Jungle!
This week we started to really dive into the topic of the Jungle. We have been exploring in a multi-disciplinary way - that is, through music, literacy, math, science and art. During our morning meetings we have been busy learning characteristics of animals such as which are carnivores and which are herbivores. We’ve learned about the four different levels of the jungle and what kind of animals live on each, and also touched on the fact that the animals we consider to be “jungle animals” actually live in the plains/savannah near the Jungle and not directly in it (lions, hippos, giraffes, elephants, etc.).
For science, we were able to get an idea of how rain works and how it continually goes through a cycle of rain, condensation, absorption and rain again. We also made our own rainstick to hear the sounds of the jungle/rainforest. The rice or beans make vibrations on the different materials they touch, which sounds to our ears like rain.
For Math we have been learning concepts of patterns, size differences, order of objects, counting, one-to-one correspondence and how to fit pieces together to create a whole. Additionally we are going to be having a shape of the day for at least the next week. We started off with circle today.
In literacy, we have been reading a lot of books that contain jungle animals - there have also been books read during the pre-recorded circle times that have great non-fiction information, like how different animals carry their babies. There have been prompts for storytelling, and ample opportunity to discuss and imagine with animals and scenery.
For Spanish this week, we focused on jungle animals, jungle scenery and vegetables. I have songs that go along with these topics for anyone who is interested.
I tried to make our sensory art projects a little more open ended this week, providing different concepts you could choose to carry out at home. This way the project is flexible depending on what you have on hand and you shouldn’t need to go out and get anything extra. Hopefully this made it easier to work on the animal creation. We made: Tigers, Monkeys, Lions, Elephants and Snakes this week. We will be making five new animals next week, as well as making some of the scenery so that you will, in effect, have a little jungle at home.
Don’t forget today is chocolate chip day! You can put chocolate chips on your banana sushi or straight into your pineapple carrot muffins! Yum!
Have a fantastic weekend with some beautiful weather coming our way!
