Kindergarten Nature Explorers

Kindergarteners in Lindsay Pietroski and Cyndi Kenyon’s classes recently studied the winter habitats of animals during their year-long Nature Explorers program. Students read “The Mitten” by Jan Brett and later gave an oral report on an animal in their study. Students then designed their own mittens with paper and created puppets to retell their own version of The Mitten story. Afterward, the children began to question “What do animals really do in the winter to stay warm?” said Kenyon. “We went on winter nature hikes and researched firsthand what some native animals do in the winter.” The students later picked an animal to research and drew a picture of the animal, which is now featured in the kindergarten hallway in Haile Hall. The multipart project was completed by each student, who also gave an oral report of their animal, which was recorded and sent to their families. “It’s exciting to see the students so engaged in their learning. Their natural curiosity of the world provides such an authentic learning experience,” said Pietroski. “One student was studying cardinals as her animal and, when she saw a female and male cardinal fly together under an evergreen tree, she lit up and squealed with excitement because it really helped her make a connection to her recent studies.”