A Snowy Day

This morning the kids played "I Can Do That," "Hullaballo" and "War." We rotated through so everyone had a chance to play at least two games. During morning circle we talked about the calendar and continued our ABB pattern. The kids practiced the Sounds Around Town. We reviewed the sound brother pairs and the cousins (wind, nose, lifters and borrows). At the end of circle we matched rhyming words. For writing today we practiced the letter Z, wrote a fact about snowflakes in our journals, made letters with magnetic strips and wrote sight words.

Our story today was "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats. In the story a boy play outside in the snow. He made tracks in the snow with his feet and he made a snowman and snow angels. At the end of the day he put a snowball in his pocket to save for later. When he checked at bedtime the snowball was gone...it melted! That night had a dream that all the snow melted...but when he woke up it was still snowing outside.

For science today we made more snow. This time we mixed baking soda and shaving cream together. It was flaky and felt cold on our hands. After making snowballs and playing in the snow we added vinegar to the mix. The snow turned into fizzy bubbles!

We ended the day with show and tell and lunch. We also learned some new following directions songs. It was a great first week back at school. Next week we will learn all about winter clothes!

Let it Snow...

Our friends were so excited to see Dhurv this morning! He had a wonderful trip to India. This morning during circle we talked about the calendar and the different seasons. We also practiced putting letters in alphabetical order.

 

 Our story today was "Snow Dance" by Lezlie Evans. In the story the kids did a snow dance and hoped for a snowstorm. When it started to snow they went outside and made snow angels, went sledding, ice skated, and built a snowman. After the story the kids made their own snow dance. We have to follow the directions exactly!

For art today we made snowflakes. Each of our snowflakes had 6 sides. We mixed shaving cream and glue together and added one drop of blue food coloring. Using a cotton swab the kids painted their snowflakes to make them puffy. They turned out great when they dried!

See everyone tomorrow for our last day talking about snow and winter!

Snowflakes

Today there was ice in the touch and feel pool. It was very cold to touch. When we held it in our hands it started to melt into water. We left the ice in the pool throughout the day to see what would happen to it. During morning circle we talked about the calendar. We also practiced identifying which month is the first, last, 3rd...

 

Our story today was "The Little Snowflake" by Steven Metzger. In the story the little snowflake wanted to be part of the best snowman ever! When he started to fall from the sky he landed on a goose's wing. Then he fell on a rock. The kids around him started to build a big snowman...but they didn't see the little snowflake. Finally at the end of the story one of the children found the snowflake and made him the twinkle in the snowman's eye. After reading the story we talked about and made a list of objects that were little and big.

For art today we rotated through stations. The kids each made a hand print snowflake. They all looked different but each snowflake had 6 sides. They also practiced tracing the word snow, writing snow independently and practiced the letter sounds in snow.

After eating lunch we looked inside the touch and feel pool. All the ice had melted into water! The water was still very cold. We predicted the ice melted because our classroom was warm. Tomorrow the weather should be a little warmer...the kids were very concerned that the ice under the swings on the playground would melt. I told them we would have to wait and see....I know that is the first thing they will check out when we go outside tomorrow! 

Brrr....

Today the weather was very cold!! This morning our friends met a new teach in our class, Ms. Laura. We talked about the calendar and the weather. Then we practiced filling in missing letters of the alphabet.

Ms. Michele was here today! She was so excited to hear about Christmas and our holiday break. First the kids went through an obstacle course. They had to jump like a bunny, crawl through the igloo tunnel and balance on the balance beam so they didn't fall into the cold water. After practicing several times they each had a turn going backward. Then the kids searched through snowballs to find white objects in the tub. We found marbles, snowflakes and buttons! For the last activity we used trays and shaving cream to make snowmen! We drew three circles, arms, and a hat.

Our story today was "Snow" by Marion Bauer. The story described how snow and how it is made. Snow is made of ice. When the grey clouds get very heavy from carrying the ice it falls to the ground...that's snow! Snowflakes are all different but they each have 6 sides! When the snow melts it turns into water. After reading the story we described how snow is made and used a pictures to help us talk about it!

Today the kids were scientists! First we bundled up and went outside to see if it was cold enough to freeze bubbles! We blew bubbles and caught them on the bubble wand. The kids watched as the bubbles crystallized and froze. After they were frozen we tried to pop the bubbles....but they just shattered because it was soo cold! Then we came inside to make snow. We mixed shaving cream and cornstarch together. The kids used the snow to make a snowstorm and make snowmen. The also drew snowflakes with 6 sides in the snow mixture. It was messy and very fun!

We had a very busy day and it went by quickly! Can't wait to talk more about winter and snow tomorrow!

Happy 2014!

Today was a wonderful first day back at school. It is a new year and a new month! We have a new friend in our class...Arthur! This morning we started our morning circle talking about the new year and calendar. Our new patter for January is ABB...circle, diamond, diamond. We also practiced the Sounds Around Town. We reviewed the brother pairs and finished learning the cousins. Today we reviewed the wind and nose cousins. We also learned the lifters (r,l) and the borrows (c, y, qu, x).

 

 Our story today was "White Snow, Bright Snow" by Alvin Tesselt. It talks about a town getting ready for a big snow fall. Once the snow falls it covers the houses, streets and trees. The people shovel their sidewalks and driveways. The kids loved playing in the snow, having snowball fights and make a snowman. After the story we started our snow chart. The kids recorded all the things they knew about snow. We will continue to add to our chart as we learn more this week.

For science we asked the question "Where does ice melt?" We tested ice cubes in the freezer, the classroom, in front of the heater and outside. We made predictions if the ice would melt before we put it around the school. After 30 minutes we went around and looked at our ice in the bowls. The ice melted the most in front of the heater and melted a lot in our classroom. The ice didn't melt outside or in the freezer because it was sooo cold!

For writing today the kids worked on "K" and wrote about something they did during their holiday break in their journals. After writing it was time for lunch! We had just enough time at the end of the say for one snow song. It was great seeing the kids faces this morning...looking forward to another great day tomorrow! Bundle up!