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!
