PK3.3 News - Pets
28th March - 1st April
Why investigate pets?
Pets are beloved parts of many families and classrooms. Young children love to watch their animal friends and imitate the animals' movements, sounds and expressions. Pets, whether at home or school, teach children the importance of taking care of others, showing affection, being sensitive to others needs, and developing lasting friendships.
Our study on pets will give the children opportunities to explore a topic that interests them, and will allow them to gather information, become more aware of the world around them, and solve problems. We will explore many types of pets; investigate what pets eat and how they communicate, and what they need; observe people caring for pets; and learn about jobs related to caring for pets. We will be using skills such as literacy, maths, the arts and technology to investigate and show our understanding as we learn all about pets!
GRAPHING
Graphing is a wonderful way to promote basic math concepts, vocabulary and mathematical thinking; graphs make counting and comparing meaningful to children. These activities include collecting data and organizing it in different ways.
Asking simple questions such as "Do you have a pet?" and "What kind of pet do you have?" gave the children the opportunity to make choices and then put either their name or a tally mark under their answer. Together we counted how many marks were in each column and compared which numbers were bigger and smaller. We discussed what pets were more popular and the differences between the pets.
We even tried venn diagrams this week.
Classification of data is a critical skill for life, even young children naturally organize things in the world around them.
We have been talking about different types of pets this week and what animals make good pets. The children put this knowledge to work as they classified pictures of "domesticated" and "not domesticated" animals. But what to do with the animals that could be a pet but could also be wild? We crossed the circles and put them there to show they could be both. Super deductions PK3.3!
wHICH OF THESE ANIMALS MAKES A SAFE PET?
We extended our investigation this week, asking "Which of these animals makes a safe pet?" The children identified different animals and gave reasons why would make safe and not safe pets. We shared that goats are not safe as they might eat your clothes! And rabbits are safe as they eat carrots and are small. Great observations PK3.
The children then drew an animal of their choice and had the opportunity to copy the animals name onto their drawing.
OUR VET CENTRE
Our dramatic play area had a makeover this week and the children are really enjoying our new vet clinic. We have patient information forms for the children to complete, stethoscopes, syringes, bandages, pet food and lots of TLC (tender loving care!). So far we have had pet dogs, parrots and cats as patients - DONT FORGET TO SEND IN SOFT ANIMALS - I PROMISE WE WILL TAKE GREAT CARE OF THEM. THANK YOU!
Sensory play and sorting
IMPORTANT REMINDERS
PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES: APRIL 6TH & 7TH
Parent teacher conferences will take place April 6th & 7th. Slots have been set for 30 minutes to allow transition times between meetings and any delays or overruns. I expect our conference to take around 15-20 minutes.
https://doodle.com/poll/cgfxa9a5b9yybagn
PLEASE NOTE: CONFERENCES IN PK ARE ONLY BETWEEN TEACHERS AND PARENTS, YOU SHOULD NOT BRING YOUR CHILD TO THIS MEETING.