We've been knee deep in all things winter the past few weeks in kindergarten! When we went back to school, the weather was miserably cold here, so the kids really got to feel what winter is. Even though snow is rare for us, we still love incorporating snow and snowmen in our winter learning!
We started by reading Snowmen at Night {always a favorite!}. Then, we made snowmen to the way we thought they would if they had spent the night having fun and wrote about what our snowmen would do.

We also talked about snowmen in general and what my kids thought about them then made these torn paper snowmen that I love! {You can see the original idea at The Elementary Art Room}

We also read Sneezy the Snowman and talked about things that are good for snowmen and things that aren't good for a snowman. We attached our writing to these snowmen that I *very* quickly threw together {they aren't great, but the kids loved them!}.

In math, we also used snowmen to help us learn about non-standard measurement and measurement vocabulary. We each compared ourselves to our class snowman to see if we were the same height, shorter, or taller. This really helped the kids with the vocabulary as so many of them started by wanting to say that they were "bigger."

 Then, we talked about how we can use items in our classroom to measure objects. We started by measuring an alphabet chart with cubes, then we painted snowmen and measured to see how many cubes long they were. I was amazed at how well my kids did with making sure the cubes were lined up with the top or bottom of the snowman since this was our first time working with measuring on our own.

 Another area we worked on in math was graphing. I really try to do one graph at least every 2 weeks. We graphed whether we liked winter or not and before we did our data sheets, I had the kids talk with their partner about the data on our graph. Then, I wrote some of what they notice. I've really worked hard this year to do this with every graph - instead of just asking questions like, "Which was the most/least, etc." I have the kids generate thoughts about the data. Then, we filled in our individual data sheets. I love the sheet that says "The data didn't get all the way to the top!"  {This is part of my winter pack}

And on a completely different note, like many other classes, we made our New Year's resolutions. One of my sweeties has a brother in 3rd grade and apparantly, they're working on multiplication because she and some of her friends decided to resolve to learn their times tables! I was rolling!

Next week, we're moving on to penguins and I'm so excited! The kids really start loving informational text with that unit! Have a great weekend friends!

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Vickie

I can officially now say that I've had a snow day! {Well, 2 actually}

The weather here has definitely been crazy and my family and friends in Birmingham and Atlanta are still having a time getting home and to their abandoned cars! My sister, who is in Birmingham, ended up spending the night at my niece's daycare and my sweet friend Angela spent the night at her school! Definitely a wacky week!
While I've been home, I've been prepping my groundhog activities. I'm going to try to cram as much as I can tomorrow, and we'll keep using the centers next week. Here's a peek at what we'll be doing {excuse the floor...we were playing and prepping at the same time!}.

We'll learn about groundhogs and Groundhog Day with these fact sheets {I'll also project these onto our screen} and student readers.

We will also make a class graph of our groundhog prediction...I wish I would have brought chart paper home to make the header!

The kids will also start some new workshops. I have a few kiddos still working on matching letters, who will use this center.

Some will work on identifying beginning sounds/letters by picking a card and writing the letter that stands for the first sound in the word.

 The kids will also continue to work on spelling CVC words.

We'll also continue to identify beginning blends.

In math, we'll also start some new math centers.
In each pack I make, I include ten frame and numeral cards. I love these because I can do so much with them! This week, the kids will use them to practice counting on and making 10.

We're also going to continue to practice our addition facts to 5.

And, since base 10 is still giving us a little trouble, I'm hoping this center will hekp.

If you think you could use any of these activities with your sweeties, you can get them in my Groundhog Games pack. If you already have it, be sure to download the updates!

I'm hoping that it will warm up a little and I can go get the stuff to make these cute cupcakes.

{Idea from Little Giraffes}

I'm off to try to get a little housework done and be productive the rest of this snow day {or we may just stay in our jammmies and play!}. Hope you're safe and warm wherever you are!

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Vickie

Whew!! Last week was a whirlwind!! My little one started daycare the week we came back to school and of course last week, ended up sick and out of "big girl school" the whole week! Luckily, she finally started feeling better this past weekend and was able to go back to school yesterday. I'm praying we make it through this month with no more sickness!

{Even sick, she still loves her books!}

In class last week, we talked about animals in winter and focused on the book The Mitten, by Jen Brett. This is one of my favorites! Of course, we sequenced the story together after we read it, and then the students did an independent sequencing {that I forgot to take a picture of!}.

{You can get the whole group and individual activities in my Winter Sequencing Pack}

As usual, we tied in our story to math and the kids loved all of the activities. {Most of these are from Deeanna's Mitten Pack}.
We worked on decomposing teen numbers into a group of 10 and some more by using a clothesline that only had 10 pins. I dropped a group of mittens on the floor and two kids hung ten mittens on the line. Then, we counted to see how many were left on the floor. We wrote equations to figure out how many mittens we had alltogether.

We also worked on the same skill by singing a song about Grandma Baba's mittens. We started with a group of ten, then added a certain number more to the bottom and wrote the equations to figure out how many mittens we had.

I think the thing my kids loved most last week was measuring each other with mittens. They did a great job lining the mittens up, making sure we started at the person's feet, etc. It was a hoot!

We also read The Hat, by Jen Brett and sequenced the story together and independently. You can get this here as a freebie {I didn't have a goose/gander, so I used a duck!}.

To add to our winter animal fun, we read Bear Snores On and made these adorable hibernating bears from sweet Michelle...love them!

This week we're on to penguins and we're already having so much fun!

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Vickie