Snow Unit January 2-10

Here is a sneak peek of what will be happening when we start school again on January 2

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

Small Groups For This Week:
1. Story Sequencing- After reading Good Night Baby Bear, we will recall the events in the story. Then each child will cut and glue the pictures from the story in the correct order from the story.
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 two.  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. Art- We will color a picture of Stella( the character from our book). Then we will use epson salt on blue paper to look like snow.  When it is dry we will put Stella in the "snow storm".
1.Math- We will create groups of three with counters and cubes.
2. Science- Salt on Ice Experiment- We will predict what will happen to an ice cube if we put salt on top of it.  After we predict what will happen, we will put salt on top and watch.  Then we will draw a picture of what happened and talk about why.
3.Writing- We will talk about our vocabulary words with our unit books.  Then we will write the letters to form the words.

Let's Talk About It
-Winter Homes/Habitats
-Winter Clothing
-Migration/Hibernation
-Winter Safety
-Signs of Winter (Seasonal Changes)


Centers
Art Table: Decorate boxes to look like bear caves
Block Area:blocks with bears to create caves
Sensory Table: shaving cream
Book Area: books about weather
Easel: colored ice to paint with
Writing Table: writing shopping lists for winter clothes
Dramatic Play: L..LBean Winter Store (buying and selling winter clothes)
Puzzles and Manipulatives: matching different mittens

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.

Songs, Word Play, and Language
-SNOWY (A version of Bingo) "There was a day when we were cold and snowy was the weather."
-Book- When it starts to snow
-Stella Ipad App
-Syllable Tapping for vocabulary words using sticks (like Peter in The Snowy Day)
-PETER (A version of Bingo) on the touch It Board

Preschool Manners
We are moving onto our new skill.
-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 Gingerbread Show

Our show was a success! The Cub Cadets did a great job remembering their lines in our play and singing our Mat Man songs. It was wonderful to have so many family members there.  They were so proud of themselves. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break. 

December 16- 20 Gingerbread Man

-We will also be having a family celebration on December 18 at 11:45 (Our performance will begin promptly at 11:50) in the big play room in the middle of the preschool

-Thank you for sending in the HW for measuring. It was fun to share what everyone measured at home

Books this week

Gingerbread Pirates
Gingerbread Cowboys
The Group Plan

Small Groups
- Book Comparison- We will create a chart to show which characters were in the gingerbread man books and not in the gingerbread books
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-We will also be practicing for our performance and giving a performance for other classrooms

Center
Blocks-Blocks
Sensory Table- flour
Dramatic Play-  Dunkin Donuts
Library- A variety of books about gingerbread
Art Table-Making gingerbread boys and girls
Easel- Water Colors
Science Table- prisms
Puzzles- Puzzles
Manipulatives- Puzzles
Writing Center- Writing Letters

Song, Word Play and Letters
Poems- 5 little cookies, Gingerbread Gingerbread poem
Songs- gingerbread songs
Literacy Skills- Letter Sound Activities, Change and Rearrange Words

Handwriting
-We will be working on our  HWT books (We are working on Big and Little Line Letters like E,F,T,L)

Preschool Life Skills
We are continuing to review our previous skills 1-4.
1-When a teacher calls your name, stop, look and say, "Yes".
2-When a teacher tells you to do something, do it "Right Away".
3-When a teacher tells you to do 2 things, do it "Right Away".
4-When something is too hard, first try then say,"Can you help me please?"
5-When you something from a teacher or a friend and they are doing something, say, "Excuse me" to get them to look at you.

C.C.'s Adventures in our classroom

We have been very excited to see our new snowman  friend C.C. (Cold Cocoa) everyday to see what adventures he had at night.  Our snowman comes alive at night and loves playing in our classroom.  Here are some of our favorite things that C.C. has done. 

Enjoying a campfire and roasting marshmallows

Having a pizza party with his rescue hero friends

Going on a ride on a sleigh pulled by car reindeer. He even has a red nosed reindeer to guide his way.

Gingerbread Unit December 9-13

We will continue our  unit on gingerbread.  We will be reading multiple versions of stories related to the tale of the gingerbread man.  
-We will also be having a family celebration on December 18 at 
-Gingerbread Measuring Homework- December 10
- We also have a snowman named C.C. (cold cocoa) that has been visiting our classroom.  He has fun in our school when we go home.

Books this week

Gingerbread Man
Gingerbread Boy
The Group Plan

Small Groups
-Rhyming Words- We will be identifying rhyming words from our unit books then creating a chart.
-Retelling of the Gingerbread man- We will be sequencing then writing the story in our own words in child created books.  This will be a 2 day small group activity.
We will also be completing some  small group activities from last week.
We will also be practicing for our performance

Center
Blocks-Blocks
Sensory Table- water (with a gingerbread man and a fox to recreate the river in the story where the fox tricked the gingerbread man)
Dramatic Play-  Laundry
Library- A variety of books about gingerbread
Art Table-Making gingerbread boys and girls
Easel- Water Colors
Science Table- prisms
Puzzles- Puzzles
Manipulatives- Ipad apps to make cookies
Writing Center- Writing Letters

Song, Word Play and Letters
Poems- 5 little cookies, Gingerbread Gingerbread poem
Songs- gingerbread songs
Literacy Skills- Letter Sound Activities, Change and Rearrange Words

Handwriting
-We will be working on our  HWT books (We are working on Big and Little Line Letters like E,F,T,L)

Preschool Life Skills
We are continuing to review our previous skills 1-4.
1-When a teacher calls your name, stop, look and say, "Yes".
2-When a teacher tells you to do something, do it "Right Away".
3-When a teacher tells you to do 2 things, do it "Right Away".
4-When something is too hard, first try then say,"Can you help me please?"
5-When you something from a teacher or a friend and they are doing something, say, "Excuse me" to get them to look at you.

Gingerbread Measuring

Today we introduced the concept of measuring using non-standard units of measure.  We used a "gingerbread ruler" to measure how long objects in our classroom were.  Once we all learned how to use our rulers in small groups we then went to the office to see if Sandy and Deb had anything to measure. We measured Sandy's picture of her sons.  Then Deb asked us to measure her laptop.  It was too big so one the children had an idea to use another ruler next to it to count past 10.  It was a great idea.
Today we also sent home measuring homework for your child to find things at home to measure.  Have fun measuring with your child.  Please send it back to school by December 10 so your child can share their homework with their friends.



We measured staplers, paintbrushes, glue sticks, paper clip, and markers.

 We helped Sandy measure her frame of her sons.
It was 7 gingerbread long.











We also measured the cow's ear. It was 7 gingerbread long.











 We measured Deb's computer.
 It was 14 gingerbread long.  We used our gingerbread ruler of 10, then put another ruler onto the end. That is how we counted to 14.