Hibernation

This week we learned about what animals do in the winter time. We read several books and made a chart together to categorize animals that hibernate, migrate, or adapt. Our classroom became a hibernation station with a bear cave and bears in our sensory table. Here are a few pictures taken to capture the fun:

At one of the our art centers the children made bears. They colored the bear first, then painted glue onto the outline of a bear, and then sprinkled cocoa onto the bear. They turned out great and we displayed them on our bulletin board.

We made bird feeders for the birds that do not migrate in the winter and have trouble finding food in the cold weather and snow. We used bagels, honey, and nut-free birdseed.

On Monday, we had a great day of training at our center. We learned a lot of great ways to improve the health of ourselves and of our classrooms. We had opportunities to learn new ways of integrating exercise and movement into our school day. Danielle and I spent time changing our schedule around to accommodate more time for large movement activities. We started these changes this week. With the bitter cold temperatures we had to get creative and use our resources inside. The game we played was called "Feed the Bear." The children had to role a colored cube to determine which color berries to feed the bear. Then they ran to a tunnel which we pretended was a cave. They crawled through and on the other side they fed a pretend bear. It was a great way to practice our colors and to get up and moving!

The game was so popular that we added it into one of our table centers for the children to continue practice with sorting and identifying colors.

We used gummy bears for a fun counting and sorting game. The children had fun using this chart to sort their gummy bears. They counted the number of each color and then colored in the chart. I think they had the most fun eating the bears and picking their favorite flavor!

I wish we had room to leave the bear cave in our classroom longer....playing in a cardboard box can be one of the funnest things!

Letter of the Week Activities (ABC)

This month we have introduced a letter of the week into our weekly lessons. We introduce the letter at circle time. At the beginning of the week the children are able to bring in an item from home for show and tell. We are loving this activity because it provides them with experience talking and sharing ideas. They are often very excited to show their special item and we add it to our list of words that begin with the letter. Here are some photos from our show-and-tell:

After spending time learning about each letter sound and making a word list the children have time to experience writing and tracing the letter using a variety of writing tools. We have also had them build the letter with play dough or drive a toy car over the letter for fine motor practice and to build pre-writing skills. Here are some pictures of the children working with the letter "A" during our centers:

Each week the children are creating a page for an ABC book that will be made at the end of the year. For the letter "A" we painted with apples:

For the letter "B" we cut out the letter and then glued buttons:

For the letter "C" the children made car tracks:

We are having so much fun exploring the alphabet together and incorporating it into our play and activities. We will be sure to keep you updated.
These last pictures are from our birthday celebrations that took place during the letter "B" week!

Winter activities

After returning from Christmas break and celebrating the New Year we have been having a lot of discussions about winter. We decorated snowman using collage materials after reading the book Snowballs by Lois Ehlert.

We also decorated paper snowmen using markers and our artwork is display around the town of Whitney Point. Here is a list of local businesses on Main Street where you can find our pictures. We encourage you to take a walk or drive through town and try to find your child's picture!

-Dominic's Pizza

-Merriam Accounting

-Rural Health Network

-Physical Therapy

-Dr. Office on Main Street

-RHSC (Branch of Rural Health Network)

-Decker Real estate

-Rite Aid Pharmacy

-Nationwide Insurance

We also enjoyed reading the story, The Mitten by Jan Brett. At one of our centers the children were working hard to make two matching mittens. 

We used cotton balls in our sensory table to shovel snow. For large motor play, we also put cotton balls on our parachute and worked together to throw the snowballs into the air and off the parachute. It was a popular game!

We have spent time focusing on reviewing our colors and shapes through recognition games including Bingo.

 We have been incorporating a letter of the week into our daily activities. I will be posting updated pictures of our alphabet progress soon!