The Wonders of Winter

  

 These last few weeks back to school from break have been all about what happens in the winter.  Our first week back we discussed weather, what we wear, what we see, and what we do.  This week we learned all about what animals do in winter. We use anchor charts to record what we are learning about the theme each week. We gather as a whole group and the students generate the ideas or the answers to the questions and I write them down.  Each day, we either add new facts/content or reread and review what's already there.  Sometimes we do some word work - finding repeated words or new sight words, other times we just reread for fluency's sake.

The one below is what we're currently working on (and I realize that 'adaptation' is spelled wrong - I plan on fixing it although I'm pretty sure the kids aren't going to say anything). When we come back to school this week, we will complete this chart by learning about migration. 

Our poems and songs have changed for the new season, of course. One of our songs, "Bear is Sleeping," we learned while creating stick puppets of hibernating animals that are mentioned in the verses. Each verse tells where the animals hibernate. 

Our other song is "Do You Hibernate?" sung to the tune of London Bridge. This song tells us what hibernation is.  Our poem (also pictured below) is about a chubby little snowman getting his nose eaten by a hungry bunny.  These daily poems and songs are building up our fluency and helping us recognize two of our new sight words: 'you' and 'for'  

 The students have been writing about winter in their journals, too.  Journal writing time is always done after and inspired by our group story time.  Some of our recent prompts include: What winter clothes can you put on all by yourself? (After reading "The Jacket I Wear in the Snow" by Shirley Neitzel): Do you like to wear mittens or gloves? (after reading "The Mitten," by Jan Brett); What do you like to do in the winter? (After reading "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats). 

 One of their favorites from our first week back came after our classmate, Savannah, was a guest reader and read.... 

I know Christmas is over, but when I have a student who is excited about reading a book all by herself (plus I didn't have anything planned....shhhh... and it is about a snowman after all) I just let it go. (Get it?)

 So, while Savannah read, I created a quick journal prompt to go with it (remember - nothing planned).  And so the students wrote about what they would do if they had a day to spend with Olaf. Dalton said he'd like to play with Olaf and go sledding . I had one child (Sarah Jo) say she would give him lots of warm hugs (awww). I wish I would have remembered to take more pics of their entries that day. They were all very unique.

So far in our second week, since we are still in the middle of it as we had two snow days, our writings have been inspired by hibernation. As you can see on Dalton's right page (above) we wrote about what we wear to bed, after reading 'Sleep, Black Bear, Sleep" (the illustrations shows different night clothes on the hibernating animals). The next day, the students wrote about the most comfortable place to sleep in their house. Oddly enough, some said the floor!

Some other ways winter has been incorporated into our learning are seen in our literacy centers and math workshops.

In this game, the students toss a bean bag onto the snowman. The number it lands closest to is the amount they have to make with the indoor snowballs. 

 They leave that amount in the ten frame. The next student to go has to either add on or take away from the previous amount to make their new number. For some, this activity is simply teaching more and less, and that we add to make more and take away when we need less. For others, it is teaching them to use mental math. They are catching on to math facts, "There are 6 in the frame and I need to to make 9. Oh! I need to add three more!" It's a really cool thing to watch and see their little wheels turning!

hot cocoa marshmallow letters in the fine motor center.

This and the next two pictures came from another blog since I forgot to take a pic of one of my kiddos doing it. 

There were some other cute ones, too; winter animals Write the Room, Roll and Add Build a Snowman, etc.  But again - I haven't been a very faithful photographer this week.  Womp, womp. 

Here are a few of our non-winter centers, though.

There are 26 Star Wars characters on their writing center board. They had to list them in
alphabetical order. (Or they could have done a Write the Room activity) 

I created this since Star Wars is a big thing with our kiddos right now and I figured they'd be ALL over it. But it proved to
be a bit too daunting of a task for many, as this was the first alphabetical order activity we've ever done. Many started it and quickly switched to the Write the Room activity. I'll keep trying, though!

The pocket chart center was new this week - this is usually the marker board center. We have been reviewing the short vowel sounds and learning about the long vowel sounds. Here, they had to sort the picture cards by listening for and identifying the middle vowel sound. 

We've watched and sang along to these music videos a lot. 

 Another way we reviewed the short vowels was with this Olaf flip book craft. We do crafts at the end of the day. Usually, they reflect the theme of the week - as you'll see in the coming pics. But this was one was on that day I had nothing planned. So, while the kids were in music, I ran with the Olaf theme that had developed earlier that day and made this for them to do afterward.  It proved to be a very effective way to review the short vowels. The kids loved it, of course, because, who doesn't love Olaf?

 Here are some of the other winter-y crafts and activities we've done these past two weeks.

 After hearing the story "Snowflake Bentley," about the man who first photographed snowflakes, the students made snowflakes with the fabulous Mrs. Shoup out of coffee filters!

After reading "The Mitten," we made some of our own!

If you can zoom in on this bad boy - you will see that these are some awesome, detailed, intricately-designed, matching mittens. I was BLOWN AWAY by their creativity and ability to make them match. 

 But my favorite craft of the week, no, entire teaching career, is this hibernating, dreaming bear. We read "The Very Cranky Bear," earlier that day. It is a story about a bear who just wants to sleep but some other animals won't leave him alone. Except for Sheep, who shaves off her wool and makes it into a pillow for him. You can see the inspiration of the story in the writing activity/craft below.  Before we began writing, the students brainstormed some words to describe the bear from the craft. We had a long list written on the board: cute, cuddly, big, black, hibernating, awesome, fuzzy, etc.  Most students ultimately chose fuzzy.  But then they had to think of what their bear was dreaming about. I was so impressed and proud of their finished work.  Every child had their own unique ideas.  They are now on display in our hallway. We will laminate them before we send them home. These are keepsakes for sure!  

This fuzzy bear is dreaming about his fox friends. (Savannah)

This fuzzy bear is dreaming about eating shrimp. (Ava)

This fuzzy bear is dreaming about MINECRAFT. (Owen)

This big bear is dreaming about learning the sight words. (Landen)

This cuddly bear is dreaming about cats. (Sarah Jo)

 So - here's hoping that we get a full, four-day week of school this week. (But I wouldn't hold your breath)! Remember you can always keep your kiddo's mind active while at home by playing board games, hide and seek (counting practice), letting them color, paint, draw, and also by letting them learn on....

www.starfall.com

pbskids.org

http://www.lexiacore5.com/
 (send me a Dojo message if you need to the login information)