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.
