Last Day of January!

Today was a very busy day...we had a lot to learn since we had 2 snow days this week! During morning circle the kids shared stories about playing in the snow. We finished our January pattern on the calendar. Tomorrow starts a new month..February! We briefly talked about Groundhogs Day and how the groundhogs shadow will predict whether we have more winter or spring will come early.

 Then the kids reviewed and practiced the consonant sounds. We also practiced the smile vowels.

Our story today was "One Winter's Day" by Christina Butler.When a fierce windstorm blows away Little Hedgehog's nest, he put on his winter clothes and headed toward Badger's warm house. On his way, Hedgehog met his friends, they were cold in the wind and snow. One by one, Hedgehog gave away his cozy mittens, hat, and scarf. After the story we described Hedgehog's....they have quills and they hibernate. The kids also described other winter animals and practiced the concepts over and under while putting the animals in the correct place on our winter scene.

Then we had rotating centers to work on art, writing and math skills. The kids practiced writing capital letters, they made a hedgehog and a hibernating bear for art, practiced sorting and patterns for math and read books in the bear cave.

Everyone was kinda sleepy by the end of the day..I think it was the snow days! After lunch we sang some of our favorite winter songs because we will be starting a new topic next month. Today was also João last day at the Speech Garden....I know the kids will miss him!

Waddle like a Penguin

Today was a fun, busy day! After morning circle Ms. Michelle came to work with the kids. First they carried snowballs (rolled up socks) with different utensils and walked along different balance beams. At the end there was place to dump the snowball in the bucket. Then Ms. Michelle let us look at different things used to make a snowman. We found button eyes, a carrot nose, a hat and scarf and buttons. Ms. Michelle brought Frosty the Snowman's magic hat. The kids closed their eyes and had to feel around the hat for different objects. We used our hands to find a crayon, shell, paint brush, tooth brush, coin and glue. It was hard for us to keep our eyes closed...but that is what made the activity so much fun!

Our story today was "The Penguin Who Wanted to Fly" by Catherine Vase. In the story the penguin really wanted to fly. He tried making wings, wearing his favorite helicopter hat, flying in a snow airplane and holding onto a balloon....but nothing worked. We went to play with Polar Bear...and when we went down their sledding hill he flew into the water. He learned that penguins could swim! Swimming was better than flying! After reading the story we shared facts we learned about penguins. We also recalled main events from the story and answered -wh question.

For art today the kids mad penguins. First we remembered penguins are black, white and orange. The kids colored the penguins flippers black and left their bellies white. Then they colored the top of the penguins head black. They glued two eyes and a beak onto the penguins head. They were ready to waddle at the South Pole!

We ended our day with a snow dance. We will see if it really snows tonight in Charlotte, but I know the kids would love to build a snowman, make snow angels and have a snowball fight. Kelly and I will keep you posted about our school day tomorrow.

Winter Animals

This morning during circle we talked about the calendar and practiced our ABB pattern. The kids reviewed the consonant sounds and we practiced our smile vowels. Before heading outside we learned about our shapes...square and rectangle can be tricky!

 Our story today was "Lost and Found" by Oliver Jeffers. In the story a boy finds a penguin at his door. He goes around trying to find the penguin's home because he thinks he is lost. When he learns that penguins in at the South Pole the boy and penguin go on an adventure to return the penguin to his family. Once at the South Pole the boy realized the penguin was not lost...but lonely. So, the boy and penguin head back home together. After the kids answered -wh questions about the story we made a chart. The kids listed different winter animals. Then they described what the animal have and what they can do. We learned about penguins, owls, wolves, polar bears and seals. We talked about special insulation the animals have to be outside in the winter...fur or blubber! After the chart was completed the kids used it to make a sentence about one of the animals.

 For science today we found out which keeps your hand warmer in cold water...blubber or just our skin. The kids each had a turn making a prediction. Then they put their hand in the blubber in cold water....just like a penguin's flipper and their hand in the cold water with nothing. The class counted to ten and then they had to tell us which kept their hand warmer. Blubber always won!

Our day flew by and it was already time for lunch. The kids remembered what they learned about shapes earlier in the day and shared different shapes they found in their lunch. Tomorrow we will keep learning about penguins. Don't forget to look at our amazing chart outside the classroom in the morning.

The BIGGEST Snowman

This morning the kids played memory and Go Fish. During morning circle we talked about the calendar and continued our ABB pattern. The kids reviewed all the consonants with the sound brothers and cousins. Then we learned about the vowels. The vowel circle has three sets of sounds...the smile vowels, the open vowels and the round vowels. We focused on the smile vowels today. They are made in the front of our mouth and each vowel makes our chin take a step down. We practiced long e, short i, short e, long a, short a and short u. After practicing our sounds we made words with -et. The kids pulled letters from the mystery box and sounded out their special word. We read vet, pet, bet, met, net, jet, get, and set.

For writing today they kids wrote in their journals and practiced letters H-N. They also wrote sight words on the ipads. Since we couldn't go outside today we had a mini exercise class in the classroom. The kids ran in place, did jumping jacks and hopped around.

Our story today was "The Biggest Snowman Ever" by Steven Kroll. In the story Clayton and Desmond want to build the biggest snowman every! But they realized that their friends snowmen are the same size as theirs....so they work together to combine their snowmen. After reading the story the kids described the goal in the story, the problem and how they solved the problem. Then we talked about big, bigger and biggest. The kids sorted different shapes and placed them in the correct columns while describing the shapes with big, bigger and biggest.

For art today the kids made snow globes! First they used a white crayon to draw three circles to make the snowman's body. Then they used a black crayon to add two eyes and some buttons. Next they glued a hat and scarf onto their snowman. Last they glued the snow globe onto the black base.


The day went by very quickly! After eating lunch the kids had just enough time to share their Show and Tell with the class. Try to stay warm this weekend and I will see everyone on Monday!

Snowmen at Night

This morning we talked about the days of the week and months of the year. We also described the different seasons and focused on the weather, clothing and trees during the winter. The kids also practiced the letter sounds. Before heading outside we talked about shapes and looked for them around the classroom. While outside the kids searched for different shapes on the playground. We found rectangles, triangles, circles and squares!

Our story today was "Snowmen at Night" by Caralyn Buehner. The story described things the snowmen do while we are sleeping. They go sledding, skate, play snowball baseball, drink cold coco, and go to the park. After reading the story the kids listed all the activities the snowmen did at night. Then we made a list of things we do at night...brush our teeth, put on our pajamas, read a bedtime story and go to bed.

Before art today Ms. Gretchen came for music class! We started our day singing the Hello song. The kids learned Old McDonald with winter animals...fox, penguin, and polar bear. They also had a chance to Shake Their Sillies Out. Ms. Gretchen taught the kids 3 songs about snowmen and snowflakes. They built a snowman while singing the first songs,  pretended snowflakes were falling from the sky in another song and caught snowflakes on their tongue in the last song. Then it was time to sing goodby to Ms. Gretchen and her friends.

For art today the kids made snowmen out of marshmallows. They used their fingers to pinch the marshmallows and put them onto of the glue circles. They also drew two eyes and a carrot nose on the snowman's face.

The kids have loved learning about snowmen this week. Next week we will be our last week talking about winter....then hopefully it will warm up! 

The Snowman

This morning during our morning circle we started a science experiment. The teachers froze 6 water balloons. After cutting off the balloons we were left with 6 round balls of ice. The class helped make two snowmen with the ice balls.

 We stacked them on top of each other. Then we made predictions about which one will melt the fastest...the snowman inside the classroom or the snowman outside. Then we had to wait until the end of the day to see the results.

Today we read the book "The Snowman" by Raymond Briggs. Before we read the book the class watched the movie The Snowman. It had no words so we had to describe what was going on while watching. The snowman went on an exciting adventure with a little boy. After the movie we read the story. The class helped fill in parts that were left out of the book. Then we described the different parts of a snowman. A snowman has 3 round circles for his body. He has two eyes, a carrot nose and a mouth. He can have a hat, scarf and stick arms.

For art today we made a snowman face. The kids used cotton balls to make his face puffy like snow. Then we glued on eyes, a carrot nose and a blue hat. The kids described their snowmen to their neighbors when they were finished.

After eating lunch we looked at our inside and outside snowmen. The inside snowman had started to melt and the balls of ice were getting smaller. The outside snowman had two ice balls still stuck together. There was no water in the bottom of the outside snowman because it was to COLD outside. We learned that ice melts faster in warmer weather...that is why we don't see snowmen in the summer!

Hopefully it will be warmer tomorrow so we can play outside a little longer. Don't forget your hat and gloves!