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.