many penguins can fit on an ice
flow.
Penguins also helped us practice our
letters. These penguins are teaching
us so many things!
Reminder: No School
Friday, January 16th (Teacher Workday)
Monday, January 19th (Holiday, Martin Luther King)