BearSnores On by Karma Wilson

The children "read" and re-enact the book Bear Snores On in the dramatic play area.

Animal tracks

The children made animal "tracks" by walking their plastic animals through the play dough.

Winter Wonderland

We have transformed the block area into a winter wonderland. The addition of the white sheet and cotton balls as snow will change the children's thinking and the way they interact and play with the materials.

The Snowy Day

We read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. It is about the adventures of a young boy named Peter on a snowy day. The children painted a snowy scene, inserted Peter, and finished the sentence, "On a snowy day, I would..." This activity combines literacy, the arts, and engages their imagination.

Tracks In The Snow

We read the book Tracks In The Snow by Wong Herbert Yee. The children used plastic animals and white paint to make their own tracks.

Tracks In The "Snow".

We are discussing how animals survive the winter. They do one of three things: adapt, migrate or hibernate. This week, we are talking about animals that adapt and stay active in the winter. The animal activity leaves footprints or tracks in the snow. The children made animal tracks on white paper. We used cut out sponge animal tracks and ink pads. They had a blast!!

Snow Play Inside

We brought some snow inside to extend the children's experience with it.

Lion’s Club Vision Screening

The ladies of the Lion's Club visited today to check the children's vision. You will receive a letter from them in a few weeks sharing the results of the screening.

Ms. Pam’s Visit

Ms. Pam read Pablo in the Snow by Teri Sloat during her visit to our classroom today.

Illness

There has been a confirmed case of the flu in another afternoon classroom. Here is some information from the school nurse:

There has been a child diagnosed with the flu in an afternoon preschool class. Unlike the common cold, the flu can cause serious illness and can be life-threatening. The flu is suspected if there is a sudden onset of a high fever, cough, and fatigue. Contact your child’s pediatrician if you suspect the flu. 

It’s not too late to get a flu shot! In addition to getting your flu shot, simple everyday actions can help stop flu in its tracks - wash your hands, cover your cough, and stay home if you're sick. The flu spreads from person to person when an infected person coughs or sneezes. You can help limit the spread of illness by teaching your child to cough or sneeze into their elbow. Students need to stay home at least 24 hours after a fever has resolved, without fever reducing medication (ie Tylenol or Advil) and often need extra days of rest with the flu to recuperate. Please help prevent the spread of flu to other students and staff members by keeping sick children home. 

January Song Lyrics

Greeting: The Mitten in the Snow

The Mitten in the snow.

The mitten in the snow.

Help us please so we don’t freeze.

The mitten in the snow.

_____ squeezes in.

_____ squeezes in.

Help us please so we don’t freeze.

The mitten in the snow.

Grizzly Bears Are Sleeping

Grizzly bears are sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.

Grizzly bears are sleeping in the woods.

Please be very quiet, quiet, quiet.

Please be very quiet in the woods.

Wake them very gently, gently, gently.

Wake them very gently in the woods.

Grizzly bears are ________, ________, _________. 

Grizzly bears are ________ in the woods.

Actions: jumping, spinning, clapping, crawling, etc End with sitting.

Bear is Sleeping (sung to Frere Jacques)

Bear is sleeping, bear is sleeping,

Let it snow! Let it snow!

Sleeping all the winter, sleeping all the winter,

Snug and warm. Snug and warm.

Bear is sleeping, bear is sleeping,

In a cave, in a cave.

I wonder when he’ll come out,

I wonder when he’ll come out,

In the spring, in the spring.

January Newsletter

Happy New Year! I am so happy to have your children back in class. I missed them over

break. I hope you enjoyed the vacation.

We will be talking about winter for the months of January and February. We started our

conversation with a general overview of what winter is and how the weather in winter is

different than the other seasons of the year. On the first day we were back, we made a

web of what the children’s background knowledge of winter was. The children had a lot

of good information about what “winter” means. We will do this activity on our last day of

the theme to see how much they learned during our study. Other topics we will cover during

our study will be winter clothing, arctic animals, hibernating, migrating, adapting, tracking,

and snow people. Some of our activities will use cotton balls and sugar cubes. If you have

any that you would be willing to donate, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I created a sign up genius for volunteers to come into our classroom on Fridays to play

games with the children. If you are interested in volunteering, you can bring in your child’s

favorite game or I will supply one for you to play with the kids. The free choice time in our

classroom is from 1:30-2:15. You are welcome to come in just for that 45 minutes or stay

for the afternoon with us. The sign up link is
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0F4BABAE2CAAFD0-funday 

Important Dates to Remember:
January 20th: No School for Martin Luther King Jr. Day