5-Day: Badgers and Hedgehogs and Bears, Oh My!
We've continued to explore The Mitten and other wonderful Jan Brett books in 5-Day this week! The children have absolutely loved her stories and have done a fabulous job participating in our many retelling activities. This has been a great experience in literacy comprehension and the children have really made this story a part of our classroom play and activities. Please enjoy the picture of our Mitten bulletin board which is now complete in the calendar area!
The highlight of our week was the opportunity to act out the story together. We did this in two groups so that each child would have a chance to participate. As the audience listened attentively, the children played the parts of Nicki, Baba, and the curious animals climbing into the mitten to stay warm! Watch for an email to view the videos coming soon! You may also try asking your child to share the story with you using the small paper animals they decorated and brought home in a paper plate mitten.
We have begun our January Showtime and are enjoying hearing about what winter activities we most love to do. The favorite so far has been making snowmen! We look forward to hearing from everyone in the coming weeks. Other exciting classroom happenings this week included: cooperatively building an igloo using plastic trays as "ice" for the polar animals to explore; creating art projects using glue, sand, and salt; turning dramatic play into a winter wonderland with a snowflake station; and plowing 'snow' along the roads in the discovery table!
In addition to our daily calendar and weather time, we have begun sharing a "Morning Message" with the children. This is a message written on the board for us to read together and then complete a follow-up activity. Often, the message will ask a question about the alphabet or something we are doing in the classroom. This week, we focused on recognizing and finding letters to create words such as Bowen, Mitten, and Tuesday.
On Thursday, we enjoyed a special activity with the Pre-K class. We cooperated in small groups to sort the many donations for The Giving Tree. The children decided together different ways to divide the materials. After sorting everything into a category, we worked with our group to count the items. Here is what we collected:
14 Boxes
32 Things We Cannot Eat
4 Bottles
38 Cans
Thank you for your generous donations!
Reminders:
*NO SCHOOL on Monday, January 21 for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
*Please continue to send warm winter clothing to school each day! Also, a special request for MITTENS rather than gloves when possible, as they are much easier for children to put on independently and for adults to assist with as needed.
Thank you for your continual support in the 5-Day Classroom!
Kristi and Cathy
