Let it Snow! (O, 12, White)

Our theme last week was"Let it Snow!" We focused on the letter O, number 12 and color white.

  

We read this week: Snow Day by Betsy Meastro
                               Curious George in the Snow by Margret and HA Rey
                               Polar Opposites by Erik Brooks
                               A Silly Snow Day by Michael Coleman
                               The Snowman by Raymond Briggs

Our question of the week was "What is your favorite thing to do in the snow?"

For our theme of the week, we talked about some cold related things related things.

Using oranges (also works for "O") we made snowmen! Our art closet was out of puffy and glitter paint, which is usually what we would use to decorate the snowmen. A little bit of macaroni and googly eyes came in handy. =]

We had a freeze dance party too!

We talked about the color white, and we sang "We Love White" to the tune of "3 Blind Mice"

"We love white, we love white.
That is right, that is right.
Clouds above and milk and glue,
Santa's beard, snow and ghosts say BOO!
Bunnies and paper are white too,
We love white"

When we focus on a color I love to do "color hunts" in our classroom. Each child takes a turn to walk

around the classroom and bring back something that they found that is brown. The tricky thing is that they have to bring different things, no duplicates allowed! Here is what we found for the color white.

We brainstormed together a list of all the different things that are white. We came up with quite a list.

The school had a white shirt day too. Yay, school spirit!!

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 12.

I made these worksheets that reinforces the one to one concept. The kids practice writing the number and have to color a square for each picture that they see.

We played the games "1,2,3" and "Pop". These are both great quick games for the kids to play, and they help them count. These are both from Responsive Classroom.

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter Oo from this book.

We did this worksheet that helps work on letter recognition that I got from this book.

The students wrote in their journals for the letter O. "Oo is for octopus" was definitely the favorite.

We turned a O into a Octopus! This book is great, although this week I made up my own.

The kids cut and colored a book called "Ostrich's House" from this book. Behind every door there is a new animal that starts with "O"!

From the same book, we played letter o bingo. I love this bingo board because it has so many different pictures, that each child's board can be totally unique (if they don't insist on doing the exact same thing as their neighbor =])

In our gym I made an obstacle course full of climbing, jumping, sliding, skipping. Each time the kids went around, I added one more thing for them to do. They loved it!!

Using a worksheet that another teacher gave me, we practiced the short o sound. The kids have to say the name of the picture and decide if it is a short o. If it is, they have to write an "o" on the line.

For our alphabet wall we colored owls to put in our nests from last week.

Here are the words we came up with this week!

A last week I mentioned my math boxes for counting projects. I did a bit of reorganizing this week and turned the original math containers into crayon boxes when for when the kids work with me in a small group. I found these awesome smaller containers at the dollar store this week. They stack wonderfully, and i was able to add more. =]

Up next week: "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and having an alphabet review.

Hibernation! (N, 11, Brown)

Our theme for last week was "Hibernation" and we focused on the letter Nn, the number 11 and the color brown. I have to say after all the short weeks and holidays, it feels SO GOOD to get back into the swing of our routine. =]

  
We read this week: Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
                               Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson
                               Curious George's Dream by Margret and H.A. Reys
                               Corduroy by Don Freeman
                               Bear's Loose Tooth by Karma Wilson

Our question of the week was "How long would you like to hibernate?" It fit perfectly with our theme this week, and some of the answers were so funny!

For our theme of the week, we talked about hibernation and sleep!

We met a bear! I am not a supporter of hunting, but it was interesting to see how the kids remembered what we had talked about in relation to the bear (claws, fur, nose).

We pretended to be grizzly bears. We talked about what they do throughout the year, foraging, hunting, playing and hibernating. I called out the seasons of the year and the children changed heir activities. They had so much fin looking for a "cave" to hibernate in when I called out WINTER!

With white and black paint and a little glitter, we painted polar bears! I love how each child did it a little different. So fun!

We talked about the color brown, and we sang "3 Brown Bears" to the tune of "3 Blind Mice"

"Three brown bears, three brown bears.

See all their beds, see all their chairs.

The Mommy cooks in a big brown pot.

The Daddy's porridge is much too hot.

The Baby bear always cries a lot.

Three brown bears."

I found it here.

When we focus on a color I love to do "color hunts" in our classroom. Each child takes a turn to walk

around the classroom and bring back something that they found that is brown. The tricky thing is that they have to bring different things, no duplicates allowed! Here is what we found for the color brown.

When we worked on our number activities, we practiced writing the number and word for the number 11.

I made these worksheets that reinforces the one to one concept. The kids practice writing the number and have to color a square for each picture that they see.

We drew 11 balls for an elephant named Elmo to juggle.

For our letter activities, we used our handwriting sheet for the letter Nn from this book.

We did this worksheet that helps work on letter recognition that I got from this book.

The students wrote in their journals for the letter N.

We turned a N into a Nightcrawler! This book is great.

We made a short book all about "In The Nest" that I got from this Mailbox book.

Painting with noodles was super fun!

Using pictures of different food, we discussed as a group and sorted them into healthy/not healthy groups. It was a great way to start talking about nutrition.

Practicing writing the alphabet Aa-Nn was a good way to review the letters that we have already talked about.

Using old magazines, we made number collages. This is a challenging activity because of it's steps. Looking on the pages for numbers, cutting them out and then gluing them.

For our alphabet wall we used q-tips to paint nests. I love the "stripey" effect that the q-tip gets.

Here are the words we came up with this week!

Up next week: "Let it Snow!" and focusing on the letter Oo, white and 12.

Winter Numberland!

Our theme for the last week of December was "Winter Numberland". Because our school had a half day for New Years Eve and was closed for New Years Day, we did not talk about a letter, number or shape. *We also had a snow day because of storm Hercules, so we did not get to do all of our planned activities.* Yikes! It was such a short week, only 2 1/2 days!

  

We read this week: Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 by Bill Martin Jr.
                               1, 2, 3 To the Zoo by Eric Carle
                               How Do Dinosaurs Count to 10 by Jane Yolen
                               1-2-3 Peas by Keith Baker

We also got to compare December weather from 2012 and 2013. I love doing this, and so do the kids. It's really cool how they are starting to look more at the weather patterns rather than just the actual paper or colors.

Our question of the week was "What is your wish for the new year?" This kids had fun thinking about their answers during morning meeting. What they answered then, they wrote in their journals too.

Our song of the week was "The Months of the Year" I remember singing this when I was little too. To the tune of "10 Little Indians"

"January, February, March and April,

May, June, July, August and September,

October, November and December,

These are the months of the year!"

For our theme of the week, we did a lot with numbers!
We started off the week by painting with number stencils. The kids had fun painting on their numbers and then asking what they had created.

This was a challenging activity, but we worked through it! We used the letter clues in the number words to figure out what number it was. I was so proud of my kids on this one, even though it was super tough, they stuck through and were really happy with themselves when they finished.

We sang the song "5 Little Ducks" by Raffi. When we do this we make little duck puppets and then act out the song while we sing. It's so fun to quack!

To celebrate New Years Eve, we played Bingo with a board that I created.

*I just had to share this project. Another class in the school did it and I think it's so cute!*
The teacher cut out the outline of an elephant for the kids to color, and then used noise makers for the trunk. What a cute project for New Years!

We also practiced counting backward from 10. To help with this I used my math "junk boxes". I got this idea from here. Basically I went to the dollar store and bought some small containers, then I filled them with small items: beads, legos, fun erasers, pieces of ribbon, etc. We pull these out whenever we want to quick count something or practice our addition and subtraction beginning skills. UPDATE: I changed the actual containers and they're so much more compact! See them here.

Singing "10 Little Monkeys" is also a fun way to practice counting back from 10.

We made Fruit Loop necklaces with some cereal and yarn. I taped off one end of the yarn so it would be easier for my kids to string the cereal.

To get the blood pumping, we practiced counting with hops! My kids had so much fun doing that they wanted me to call out 100 so they could hop 100 times! I was a little tired by that point so we only went as high as 30.

*Here is an update on our pumpkins! We planted them the week of Halloween*
I've been watering them , and I'm a little sad to say that the plants that sprouted out of the first pumpkin all died. =[. On the other hand, the second pumpkins sprouts seem to be doing marvelously. I just hope they can stick it out! Any tips?

Up next week, we're back in the swing of things: "Hibernation", the letter Nn, number 11 and brown!