Penguins and Winter

This past week we started off with the second concept in our Social Thinking curriculum- Following the Group Plan.  Through a picture book, several activities and discussion, the students learned that when working in a group it is important that everyone follows the same plan.  Doing so makes everyone in the group happy and comfortable.  The story that we read was about a group of children visiting a farm and collecting items to make apple pie and ice cream.  At different points in the story, each child decides to follow his/her own plan and that makes it difficult for the rest of the children to complete their task.  Once everyone follows the group plan they are able to gather the needed materials and make apple pie and ice cream to enjoy.  To follow up on this story, we have been using the phrase, "following the group plan" to praise children in the classroom who are doing just that.

Also this week, we began learning about animals that live in Antarctica with a specific focus on penguins.  We have been talking about different types of books- stories and those that teach.  We read several teaching books about penguins.  As a class we created an anchor chart displaying all of the new facts we learned about penguins.

The children also learned that there are different types of penguins; penguins of different sizes and color.  To help the students understand the size of penguins and to practice the terms taller and shorter, the students measured themselves next to life-size drawings of penguins (thanks to my daughters).

We also sang a song about penguins at circle, practiced waddling with an "egg" on our feet just like penguin dads and even watched a video of real penguins in action.

The children also played some winter themed games such as Thin Ice which practiced fine motor skills as they picked up marbles using a pincher grasp and tongs and Pengaloo which practiced colors.

This week we focused on shapes as well.  We started by describing the characteristics of different shapes- straight sides, corners, curved sides.  Then we looked for shapes in our environment, matched shapes of different sizes and sorted shapes.

Our sensory play for this week was snow slime.  The children mixed water, glue and borax to create a gooey substance that they stretched and sculpted.

The children used patterns and their own imaginations to build snowflakes from toothpicks and mini marshmallows.  This was a great fine motor activity that also required some trial and error to create snowflakes that stayed together and were somewhat symmetrical.

Finally, the writing center was opened this week.  The students had the opportunity to practice stamping the letters A and B and winter shapes.  They practiced writing and drawing as well.

This week we had a double mystery reader.  The twins were over the moon to see their mom and sister waiting in the library.  What a special surprise!

Winter

These past few weeks we have been talking about the season of Winter.  The children returned from vacation and were immersed in activities that highlighted the clothing, activities and characteristics of winter.  We continued to practice counting, number recognition, name recognition, measuring, cutting, gluing, story retell and more. We began our discussion of the season by brainstorming activities that the students like to do in the snow.  The students then created a graph to show their favorite activity in the snow.

We also sorted clothing- those we wear in winter and those we don't.  One student volunteered to wear the winter clothing.

In dramatic play, the children had the opportunity to skate on the pretend ice skating rink and prepare food at the snack shop.  Roles at the rink included cashier, skater or ice cleaner.  The cashier sold tickets to the rink.  Skaters could skate in their socks after putting shoes in the "Shoe Locker."  They could also "rent" hockey equipment.  The ice cleaner was responsible for shoveling off snow as it accumulated on the rink.

In the snack shop we had two cashiers who were responsible for collecting money, taking orders and recording them on a menu and recording hot chocolate requests.  The cooks prepared hot chocolate, pizza, pretzels, cookies, hot dogs, popcorn, etc.  They practiced comparisons by choosing small, medium and large cups.

Instead of filling the sensory bin, the children made two different types of snow.  I then asked the students to identify the characteristics of each snow sample.  The children used words such as soft, fluffy, and cold to describe their "snow".  The first mixture contained baking soda and shaving cream. The second mixture had baking soda and hair conditioner.  The children liked both the same, so I poured by mixtures into the sensory bin.  The children enjoyed sculpting snowmen from their snow, creating snow scenes and just getting their hands dirty.
Snow #1:

Snow #2:

Shortly after making our own snow, we experienced some real snow outside.  The children and teachers had a great time playing.

We read several books this week about winter including The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, The Mitten and The Hat by Jan Brett, and The Missing Mitten Mystery by Steven Kellog. 

Following The Snowy Day the students practiced sequencing the story using pictures and then retelling it orally.  They also painted snowy day scenes using puffy paint.

We continued to practice retelling with The Mitten as the students lined up with masks in the order that the animals entered the mitten and then acted out climbing in the mitten (a sheet).  As a class, the students identified the characters in The Hat and matched them to the clothing they used as hats.

As a follow-up to The Mitten the students measured one another using paper mittens.  We will be creating a class book which will be coming home soon with these pictures, but here are some examples:

In the block center Lincoln Logs were introduced.  The children worked together build log cabins.  It was nice to hear them talking about how they were going to construct their buildings and then delegating roles.

The students built snowflakes and snowmen out of pattern blocks.

Finally, the children made snowmen at the play doh table practicing important fine motor skills and matching a sample.

.

In gym class the students pretended to be reindeer in the off-season preparing for next year's big Christmas trip.  First they practiced "flying" (jumping) from rooftop to rooftop (panel mats).  Next they took turns pulling each other on Santa's sleigh (a scooter), then they galloped through the trees (cones), balanced on a rooftop (balance beam) and practiced throwing toys down the chimney (a bucket).  It was lots of fun and had the children moving and practicing some great gross motor skills.