Today we had "snowballs" inside the Touch and Feel Pool. The kids used clothes pins to pick them up and move them around. During morning circle, the kids shared their favorite winter clothing item.
Today's book was One Mitten by Kristine O'Connell George. What can you do with only one mitten? The little girl only has one....and so she uses her imagination to pretend all the things she can do, be, and play with a single mitten. And when she finally finds the other mitten, hidden under the cat, she realizes there is a whole bunch of other things that she can do with two mittens!!
For language circle, we discussed the differences between gloves and mittens. We also learned that mittens come in pairs...or a set of two. We thought of other things that come in pairs. At the end of the circle, the kids helped identify the different clothing items and where they belong on our body to keep us warm. The kids talked about what body parts we wear each item....and some things even have different names that we can call them.
For art the kids decorated a mitten. The mitten had a raised texture and the kids loved using different colors. We reviewed the difference between gloves and mittens before cleaning up for lunch.
We started the day with geometric shapes in the Pool. The kids were making patterns, identifying shapes, and using the different colors to "mix" colors and make new colors.
Today Ms. Laura came to have music with us. We sang our hello song, and then played the bells, shakers, and drums. We learned about staying on the beat, and Ms. Laura asked us what clothes we wear in winter to keep us warm, then we shouted those things while playing the beat of the syllables on our instruments. Next, we each got a pair of different colored mittens, and Ms. Laura sang "If Your Mittens are Blue, say YAHOO!", "If Your Mittens are Red, say I LOVE TO SLED", and "If Your Mittens are Yellow, say MARSHMELLOW!". It was super fun. Then we closed our eyes and Ms. Laura handed out a surprise - colored scarves. We danced to "Let It Go" from Frozen, and flew around the room, spun, and waved the scarves over our head. We then sang about a song in our tummies, our heads, our noses, our bones, and our hearts, and what those body parts would sound like. Ms. Laura then helped us learn the words to the "Bright Light" song. It's about how we are all bright lights, perfect just the way we are!
Our book today was Boots by Anne Schreiber. This is a short story about a little girl who is putting on all her winter clothes to go outside at school and play. She puts on her boots, her sweater, her hat, her coat, her mittens, her scarf....and then we she's finally all ready.....the teacher says it's time to come back inside!
For language circle we made a list of all the different winter clothes that we could think of.....some from the book, and some that we just thought of on our own.
During art, we took snow boots and colored them. Once they were glued on a red paper, we added some "snow". We mixed shaving cream and glue to make a fluffy white mixture that looks a lot like snow.
Everyone is hoping for some snow soon!! All this talk about it, hopefully we will see some this winter!
We started the day with Wiki Stix in the Touch and Feel Pool. The kids were making all kinds of things....sleds, snowflakes, shapes, and even some letters! Very creative ways to start the morning!
Ms. Michelle was here today. She brought the parachute for some listening and following directions games. First, we listened and moved the parachute how Ms. Michelle asked us to do it. Sometimes slow, other times fast, sometimes high, other times low. We marched in a circle and then turned and marched the other way. Then we did some popcorn games with balls and scarfs. In honor of the winter theme....we ended with some cotton balls which made it look like it was snowing all over the place. There was so much laughter and excitement....it was clearly the most fun ever! Finger fun today was another "snow" recipe. Cornstarch and shaving cream....which we got EVERYWHERE! Sorry if your child's clothes are a little messy, but when they got started mixing the concoction and building and finding hidden objects....it was super hard to keep them clean!
Our book today was The Blue Mittens by Rachel Mann. Rose is super excited when she receives a package from Grandma. Inside she finds blue mittens that were her father's when he was young. They arrive just in time for the snow....but what will dad where? No worries, grandma shows up with another pair, in dad's perfect size!
For language circle we compared and contrasted mittens and gloves. They are a lot alike....both keeping our hands warm, and both coming in pairs (which we learned means a set of two). But, they have some important differences....especially when you look at the fingers!
For art we made our own handprints inside of blue mittens. The kids glued the mitten onto a yellow piece of paper....and then after painting our hands white.....we carefully.....with our fingers close together and our thumbs out.....put our hands in the mitten. By far the trickiest part was figuring out which hand was the right hand for the way that the mitten was glued down. Everyone did it different....but the finished product was super cute!
Today we started the day with a Touch and Feel pool full of letters and numbers! We have been working really hard to identify all of them, put them in order, match them with sounds, and come up with some words that begin with each one. The kids were quizzing each other, and doing a great job responding to all of our questions!
Ms. Michelle was here today with some exercise activities! We started in a circle and listened carefully to follow the directions on how to move our bodies. We tiptoed, we walked on our heels, and we marched with big knees. Then each child got a turn to "be the teacher" and demonstrate an exercise from a picture card. There were yoga poses and stretches and holds. We finished with a "calm down" exercise where you lay on your back, kick your feet on the floor and bang your hands on the floor. It gets out all the energy and grounds your sensory system. It's noisy, but the kids seemed to like it! Finger fun was stringing beads on pipe cleaners to make candy canes. Some kids made patterns of red and white, and others just picked the beads that they like best.
Our book today was Tractor Mac Saves Christmas by Billy Steers. This book is about how Tractor Mac helps during a big snowstorm. The town is super worried that they will have to cancel the tree lighting due to snow. Farmer Bill heads off to pick up the tree....but gets stuck. No worries! Tractor Mac scoops, pulls, and dumps to move the snow. He leads the way into town helping several other vehicles along the way. Everyone arrives safe and the tree lighting happens on schedule! What a Merry Christmas thanks to Tractor Mac!
After we watched some Christmas Tree Lightings on the iPad....which the children LOVED.....we made a list of all the things we could think of related to Christmas. The children came up with a great list....and I did my best to draw pictures.
For art, we took the letters of our name....all mixed up and strung them, in order, on a string like the lights on a tree. We spelled and respelled and glued until we got it just right. Then we colored all the lights different colors, just like we see on Christmas trees.
Today we had a wonderful time at the library! We left school, and walked down East Boulevard to the Lynx station. There was a lot to talk about on the way....and lots of Christmas decorations to see! The highlight of the walk there was most definitely when our Fire Station #2 friends went by and blew the horn at us!! The Lynx ride was great! Through tunnels, over traffic, and lots of people on and off. Our stop was the last stop on the tracks! We made it just in time for Family Storytime. Today's topic was DRAGONS! The librarian read three stories about dragons, we sang lots of songs....and she ended with bubbles. Before we left we took a short tour around the library, looking at the computers and the books. We were surprised to see Santa was at the library. We didn't stop to talk or take pictures....but we all said HI! The ride back to school on the Lynx was just as fun, only the kiddo knew more about what to expect. Back at school, there was only time for lunch and a few Christmas songs before it was time to go home! It was a crazy, busy, super fun day today! And the kids did GREAT!!
