Kent Primary Kindergarten Students Hibernate for the Day
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It was a cozy, fun and educational day for Ms. Tierney and Mrs. Pregno’s kindergarten students at Kent Primary School as they prepared for hibernation – but only for one day, not the full winter!
As a reward for receiving 300 compliments for good behavior already this year, the students voted on a fun activity to celebrate their achievements. They chose a hibernation day to tie into their recent science lessons on how different animals survive during the winter months.
Over the last week, students learned all about migration, adaptation, and hibernation in relation to wild animals.
“They move to warmer places,” said one student of animals that migrate. “They fly or swim because they need to find more food.”
For animals that stay in the area, some have adaptations to help them survive.
“In the winter they can change colors to white,” said student Natalie Domingues, explaining that they do this to help camouflage themselves in the snow.
“They grow more feathers,” said student Sylas Burrows of birds that adapt. Another student added that some animals, such as penguins, cuddle up with others to stay warm.
But some animals, as the students learned, hibernate in order to survive the winter, and that is what the students planned to do that day for their celebratory activity. In preparation, the students brought blankets from home to build caves with and wore their coziest pajamas.
Using several Carmel 6C skills – such as communication, critical thinking and creativity – the students worked in groups to build fun and cozy caves to hibernate in for the day. Each group used their table as a base for their cave and added blankets, as well as other materials from throughout the classroom, to help make their cave perfect. Legos and books were popular building materials.
“The tables are hard like rocks,” said student Ronin Jean-Lauture. “We added some books under our cave so we could read in the cave. Then we added the Legos for stones, and I was trying to make grass, but the floor could be the grass.”
“We have some water on the inside, so we can drink when we are thirsty,” said student Kelly Shanley of the blue river that her group made on the floor outside the cave using Legos. “And, we have some moss. We thought it would turn out pretty cute.”
Several groups spread blankets out on the floor of their caves for warmth and comfort.
“You could lay down if you want on the fuzzy blanket,” said student Juliana Chisholm.
“Our cave has a rug like grass,” said Burrows.
The students could be as creative as they wanted while building their cave, with one simple rule: everyone must be able to see the smart board in the room from the cave because there was still work to do.
“We have our pencil cases in the cave,” said Eddy Espinoza. His group thought ahead about what they would need to be able to complete class work during the day while hibernating.
With caves complete and a stockpile of supplies inside, it was time for the students to hunker down, not for the entire winter, but for a lesson in letters and writing.
This is a press release provided by the organization. It has been lightly edited and is being published by Examiner Media as a public service.
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