Arctic

We were BUSY this week!!  These units coming up are some of my favorite that we do!  (: 

We read the book, "Way Up in the Arctic", by Jennifer Ward.  Jennifer Ward and Kenneth Spengler have teamed up to create another wonderful, joyful, counting romp. This time they prance and dance readers through the Arctic and introduce kids to the fascinating animal mamas and babies that call the Arctic home. Set to the beloved tune of Over in the Meadow, read again and again book will have kids singing along from one to ten with polar bears, beluga whales, Arctic foxes and more! Hey, kids! Look for the number hidden on each page!

The kids really enjoyed this book!  We had fun trying to find the number on each page. 

At the end of the day we sang the

 "Snowey Pokey"

(Hokey Pokey)

Yo put your right mitten in, you take your right mitten out,

You put your right mitten in and you shake it all about.

You do the snowey pokey and you turn yourself around.

That's what it's all about.

You put your left mitten in

You put your scarf in

You put your right boot in

You put your left boot in

You put your hat in

You put your snowself in

The kids were so funny, they kept yelling, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" at the end!  I tried telling them Christmas was over but they yelled it after every verse.  (: 

We also did a poem about Five Fat Walruses.  Five kids at a time got to hold one of our walrus pictures(hmm....I wonder if I could find five walrus stuffed animals) while we did our poem.  One at a time they would sit down until we ended up with zero walruses.

Five Fat Walruses

Five fat walruses were at the North Pole.

One climbed on the ice and fell into a hole.

Four fat walruses swam toward the ice.

One bumped an iceberg which wasn't very nice.

Three fat walruses had whiskers on their faces,

One got bored and went to sleep.

Two fat walruses went to look for food.

One swam far, far away; he wasn't in the mood.

One fat walrus was tired of the play.

He flipped a good-bye with his tail and then he swam away.

We made igloos for our art lesson.  Each igloo had it's own personality!   (:

What would an arctic unit be without Don't Break the Ice game!  (:

Our igloos

A Hat for Minera Louise by Janet Morgan Stoeke

We read the CUTEST book during our winter unit.  The kids love making class books so I had to think of one that we could do.  I didn't want to do the same one we did last year, "The jacket I wear in the snow"

Minerva Louise, a white hen, likes snowy mornings. She wants to stay outside all day, but it's too cold. So, she goes looking for something warm to wear. After trying several inappropriate items (a flowerpot, a garden hose, etc.), she finds two mittens that make a fitting hat for her head...and for her tail.

The kids really liked this book.  Check it out sometime, you'll love it!  We put out a picture of Minera Louise and the kids got to color the picture and either draw and use one of the pictures of what kind of hat they would like.  Ask your child if they made a picture and what they put on their head. 

 Here are some of the kids coloring their picture.

Here is a little girl working on our color words.

We matched mittens by color and letter.  The kids got to hang the mittens out to dry by matching them. 

January calendar

Creating a winter scene

Kids working together-they are matching different clothes to types of weather

We have the snowflake punch out and the kids wanted to see if they could make 100 snowflakes so they filled one of our hundreds boards with snowflakes.  The kids worked so hard on this and were so proud that they all contributed.

We danced to a song called, "Late Last Night" by Joe Scruggs.  Here is where you can hear the song.

Late Last Night by Joe Scruggs

While the kids were sleeping they got to put on different kinds of shoes and act out what you would do in those shoes.  Ex.  ice skating, hot sand, ballet, swimming.

We learned about the letter B.  Each week the kids think of words that start with the letter of the week.  This week we even had to use the back!  (:

Seasons/Songs for our winter unit

We talked about the four seasons and the kids helped figure out what kinds of trees, clothes and weather would happen in each season. 

Here is our seasons song.

Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

There are seasons four in all

Look outside and you will see

Just what season it will be.

See if your child can sing you the song and tell you what season it is. 

Here are a few other songs we sang this week.

What to wear?

(She'll be comin' around the mountain)

I'll be wearing (two warm mittens) when it snows (clap-clap)

I'll be wearing (two warm mittens) when it snows (clap-clap)

I'll be wearing (two warm mittens) x2

I'll be wearing (two warm mittens) when it snows (clap-clap)

Additional verses

two warm boots (stomp)

one warm hat (pat)

one warm jacket (zip)

This was a great song about winter fun and the days of the week.

Think Snow!

(Here we go round the Mulberry Bush)

What shall we do in wintertime,

In wintertime, in wintertime?

What shall we do in wintertime

On (Monday) when it's snowing?

We'll build a snowman round and fat,

Round and fat, round and fat!

We'll build a snowman round and fat

On (Monday) when it's snowing!

Tuesday, take a sled ride down a hill

Wednesday, find some food to feed the birds

Thursday, skate around a frozen pond

Friday, pack some snowballs round and tight

Saturday, make some angels in the snow

Sunday, build a snow fort in the yard

Snowballs by Lois Ehlert

Welcome back!!  Our unit for this week is Winter.  Here is some of the activities we are doing.

We read the book, "Snowballs" by Lois Ehlert.  This is an adorable book!  Snowballs is told in the words of a child who, along with the rest of the family, has "been waiting for a really big snow, saving good stuff in a sack." The good stuff includes corn, bird seed, and nuts for the birds and squirrels to eat off of the snow creatures; hats, scarves, bottle caps, plastic forks, buttons, fall leaves, a man's tie, and a lot of other things. The photo collages feature fabric circles as snowballs that are transformed when stacked and decked out with features and accessories.

 
On Monday, the kids got to sponge paint a big snowman.  We asked the kids to bring different items to make a snowperson.  (Thanks parents, we had some great items).  On Wednesday, the kids worked together to "build" our snowperson. 

Thanks to our wonderful parents who brought in fun items for our snowperson.

 Isn't it looking great? 

The kids really enjoyed making our snowperson. 

In the story, "Snowballs", it asks "Do birds know when it is winter?"  We talked about what birds eat during the winter and where they get their food.  Here is our bird feeder work.  The kids get to string cheerios on a pipe cleaner to make their own bird feeder to bring home.  

The kids worked hard at the art tables this week.  They got to use their creative expression to make a snowman.  They cut out three circles and we put out scrap paper for them to use.  They made a snowman anyway they wanted.  It is great to see the different stages the kids are at and how different each snowman is. 



Here are a couple of sample snowmen.

 Here are some of our friends making their snowman.

Here is a girl working on our new snowflake pattern stamping. 

 Here is another working with the pattern stamping

Here is a boy playing with our snowman stacker.

Snowflake punching

Here is our reading igloo! 

Here are some of the things we worked on this week!

Our parents are wonderful for bringing playdough each month. At the beginning of the year we asked parents to sign-up to bring playdough and they have been wonderful about it. This month we had white playdough with blue glitter (thanks Julie) and the kids are making snowmen with it. We put pony beads out to make eyes and buttons and the kids love to play playdough!!

This friend made hearts and decorated them.
We love to paint at the easel! Sometimes we have free painting and sometimes we ask the children to draw something specific. This week we made snowmen by painting three circles with white and used black paint to draw the face, hat and buttons. Each one is so individual and based on their ability! It's fun to see how each one is made.

The kids love to use the magnetic board and make pictures and tell us their story. This little girl had a great story about the boy and girl who were playing by the tree when a bird came along. I love to sit and listen to their stories. Here are some of our friends washing their hands for snack! They are so independent and I LOVE IT!!
Our classes made peppermint ice cream. Ask your child about it! We read the recipe, measured the ingredients, we smelled the ingredients and waited for our delicious ice cream!

We made penguins out of toilet paper tubes and used them to work on positional words. We put our penguins behind us, on top of our heads, in front of us, etc. Here is one of our friends that had her penguin "on top of" her foot.

We danced to "Oh What a Miracle" by Hap Palmer.