Winter Wonderland!

I don't about you, but I'm all done with winter! To bad that groundhog saw his shadow. 6 more weeks, yuck. It's been a particularly brutal winter here in Michigan. I'm not a big fan of the polar vortex. Snow I can handle, biting cold, not so  much! Well, at least my classroom is fairly warm! 

I just wrapped up my winter unit with the kiddos. We did have some good times (inside though! The windchill was to cold to take them out. I was kinda bummed. I really wanted to make snow angels with them!) 

Below are some of the activities we did and the language targets with the lessons. The vocabulary development was a bit rocky because we had so  many snow days spread throughout the unit! 

Vocabulary: snowman, snowflake, hot chocolate, coat, gloves, hat, scarf, ice skating, snow angel, hockey, sweater, sled,  mittens, ice skates, skiing, snow, sweatshirt, snowpants, shoveling, icicles, sledding, shovel, snowball, snowboots, winter. 

I sent black and white pictures of the vocabulary cards home with the kiddos to practice. I included a hot chocolate game board and directions for a simple vocabulary review game for the families. Game board link

To open the lesson we brainstormed ideas about winter. What can we do in the winter? What do we wear in the winter? We made a chart. Then we reviewed the winter vocabulary words. 

The next day we sorted summer and winter clothes. I had saved some of my baby clothes from my own kiddos and we sorted the items. When questions and the preposition "in" were the targets for the day. 
T: When do you wear a swimsuit?
S: In the summer?

Put on/take off
I set out all the kiddos snow gear (I had sent a note home requesting all items be sent in on specific days). I called each kiddo up one at a time and gave that student a direction.
T: Put on your boots. 
T: (to a different student) Who is putting on their boots?
S: Robbie is putting on his boots!
I went around the group a few times, the we took turns taking off the items! 
I video taped the actions to use with the smartboard later!

Sledding!
No winter lesson is complete without going sledding. Sadly, we had to do this in my classroom because of the windchill. But hey, that's how we roll in teaching, flexible!!
Language goal: I will, present progressive, and
T: Ali, will you go sledding?
S: I will go sledding!
T: (to a different student) Who is sledding?
S: Ali is sledding!

I pulled two kiddos at a time for their second turn to get the conjunction "and" in there!!

Shoveling!
Same goals as sledding lesson but with the shovel. We have a blue plastic swimming pool that I filled with snow. Using a kid sized shovel, each kiddo had a turn to shovel some snow into a bucket. Then when the lesson was over, I left the pool out as a center with some gloves, shovels and buckets. The kiddos had a blast!

I have/Who has? 
Using the vocabulary cards and the bitsboard app on my ipad, we played I have/who has?
Pass out all of the vocabulary cards (keep one for yourself to start off the game). Say, I have the ice skates, (swipe the flashcard on bitsboard and ask for whatever picture comes up) who has the snowboots? 
S: I have snowboots (again swipe on the bitsboard), who has the sweater. 
This game took 2 days for the kiddos to really understand what I wanted, but then I overheard them playing a version of it during free play! I was so excited. Started taking language samples and just beamed with pride!!!

Centers
Snow painting-recipe on pinterest found here

Snow painting with watercolors, another Pinterest idea! The kiddos loved it! Find the link here, Watercolor snow painting

White playdough with glitter, the kiddos loved that too! 

We made our snackmats with black paper and chalk drawings this time. We made snow pictures. I loved how they turned out!

Marshmallow snowman-using an outline of a snowman, kiddos glue mini marshmallows on the line. 

Coffee Filter snowflakes, found the idea on pinterest sorry no pictures of my own!
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/94575660899008398/

Paperplate snow hats found this on pinterest and it turned out super cute! I used cotton balls instead of paper.  Paper plate hat

Here is the link to my winter board on Pinterest for other ideas! 

Happy winter!!

Christmas Crafts

We have been busy crafting this week. It is about the only thing that will hold their attention! Below are 2 simple crafts I like to make. The stocking I have been doing for years now. The Santa come home with my youngest daughter and I liked it so much, I decided to make it in my classroom! 

The stocking is simply cut from red paper. You will  need 2 per kiddo. Then hole punch together. I cut a string about twice the size of the stocking. Tie a knot in the first hole and wrap tape around the other end. Let the kiddos lace the stocking. Add stretched out cotton balls to the top and decorate! Don't forget to have the kiddos write their name on the front of the stocking :)

The Santa is super easy! Cut red triangles, glue a folded coffee filter to the bottom. Have the kiddos draw a face. Cut strips in the coffee filter for Santa's beard. Then glue cotton balls on the hat. Done and super cute!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

S'morenaments

We finally made it to the last week of school. I don't know about you, but the full moon and the excitement of Christmas is about to do in my kiddos! I think they will burst soon. I am thankful tomorrow is Friday and the last day before break. It couldn't have come soon enough!

I wanted to share with you the parent gift my kiddos made this year. I know its a bit late, but you can have it for next year! I have one kiddo who doesn't celebrate Christmas, so I wanted something that all the kiddos could make. We made S'morenaments! (I can't believe it but  my hubby came up with that!)

I think they turned out really cute. I used a large sheet of brown foamie paper and foamie marshmallows. I was super excited when I found these. I found them a while ago and have been trying to come up with a reason to buy them! I added the small sticker photo from the kiddos school pictures and make a s'more ornament. The tag says "Spread S'more Love!" And that was it! Super easy (and cheap!) I did use the special foamie glue this time and it does work :) Sorry the final picture is a bit blurry, camera issues that day. Not sure if it was the camera or the operator! 

Advent Calendar

What a busy and fun time of year! Currently in my classroom we are reading one of my favorite stories, The Gingerbread Man! Check out my post of gingerbread man activities here. I do many of the same things each year. I will add a few new ones this year and will post pics soon (saw a cute idea in the hallway and plan on stealing that idea!). 

Today, I want to share with you something I did with my two girls at home. We love activities and crafts in my house and this advent calendar was a great way to combine both. I searched a few ideas on pinterest and ending up combining  a few I found. 

To make the calendar I used the following:

24 clothespins

24 envelopes with tags (I found mine at Target in the Christmas tag aisle. There were 12 in each package and cost about $4 each)

Liquid glue

Glitter

Activities

I used my Cricut cutter to make the numbers and glued the numbers on each envelope. I did a pattern of green and red. My 6 year old is really into patterns right now! 

Next, I sat down with our December Calendar and picked the activities based on what we had going each night. So if we were really busy, I picked an easy activity for that night. 

Last, we made the glitter clothespins! I found a few links on Pinterest. One said to use double sided tape but I didn't like the results. I used good ol' Elmer's liquid glue. I bought green, red, sliver and gold glitter. We did our shaking in a shoebox lid to contain the glitter mess :) 

Here is my list of activities. Some of the items have links to Pinterest where I found the ideas/things to print. 

Happy Holidays!

Advent Calendar Ideas

1. buy a toy to donate

2. Make a paper plate wreath

3. Snowball fight with cottonballs

4. Read a Christmas Story

5. Pick stuffed animals to donate: Stuffed Animals for Emergencies is an organization that accepts gently used stuffed animals, small toys, books and blankets. 

6. Watch Frosty

7. Decorate Christmas cookies

8. Christmas tree footprint craft

9. Make Christmas card for a friend

10. Write letter to Santa

11. Color Christmas pictures-Grinch and Who Christmas tree

12. Christmas Tree bowling

13. Go to a friend's house

14. Decorate Christmas tree

15. Go see Santa

16 Paint nails red and green

17. Make a gingerbread book (I found mine on TpT. Sorry for some reason I forgot to pin it!)

18. Watch Mickey's Christmas Carol

19. make a Christmas craft

20. Drive around neighborhood to look at lights

21. Gingerbread houses

22. Make gingerbread man cookies (I use the Betty Crocker bag mix. Super easy!)

23. Snowmen milk jugs

24. Open special presents (pjs!)

Here are the links to the advent calendars I found:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/94575660898791424/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/94575660898833498/

I did keep a hand written copy (in cursive) on the fridge of our activities so I could check it and make sure I was prepared for the evenings activity! 

Good luck and have fun with your family this holiday season!!

. 

Ants in the Pants!

I don't know about you, but my kiddos get antsy through out the day! Sitting and listening and talking all day is tough work for a 4 year old. So I created a "Brain Break Box." When I notice the kiddos getting the wiggles, I pull out the box and away we go! I am ALWAYS amazed at how much more focused they are after a quick 5 minute movement activity. It's a great way to get gross motor in, crossing the mid-line and just some good ol' fashioned fun!

I used 2 cans, one marked "To Do" and one marked "Done." I put the activities on sticks and put all of the sticks in the "To Do" can. I also assembled the materials for all of the activities and keep those in the box as well. This makes it easy to grab and I'm not searching for items when the kiddos are already restless!

I searched on Pinterest for some ideas and added some of my own. Below is my list and pictures of my box.

Some activities are found here at my Pinterest board. 

1. The Big Push

2. Hand Pushes

3. Ball Walk

4. Sid the Sloth video is found here on my Pinterest Board.

5. Seasame Street Video is found here on  my Pinterest Board

6. 5, 4, 3, 2,1 -5 jumping jacks, 4 spins, 3 hops,2 skips and 1 walk around the room.

7. The Hokey Pokey

8. Find it fast-call out a number, shape, color

9. Simon Says

10. Dance with ribbons

11. Animal Movemets

12.Instruments with Music

13. Bean Bag Toss

14. Run in place for 10 seconds repeat. 

15. 5 jumping jacks-repeat 5X

I would love to hear your ideas for getting the wiggles out! Please share, so I can add to my box. 

It's Already October!

I can hardly believe that it is already October! I haven't been on this blog since school started up in August and I am sorry. The start of the year was CRAZY!! Four days into the new school year, I moved rooms all while teaching!! It was very stressful. Then I had to establish the routines all over again in the new space and now before I know it, its the 24th of October! I promise I will be better this year and back on track.

We started our Fall unit this past week. I love fall. It is my favorite season. 

The vocabulary focus for this unit is: red, green, yellow, orange, brown, rake, raking, leaf pile, trunk, branch, squirrel acorn, scarecrow, leaves and tree.

Last week we read "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves." The kids just love this book! They think it is hysterical that she swallows all of those things! As a follow up lesson we did a sequencing page. We colored the objects by listening for directions. Then we glued the pictures in order.

To get the free printables click here

We also took a nature hike around the school. We went looking for tree trunks, leaves, branches etc. The kiddos just love it! Everyone gets a clipboard and has to color in the picture as we find it. I wish I could remember where I got this from, but I don't sorry!

The following day we reviewed the nature items we collected and made sensory jars. Oh how fun that was!! The kiddos were very excited. This was a language lesson. The focus was "I will put a ___________ in the jar." Each kiddo had to say what they wanted to put in the jar. I found the sensory jar idea on Pinterest. Find it on my board here.

To fill the jars put the nature items in first. Then add 1/3 cup vegetable oil and fill the rest with water colored yellow! 

At the writing center the next day, we drew pictures of the jars. 

Happy fall!

Iciscles

It is winter here in lovely Michigan and it is COLD!! In my classroom we have been talking about winter items and we read The Mitten. One of my fellow teachers is also teaching winter and had this wonderful idea about teaching icicles. She allowed me to take pictures and post about here!

First, she had the kiddos cut large triangles from foil. Then she had the kiddos add glitter for the shine! I loved how the icicles turned out. She used the icicles to decorate her bulletin board.