PK3.3 News - Pets
16th - 20th May 2016
As our pet study draws to a close, I asked the children "do all pets have names?" We had a very excited discussion as they shared not only their own pets names but friends pets and animals they have met who also have names.
Together we read the story of Little Dog Lost: The True Story of a Brave Dog Named Baltic by Monica Carnesi, about how a the little dog was saved by a ship out in the Baltic Sea and earns his name "Baltic".
We wondered "why do we have pets?" and "what are different ways to show affection?". The children gave thoughtful answers such as "to feel happy", "they are our friends" and we show affection with "hugs", "kisses" and "taking care".
Can pets have jobs?
On Thursday I introduced the term "service animal" to the children and explained that it means an animal that has a job to help people. The children were very interested to learn about all the different jobs that animals could do. We watched videos about Police Dogs, Rescue Dogs, Guide dogs and Hearing Dogs, Police Horses and our favorite......Sheep Dogs!
We than made a giant poster using different pictures of service animals. The children were very focused on their pictures, each identifying the type of job their animal had. Great observations PK3.
How do pets make us feel?
Our final question of the week was about how pets make us feel. We began our circle time sharing photos of pets showing affection to their owners and owners showing affections to their pets. The children described the images; what they thought was happening in the photo and making connections between the photo and their own experiences. They then drew on a post it how pets made them feel and we made a feelings poster to remind us of those positive feelings.
In small groups this week we have been :
- continuing to build one to one number correspondence skills by feeding our pets the number of snacks shown when we roll the dice. Using tweezers helps to strengthen fine motor skills and develop better hand eye coordination.
exploring what type of animal we could be. There was much giggling to be heard as the children transformed themselves into tigers, cats, dogs and even rabbits this week. After counting out noses, ears and whiskers, the children wrote their names and then identified their animal. I think they all make purr...fect animals!
- identifying the correct habitat for each animal image.
- identifying and matching Upper and Lower case letters from our alphabet aquarium.
Mindfulness aquariums.
Mindfulness bottles/jars are a great way to practice self-calming. When a child is beginning to feel upset or dis-regulated (their emotions are swirling), they can shake their mindfulness bottle and watch the glitter float to the bottom. Watching the glitter is peaceful and has a calming effect on emotions.
Working in small groups with Miss Maru, the children created their own mindfulness aquariums using small stones, shiny seaweed, colorful fish and LOTS of glitter! Adding glycerine to the water helps the glitter to fall slowly so children are calmed as they watch the slow and gentle fall to the bottom of the jar.
We will be keeping our jars in the discovery area and our safe place for the children to explore more.
Water fun in the garden.
Miss Elsa was helping out in the garden this week and after checking on how the herbs are growing, it was onto lots of water play in different water centers. The children explored bubbles, fishing and using sieves to gather items.
Waffles the Hamster
As the children's confidence has grown around our pet hamster we had a special treat this week as Waffles came out for cuddles. This was super exciting and I am pleased to say the children followed the rules of being gentle and taking turns as they stroked Waffles. Everyone enjoyed the extra fuss made of our pet and she returned to her cage for a yummy broccoli treat afterwards.
If you are interested in having Waffles home for the weekend please drop me a line and we can coordinate.
Dogs by Emily Gravett
We found gorgeous canines of every shape, size and color bounding through this book. But is it possible to choose one dog to love best of all?
Elsewhere in the library the children have been sharing books together; taking turns to tell stories to each other using the pictures and their imaginations to create wonderful tales.