HIBERNATION WEEK taught us all about how some animals get ready for their big snooze every winter! We read “Hibernation”, a simple yet informative book about what hibernation means, how the animals prepare for it, and which animals actually sleep the winter away. Animals like bears, bats, chipmunks, groundhogs, and frogs hibernate. We found out that even snails and ladybugs do, too! We talked about how many animals retreat to their dens, burrows, or hollow logs for protection and shelter during hibernation. They must first gather food and get their homes ready for their loooong upcoming rest! In the book “Somewhere to Sleep!”, Bear was looking for just the right place to curl up for the hibernation season. That gave us an idea! So out to the playground we went to build our own cozy beds out of leaves. We constructed quite the comfy sleepy spots…ones that would be perfect for a bear!
Some of us made bear faces using torn pieces of brown lunch bags (which also helped strengthen our fine motor skills!). Others made giant bear paw prints and puppets! Our toddler class even made caves for the bears using paper plates, paper, and cotton balls. Even the squirrels prepared for winter and were collecting their acorns and storing them safely in our classrooms!
“Bear is Sleeping” and “Where Is Winter Bear” were songs heard in our classrooms all week. Wow, do we love to sing and we do it so well! Every song we sing each week reinforces what we are learning about and each catchy tune helps us remember the facts!
H was the focus of our letter/sound relationship for the week. H is for hibernation. We practiced letter formation, sorted pictures that start with H, and made quite a long list of H words we use and recognize! Our sign for the week was “sleep”.
All of this talk about naps made us very sleepy…zzzzzz…but not for long! We have lots of learning to do! 🙂