Monday, 2 February 2015

Polar Bear Inquiry - Land Ho!

 It is not ignorance but knowledge which is the mother of wonder.
~ Joseph Wood Krutch ~

The more we know, the more we wonder.
So is the case with Jackson and many of the kindergarten children as the polar bear inquiry extends into curiosity and discovery about the mysterious Arctic.

 

The Arctic Ocean is now filled with many Arctic animals and several icebergs. 
  
The children used their animals to create stories of narrow escapes and 
inevitable captures.
And things were going quite until a great blue whale got hungry...
very hungry and...
Well, this created a problem!
 
 With only a few icebergs and many land animals, how could the animals escape to safety?
Are icebergs a place that animals like fox and oxen and snowy owls could live?
This is how land emerged in the Arctic exhibit.
 
 Referring to the books that the children had been pouring through, there were many areas of land for Arctic animals to live and make their habitats.
 
We are seeing the children create den habitats outside.
They began to create land areas, mountain areas, caves, trees and frozen tundra.
Carson exclaimed, "Let's get the animals to the land. 
 All the ones with legs gotta go there."
The children set to work right away. 
   
The Arctic is a very active area in the wonderful world of kindergarten! 
The children tell many stories about the animals and with the animals.
They were invited to put their stories into books. 
Blank books are always awaiting our writers in the writing centre.
When we read books, we talk of the book cover and back, title, settings, characters, a blurb,
how a story begins, what happens and how the story ends...
We asked the children what characters they might choose from the Arctic exhibit
and how their story might begin, what might happen and how it would end.
This inspired great excitement!
 
And some very fun stories!  
It seems Snowmen At Night are not the only ones up to shenanigans!


In the meantime, other children continued to create animals. 
This time, they were offered salt dough.
After making the salt dough, the children began to  
sculpt and fashion animals for the Arctic exhibit.
Books were added to the sculpting area. The children turned page after page and chose an image of the animal they wanted to create.
 
The sculptures were baked and dried slowly. 
Many children came back over a few days to continue to make animals. 
Once dried, the children chose their book and painted their creations.
 
 
 
 At the Arctic exhibit, the children were offered card stock and markers. 
They began to label the many areas of their exhibit and the animals they created.
 
Books that the children had been using and books that the children made were available.
The children were confident in their 'spell by sound' abilities 
and only asked for occasional help.
 
 
It was interesting and exciting to see the children helping each other.
  
They labeled their animals and land area.
The labeled the TOL gRAS AREa and the ARKTic OCHiN.
SNO and ROKS
 
 Wolris and LepRd SEL and NROWOL
 And of course...POLAR BAR
The salt dough sculptures are being displayed in the hallway. 
Just in invitation to what happens in the wonderful world of kindergarten.
 
Funny where things can go when you start wondering about Polar Bears!
There may be some big machinery in our future...
And a discussion about the looooong trip a penguin would have to take to live in the Arctic!

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