February 1st, 2013- Animals in Winter

Highlights from the Week:

• Special Theme of the Week: Animals in Winter
• Heart Word of the Week: do
• In language arts, we practiced identifying the beginning, middle, and end of a story.  In addition, we have been practicing sorting words by short and long vowels.  We are also coming up with rhyming words within a particular word family.
• In writing, we worked on writing a story about one event and elaborating on the event by telling details.
• In math, we have started to learn about money!  We were introduced to two new math centers where we are learning about pennies and nickles.  We are building the concept that a penny is worth one cent and a nickle is worth five cents.  We are also working on building the concept that you can trade a nickle for five pennies.
• In science, we are learning that in the winter animals migrate, hibernate, or stay active and adapt to the weather.
• During community centers, we are building in our construction zone with "ice blocks".  In dramatic play, which is a Hot Chcolate Shop, we are continuing to practice writing orders and menus.  At another center, we are mapping out a journey for a bird so it can fly south.  We then count how many cubes long that journey will be.  Also during centers, we are building hibernation homes out of blocks for some of our stuffed animals.