Last week of Snow January 30-Febuary3

News:
-On Thursday ,we will have a pajama day. This will be related to how Peter in the snowy day starts and ends his day in cozy pj's. Sam and Stella also beginning their day in pj's before having adventures in the snow. See the notice that came home on Friday for more information.
-On Friday, we will be rooting on the Patriots for the big game.  Have your child wear a Patriots shirt or wear Patriots team colors(red, white, or blue).  We will be making special hats to bring home to cheer them to victory on Sunday.

Books This Week:
Tracks in the Snow
The Mitten (both versions will be compared this week)
Katy and the Big Snow

Small Groups For This Week:
1.Science- We will be growing crystal snowflackes. We will have to wait until the next day to see if they grow.
2. Syllables in Words- We will be clapping out syllables in our unit words to create a flip book to bring home.  Then we will play a syllable sorting game to reinforce this phonemic skill.
3. Social Studies- We will use a map of our preschool to find all of the different classrooms. We will put a sticker on each location after we find them using our maps. 
Thursday- We will create dreamcatchers for our pajama day so we can have good dreams at night.
Friday- We will create special Patriot hats

Centers
Art Table: cotton ball painting
Block Area:jungle animals (we will discuss how these animals do not hiberate because they live where it is warm all year long)
Sensory Table:snow with Katy plows to role play
Book Area: books about weather
Easel:water colors
Writing Table: writing shopping lists for winter clothes
Dramatic Play: Laundry (our winter clothes are very messy so we are making sure they are clean) Puzzles and Manipulatives: puzzles

Handwriting
We will continuing a program called Handwriting Without Tears. It's focus is on letter formation and letter awareness. This program reinforces proper grasp and trying to strenghten fine motor muscles.
This week's activities: We will continue to work on Big Curve Letters. We will also work on writing and cutting samples for our portfolios.

Preschool Manners
We will continue to work on:
-When you want something form a teacher or friend and they are doing something say, "Excuse me" , take 2 deep breaths(this will help them learn appropriate waiting time), wait for a teacher or friend to look and say yes. Then say, "May I____________?" to get what you want.

Mission Accomplished!!

Today the Cub Cadets took a survey. The children walked around the classroom during choice time and asked their friends if they like snow.  They had to find their friends name on a yes or no chart. Then they had to put an X next to yes or no depending on their answer. All of the Cub Cadets answered yes. They all said they like the snow. Everyone but Pat. She answered she did not like the snow. 
So we as a class decided we had a mission. How can we change Pat's mind about the snow?

We made a chart of all of the things we like to do in the snow. We told Pat we like to: make snow angels, go shoe shoeing, go skiing, go fast down hills, make igloos, help our families shovel, have snowball fights, make snowmen, even play winter wipe out with our brothers. 
Pat thought about it more. She changed her vote. She does like the snow. She had forgotten all the fun there is to have in the snow. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! WE DID IT!

Snow Unit: January

Books This Week:
Tracks in the Snow
The Mitten (both versions will be compared this week)
Katy and the Big Snow

Small Groups For This Week:
1.Sequencing- We will sequence a 3 and 4 step sequence. First children will sequence the steps to build a snowman. Then the sun comes out. Children will then sequence a snowman melting.
2. Animals from The Mitten activity. We will color a pair of mittens, then lace the mitten to promote fine motor skills. Then we will color and cut animals to put into our mittens.
3.Matching Letters. We will match uppercase letters to lowercase pairs using our snow vocabulary words.  We will use letter tiles in this activity.
1. More and Less. We will count then write or trace the correct amount of winter objects. Then we will compare the numbers and put katy the snowplow next to the number is more or less.
2.Book Browsing- We will compare the two versions of The Mitten. We will compare the animals that are different and the same. We will also discuss how story elements are similiar and different.

Centers
Art Table: katy in a blizzard of white paint
Block Area:building roads with blocks and cars
Sensory Table:dirt with animals to make burrows for winter
Book Area: books about weather
Easel:black paper and white paint to paint a snowstorm
Writing Table: writing shopping lists for winter clothes
Dramatic Play: winter clothing retail store (ie;LLBean winter sale)
Puzzles and Manipulatives: puzzles
Handwriting
We will continuing a program called Handwriting Without Tears. It's focus is on letter formation and letter awareness. This program reinforces proper grasp and trying to strenghten fine motor muscles.
This week's activities: We will be starting to explore Big Curve Letters such as C, G, and O.
We will be using Ipads, theraputty, and wooden curves in our HWT groups.
Preschool Manners
We will continue to work on.
-When you want something form a teacher or friend and they are doing something say, "Excuse me" , take 2 deep breaths(this will help them learn appropriate waiting time), wait for a teacher or friend to look and say yes.  Then say, "May I____________?" to get what you want.

Handwriting and Letter Play

Our program has using been using the researched based curriculum called Handwriting Without Tears. It focuses on fine motor readiness skills as well as promote the correct way to form letters and numbers.  We have been using a variety of materials to explore how letters are formed with this program.  This is a part of every day in school. The children really love it.

We use Ipad apps to promote letter writing as well. This app is called Iwrite words. It is an interactive way to have the students write letters.

We have used snow(really shaving cream) to hid letters. Then students were asked to use their pointer finger to trace the letters. This was a fun way to promote left to right progression and letter awareness.

We have HWT letters on rice trays. The children use their fingers to move the rice to reveal the uppercase letters hidden in the colored rice.

Along with these hands on activites, we use handwriting books, songs to promote letter formations(ie;"Where do you start your letters?), and building Mat Man.  He is a man that is formed using big and little lines and big and little curves. The children love him.

Snow Unit- January 17-20- No School Monday (MLK Day)

Books This Week:
Tracks in the Snow
The Mitten
Katy and the Big Snow

Small Groups For This Week:
1.Science- We will try to match animals to their tracks in the snow.  We will look at the size of their foot, how they might move, and other clues to try to guess which animal leaves the tracks in the snow.
2.Math- Game based on The Mitten. Children will be in pairs. Each child will roll a number cube then take the same number of cubes to build a tower.  The two children will compare their numbers. The child who has the bigger number will become the bear and "sneeze" or blow down all the blocks.
3.Rhyming Words from our book Tracks in the Snow will be matched.

 Centers
Art Table: Using colored ice cubes to paint
Block Area:building roads with blocks and cars
Sensory Table:dirt with animals to make burrows for winter
Book Area: books about weather
Easel:black paper and white paint to paint a snowstorm
Writing Table: writing shopping lists for winter clothes
Dramatic Play: winter clothing retail store (ie;LLBean winter sale)
Puzzles and Manipulatives: using potato masher dipped in white paint to create a snowman continued
Handwriting
We will continuing a program called Handwriting Without Tears. It's focus is on letter formation and letter awareness. This program reinforces proper grasp and trying to strenghten fine motor muscles.
This week's activities: straight line letters such as H, F, E, etc. We will use shaving cream and rice trays to form letters in and dry erase boards

Preschool Manners
We will continue to work on.
-When you want soemething form a teacher or friend and they are doing something say, "Excuse me" to get them to look at you, then you say"May I____________?" to get what you want.

Snow Unit January 9-13

Books This Week:
Good Night Baby Bear
Stella: Queen of the Snow
The Mitten
The Snowy Day

Small Groups For This Week:
1.Science- Each child will be given 2 ice cubes to observe. They will sprinkle salt on one then observe what happens.  They will draw or write what they observe.
2.Math- Creating sets of objects- Each child will be given a collection of winter objects to cut. Then they will sort and create sets of three.   Then each child will write the letters they hear in each of the winter words next to each set by listening the sounds in the word. (We call it ear spelling)
3.Class Book- We will be creating a class book about the hat we wear in the snow. Once it is complete we will be sending it home for children to share with their families.
1. Subitizing- This is a math skill that allows you to know how many objects there are without counting. We will show the children 2 or 3 objects then hide them. They will have to say how many there are without counting using 1:1 coorespondence.  The write down the number. We will see which number is written the most.
2. Memorizing Winter Clothing- This is a game that the children will see 4- 5 different winter clothing. They will cover their eyes and something will be removed.  Then they will have to guess which 1 or 2 objects were removed.
3. Sorting- Objects that we use in the snow and objects we do not use in the snow.

Centers
Art Table: Using colored ice cubes to paint

Block Area:blocks with bears to create caves

Sensory Table:ice skating rink (blocks of ice with little people to skate)
Book Area: books about weater
Easel:Picture of Stella to color
Writing Table: writing shopping lists for winter clothes
Dramatic Play: weather channel role play- we had so much fun with this we will do this again this week
Puzzles and Manipulatives: using potato masher dipped in white paint to create a snowman
Handwriting
We will continuing a program called Handwriting Without Tears. It's focus is on letter formation and letter awareness. This program reinforces proper grasp and trying to strenghten fine motor muscles.
This week's activities: straight line letters such as H, F, E, etc. We will use shaving cream and salt trays to form letters in.

Preschool Manners
We will continue to work on.
-When you want soemething form a teacher or friend and they are doing something say, "Excuse me" to get them to look at you, then you say"May I____________?" to get what you want.

Our Weather Station (Dramatic Play- Role Playing Weather Channel)

Weather Station Video Clip

Our Dramatic Play Area has been transformed into a television set featuring a weather channel. The children painted and designed an empty box to make it look like a TV. Then with props they are acting out weather reports. They are having a blast pretending to be on TV.

Here we are painting our "TV" to get it ready.

Here are also so pictures of us using boxes and fabric to make winter homes for animals during choice time.