snow and ice!

Lots to do this week! We got to meet our new friends, Pokey & Gumby! I can't wait to see what adventures you have during your week! We also got our learning rings on our bags this week...we will begin checking them next week!
Now onto the super cool stuff we did in class this week. We learned about snow and ice. We were able to tie in the number 6 with the number of sides snowflakes typically have. We also made ice crystals of our own and were able to examine them up close! We worked on the letter Ii as well.

Thursday:
After Reading, Sneezy the Snowman  we made a Sneezy of our own.

This was a fun activity. I had mixed: glue, white paint, and shaving cream together. I then gave the kiddos a simple instruction of painting 3 circles to make the body of the snowman.

We then glued on the parts he needed to make the snowman.

I loved their interpretation of a snowman...super cute!

Oh my goodness! Oh so big! I think he is eating his Wheaties! 

Boys need their hair done too! This pictures is one to save! 

Mastering the letter Ii hunt...He's got this!

Number Sense work with the number 6! We worked on tracing the number and counting out. I once again worked on modeling how to count before I grab...counting 1 piece at a time.

Look at that wonderful pencil grip!

Check out those master counters!

Perfection!

Science time...Let's make some crystals!

Even parts of Epson Salts and Warm water

We added just a bit of food coloring to emphasize the crystals...

We then needed to refrigerate them over night so the crystals could "grow"

 Friday:

After reading a cool non-fiction book about snow and snowflakes...we made snowflakes of our own. We counted the 6 sides first!

Such a great fine motor skill....picking these beads up one-by-one is a bit challenging...and then stringing them on is one tough job! But these kiddos are amazing...and their little fingers are getting super strong and coordinated!

Our new rock wall!
There are so many benefits to this wall...coordination, upper body strength, problem solving skills! Plus the best part...they LOVE it!

Mrs. Laura LOVES to help these sweet kiddos too!

Here are a few other NEW Minds-In-Motion items we have recently added to our room...

We continued with Jan Brett's The Mitten.
The kiddos worked on retelling and sequencing the story.

You can let them practice showing you at home!

Melting ice! We learned that salt and warm water work great with melting ice cubes.

Plus...Yup...You guessed it!! An awesome fine motor skill!

Name work!
Every kiddo is on a different page with learning their name...and that is ok! There are ways you can modify to help them learn and make it fun.

With this kiddo I wrote his name at the bottom of the page... then he used the letters in his name to put them in the proper order....if he got stuck he checked his name at the bottom of the page.

With this kiddo..I wrote his name larger where he would put the snowman's body... and he matched the circles with the letters on it to it.

This kiddo didn't need me to do either...
I then stapled the letters for the snowman to the sheet so they could model it for you at home.

The crystals are ready for us to revisit!

We got out the magnifying glasses to take a closer look.

Super cool!

What a fun week!

Penguins, Polar Bears, Oh My! Learning about winter animals!

As always our 2 days just seem to fly by. We did so many fun things while learning about winter animals...penguins don't fly and polar bears don't hibernate! We also did a fun retelling of the story, The Mitten, by our author of the month, Jan Brett. This is so fun and I will continue it into next week's theme as well. For number sense we continued with the number 6 and for word study we worked on the letter Bb.

Thursday:
We read a fun story, Where's is Home, Little Pip? After we this sweet story about a sweet little penguin getting lost...we made cute little penguins of our own. I loved seeing their own sweet styles when gluing them together. This was also great for following 1-2 step directions. We also pulled in some fun non-fiction information about penguins as well.

 

Great job sweet buddies!

We had special visitors from a Karate Place off of Charlestown Rd. Be sure to check their folders for a month month free coupon! Karate is great for so many things...discipline and fine motor skills just to name 2!

awesome flexibility!

Such a great listener!

Speaking of polar bears...let's bear crawl!

Get it sweet girl!

POW!!!!!!!

Even sweet princesses can kick! 

Letter Bb letter hunt. 

letter Bb dot sheet...then off to play with our friends!

6 is for 6 sliding penguins. This was a great time not only to count...but to cut as well. Our class has done an amazing job with learning their scissor grip. As we will continue to grow at school you can continue to work with them at home! Some great things to have them cut: yarn and play-doh.

Look at that hold! He is rocking cutting up those penguins.

She is putting a smile on my face just watching her cut with such perfection!

After listening to Jan Brett read, "The Mitten" We practiced retelling the story in a fun way. The parachute represents the mitten and the kiddos represent the creatures in the story that get into the mitten.

Each animal makes room for the next...

Getting ready for the little mouse to tickle the bear's nose...and then...Ahhhhhh-Choooo! The creatures fly out!

Friday:
We read, Polar Bear, Polar Bear What do you Hear? By Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by one of our favorites, Eric Carle.

I went around and asked the kiddos what did they hear? After they responded We used coconut flakes to make our polar bear fluffy.

Love the sharing! We have such a sweet group of kiddos!

I think he looks pretty proud of his work! Awesome job Love!

Blue paint, blue paper,  and (fun paint) brushes...make brilliant art work!

Making the letter Bb 4 different ways! We can do more than paper pencil work to make learning fun and educational. Some fun ways to make letters at home: shaving cream, noodles, sand, screen writing, magnadoodles, and the list could go on! Make learning hands-on...this type of sensory learning will allow the kiddos to retain making the letters! 

What an awesome week! I look forward to the snowman theme next week!