A week on the Ocean!

This week we are learning about the ocean and some of the fascinating animals that live in it.

Circle Time - The kiddos were bursting with knowledge to share about the ocean and it's animals.  We talked and shared a lot as we looked through some picture books that show some of the amazing animals.

Journal Time - The kiddos were surprised to find a whale in their journal today.

Ocean Animal Sort - Hmm ... which animals live in the ocean?

Science - How to Baleen Whales Eat? - We talked about the two subcategories of whales:  toothed whales (like orca) and baleen whales (like humpback).  Then we talked about the different kind of teeth they have.  Toothed whales tear and bite, baleen whales sift.  We know how to tear and bite, because we do that, but we thought we'd give sifting a try.

First we experimented with basil (plankton and krill) and combs (baleen).  We were surprised how well it worked.

Then we tried with our own mouths.  The kiddos had water and craisins (plankton and krill), first we poured it all in our mouths, then we pushed the water back out through our teeth (baleen) and then ate the craisins (plankton and krill).  That worked pretty great too!

Science - A Whale is HOW Long?! - The blue whale is the world's largest animal, even larger than dinosaurs!  The largest blue whale ever recorded was 110 feet long!  We decided to measure that out with yarn...



Whales - We watched the whale part of "Finding Nemo".


Ladybug! - Ah, spring at last!

Shark Teeth Punch - The kiddos helped punch out teeth for a later project.

 Celery - 4 weeks - Our celery is growing great!

Shell Painting - Back by request, the kiddos enjoyed watercolor painting sea shells.

Charging Shark - The kiddos were super excited to create this shark, charging out of the water to eat.

 

Shark conversations:

"He's eating bad things, like a mean cat!"
"All of these teeth are going to be exploding teeth!"
"My shark's eyes are going to be white because they're rolled back because he's eating something." 

Ocean Snacks - Octo-dogs and Sea Stars - The kiddos stuck spaghetti noodles in a hotdog, then Ms. Sara cooked them. 

Sea Star Bread - bread, butter and some sugar sprinkles.

 

Jelly Fish Bowls - The kiddos "stung" each other and giggled and wiggled while working on their jelly fish.  The crinkly paper is spiral cut coffee filters.

Once their jelly fish were all done, they swam them around the room and stung each other as well as anything they touched.

We watched the jelly fish part of Finding Nemo.