Adaptation

To end the week our centers and read alouds focused on how animals survive in winter.  Today's story was titled Animals in Winter.  Have you ever seen a butterfly in the snow?  Probably not. Butterflies can't survive cold weather, so when winter comes, many butterflies fly to warmer places. They migrate. Woodchucks don't like cold weather either but they don't migrate; they hibernate. Woodchucks sleep in their dens all winter long.   Some animals like snowshoe hares and squirrels have to adapt to winter by storing food.  Other animals like deer adapt to winter by eating the berries and bark on bushes.


During today's centers the children played a number recognition spinner game.  They each took a turn spinning. They identified the number the spinner landed on and dotted it on their squirrel recording sheet.  The first squirrel to collect all of its nuts for the winter won.  The children also cut out a tree trunk.  Glued it onto a piece of paper, and added a squirrel and nuts inside.  The tree provided the squirrel with shelter and a food storage space for winter.

Today the children also voted on their favorite animal from the story The Hat.  The animal that received the most votes was the pig.  Receiving the fewest votes was the goose and the hen.

 

Today the weather was on our side.  The sun came out just as we were getting ready to go outside.  This was great news, for we were able to go sledding as a reward for filling up our warm fuzzy jar as a class.

Winter Clothes

To begin this week we will continue to focus on winter clothes.  Today our read aloud was titled Froggy Gets Dressed.  Rambunctious Froggy hops out into the snow for a winter frolic but is called back by his mother to put on some necessary articles of clothing.

One item of clothing that we tend to wear in winter is a sweater.  For one of the independent centers the children went on a sweater search.  I hung sweaters around the classroom.  Each sweater had a matching capital and lowercase letter written on it.  The children had a clipboard and recording sheet that they used to keep track of which sweaters they found.  For the children who know all of their letters I glued three pictures on the sweater.  They listened for the beginning sound of the pictures and recorded the letter that they started with.

At my center the children cut out a jacket.  We worked on making the connection that jacket starts with J,j.  The children then cut out a circle face and drew facial features on it.  Lastly, they used pom poms to make a pattern and glued them on for buttons.

We did not get to make our hat graph today, for I am waiting for the laminated animals to come back from the district office. 

The Hat

Today our read aloud was titled The Hat by Jan Brett.  She is the same author of the story The Mitten, which we read yesterday.  While reading the story today we compared the characters in the two stories.  Some of the children noticed that there was a hedgehog in both stories.  Another child noticed that there was a horse in The Hat, but not in The Mitten.  The following is the link to Jan Brett's website.  Here you can find wonderful coloring pages to download, as well as a list of her exceptional stories.  http://www.janbrett.com/index.html

With the beginning of a new year I have planned some changes in our route.  Most days we do two centers.  Because the children are more efficient then in the beginning of the year, on some days I am going to add a third center.  This center will involve the children in letter and writing work.  Today some of the children played an alphabet bingo game with Mrs. Palmer.  With Mrs. Severson the children visited starfall.com.  We did have a power outage that has affected our computers, so the children worked in pairs at this center.  We hope to get the glitches out soon.  At my center the children sounded out the words I can and wrote the letters that matched the sounds that they heard.  They then completed the sentence with a word or two that they can do.  At this point we are just beginning to learn to write the letters for the sounds that we hear.  Not all children are ready for this stage, so my center will continually change to meet the needs of the children.

 

I have had a glitch in my blog's ability to upload pictures.  Please checkout yesterday's blog for the newly added images!!

The Mitten

Boy does it feel good to be back!  The children had a great day.  They fell right back into the classroom routine without a glitch.

To begin the month our centers will focus around the theme winter clothes.  Today we read the story The Mitten Jan Brett.  This story reminded us of the story Gingerbread Baby, which we read in November.  When a child reads we ask them to make connections.  We want them to connect the story they are reading to something familiar in their lives, another story, or even an event that has happened in the world.  We call the connections we make to other books text-to-text-connections.

After reading the story the children were broken into centers.  One center they visited was called Mitten Match.  On the wash line I hung mittens with the capital letters on them.  The children worked cooperatively to match lowercase mittens to the capitals.  When they were done they practiced writing the letters on a dry erase board.  At Miss Sue's center the children sewed a mitten together.  At one of the independent centers the children colored the characters from the story The Mitten.  We will use both the mitten and the characters to retell the story on Monday.  At my center the children journaled their age and what they like to do in school.  They then drew a self portrait.  I will use this journal to assess if they are able to draw a picture with six traits.  I will also compare it to the picture that they drew the first day of school, to see if their is growth.

Reindeer games

Today during centers the children made reindeer headbands.  To do this they cut out the outline of their hands.  They then glued them on a paper headband for antlers.  Next, they drew on two eyes.  Lastly, they glued on a red nose and added glitter glue for bling.  We will use the antlers on Friday for our reindeer games.  The children will do the reindeer poky, as well as play reindeer, reindeer, Santa.

At one of our independent centers the children played a reindeer roll and cover game.  They were each given dice.  They rolled their dice and placed the corresponding amount of cubes on their reindeer mats.  Playing games is a great way to involve your children in learning.  Here is a list of my top 5 children's games.

1.  Sequence For Kids
2.  Going to Grandma's House
3.  Monopoly Junior
4.  Zingo
5.  Candy Land

Rudolph

Today we read the following Rudolph color poem:

 

Rudolph! Rudolph!

What will you do?

You can’t guide Santa

IF your nose is

blue!

Rudolph! Rudolph!

You’re such a silly fellow,

Who will know it’s you

If your nose is

yellow!

Rudolph! Rudolph!

Your way cannot be seen

Through the wintry weather

If your nose is

green!

Rudolph! Rudolph!

Santa gave a wink,

But what will Santa think

If your nose is

pink?

Rudolph! Rudolph!

It’s time to fly at night

But you’re quite a sight

Cause your nose is

white!

Rudolph! Rudolph!

It’s time to go to town

But Santa’s wearing a frown

Cause your nose is

brown!

Rudolph! Rudolph!

Santa has his sack,

But you’re not ready

If your nose is

black!

Rudolph! Rudolph!

The children are in bed.

And now I know you’re ready

Cause your nose is
red!

 

During center time the children made their own take home book based on this poem.  The objective of this poem is to practice rhyming words.  Red sounds the same as bed they rhyme.  Yellow sounds the same as fellow they rhyme.

 

In keeping with the literacy theme the children played the Christmas stocking mystery game.  Each child took a turn pulling one item out of the stocking.  They identified the object that they pulled out.  They then decided what letter it began with. The children then put the item in the corresponding gift bag.  If your child needs extra help with beginning sounds, this activity can be easily replicated at home.  Just collect small objects around the house and place them in a stocking.

 



Children

In the wake of the tragic events that happened in Connecticut, I would like to leave you with a poem to ponder this weekend.

ABC's of Children

Submitted by: familyof3

Author: Meiji Steward

Amazing, acknowledge them.
Believable, trust them.
Childlike, allow them.
Divine, honor them.
Energetic, nourish them.
Fallible, embrace them.
Gifts, treasure them.
Here now, be with them.
Innocent, delight with them.
Joyful, appreciate them.
Kindhearted, learn from them.
Lovable, cherish them.
Magical, fly with them.
Noble, esteem them.
Open minded, respect them.
Precious, value them.
Questioners, encourage them.
Resourceful, support them.
Spontaneous, enjoy them.
Talented, believe in them.
Unique, affirm them.
Vulnerable, protect them.
Whole, recognize them.
Xtraspecial, celebrate them.
Yearning, notice them.
Zany, laugh with them

Children=our most precious gift!