This past week, our classroom was filled with leprechaun magic, rainbow adventures, and playful learning as we celebrated L is for Leprechaun Week! The excitement was palpable as students engaged in hands-on, play-based activities that incorporated literacy, math, science, and creative storytelling. Here’s a peek into the golden moments that made this week so special!
Storytelling & Literacy Fun
Each morning, we kicked off our day with a themed read-aloud. From How to Catch a Leprechaun by Adam Wallace to Jamie O’Rourke and the Big Potato by Tomie dePaola, our books sparked lively discussions and imaginative storytelling.
Letter L Writing: Students practiced forming the letter L using rainbow-colored chalk on black paper, making their letters pop just like a vibrant rainbow after a spring rain.
If I Found a Pot of Gold… This creative storytelling activity had students imagining what they would do if they stumbled upon a leprechaun’s treasure. Their ideas ranged from buying unlimited candy to sharing gold with their family—pure kindergarten magic!
A Letter to a Leprechaun: Students wrote letters asking leprechauns their most pressing questions. “Do you ever get tired of running away?” and “How do you make rainbows?” were some of our favorites!
Leprechaun Math Adventures
Math took on a lucky twist this week as we explored numbers, patterns, and measurement through our St. Patrick’s Day-inspired centers.
Counting Gold Coins – Students used gold coins for counting, addition, and even some sneaky subtraction where the “leprechaun” stole some away!
Graphing Lucky Charms – A tasty math activity where we sorted and graphed the different shapes found in Lucky Charms cereal. Who knew math could be so delicious?
Measuring Leprechaun Footprints – Using rulers, students estimated and measured tiny (and some not-so-tiny) footprints left behind by mischievous leprechauns.
Patterning with Rainbows – Beads and pom-poms helped students create colorful patterns, reinforcing early math skills in a hands-on way.
Leprechaun Traps & Engineering Fun
One of the biggest highlights of the week was our Leprechaun Trap STEM challenge! Using craft sticks, pipe cleaners, gold coins, and glue, students designed their own traps in hopes of catching a sneaky leprechaun. Their creativity was through the roof—some even designed elaborate pulley systems and hidden doors! While no leprechauns were caught, a few mysterious footprints were discovered the next morning… 👀🍀
Sensory & Small World Play
Our exploration stations brought even more magic into the classroom!
Sensory Bin: A mix of colored rice, shamrocks, and hidden gold coins provided a fun way for students to dig and discover.
Rainbow Science Experiment: Using Skittles and water, we watched as the colors swirled together, creating a mesmerizing rainbow effect.
Dramatic Play: Students created their own Shamrock Shake Cafe
Small World Play: Our tiny Leprechaun Village let students build and imagine what life might be like in a leprechaun’s world.
Leprechaun Celebration Day!
Friday was the grand finale—a Leprechaun Celebration Day! Students were greeted at the door by the mischevious leprechauns who left a big mess for them to clean up that morning. We then checked our leprechaun traps to see if we caught anything overnight. No leprechauns were caught but they did leave some chocolate coins for us. We wrapped up the week with our Leprechaun Bridge Challenge, where students worked together to construct bridges strong enough to hold a pot of gold!
As the day ended, we were left with glitter-covered tables, laughter-filled memories, and a classroom full of budding writers, mathematicians, and engineers. We took this opportunity to say goodbye to the leprechauns in the hopes that they would leave more messes for us to clean up
This week was a perfect example of how play-based, hands-on learning keeps students engaged and excited about exploring new concepts. L is for Leprechaun, but it’s also for Learning, Laughter, and Lots of Fun! 🍀🌈✨
Stay tuned for our next adventure—there’s always more magic to come in kindergarten!
This week in our kindergarten classroom, we dove into an exciting and interactive W is for Water Week! Water is such an essential part of our world, and we explored its many wonders through hands-on activities, storytelling, science experiments, and math investigations. The students were fully engaged in learning about water’s journey, its importance, and the ways we can use it wisely. Here’s a glimpse into our week of discovery!
Storytelling & Literacy Adventures
Each day, we started with a water-themed story that helped us think more deeply about how water moves and why it matters.
Monday:Water is Water by Miranda Paul helped us see the water cycle in action, setting the stage for the week.
Tuesday:The Water Princess by Susan Verde opened up discussions on access to clean water and why we should appreciate it.
Wednesday:All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon taught us about water’s journey across the globe.
Thursday:Hey, Water! by Antoinette Portis helped us identify different forms of water all around us.
Friday: We celebrated W is for worm with a Letter W craft and storytelling about water’s adventures.
Our Water Superhero Storytelling Lesson was a huge hit! Students acted out all the different ways that they could save more water using story workshop materials.
Students also practiced their Letter W Writing by painting with water and brainstorming words that start with W, such as waves, waterfalls, and wetlands. We also wrote creative stories imagining, If I Were a Raindrop…, taking on the perspective of water itself!
Hands-On Math & Science Fun
Our math and science centers flowed seamlessly into our water theme!
Counting Water Drops – Using pipettes, we carefully counted how many water droplets we could put onto a water counting page after carefully rolling a dice to see the
Estimating Water Amounts – Comparing how much water different containers could hold.
Building 3D Shapes with Ice Cubes – A frosty math challenge that reinforced geometric concepts.
Creative Exploration & Play-Based Learning
Throughout the week, students explored water in different ways through our provocations and exploration stations:
Water sensory tub – involved tropical fish, blue kinetic sand, and water rocks.
Quantity explorations – students investigated different quantities of different sized containers and how much water they could hold.
W is for Water Celebration!
On Friday, we wrapped up the week with a Water Celebration Day!
Math Tubs: Measuring Water Volume – Students experimented with different containers to see which held more or less water.
ADST: Building a Boat – Using popsicle sticks, tape, pipe cleaners, and some recycled fruit cup containers we explored makings boats and then tested them to see how many elephants they could hold before they sank.
As the week came to an end, our classroom was filled with excitement, discovery, and appreciation for water’s role in our world. Through play, storytelling, science, and creativity, students developed a deep understanding of why water is essential to life!
Next week, we dive into a new adventure, but for now, we’ll remember that every drop counts! 💦🌍
Over the past two weeks, our classroom has been abuzz with excitement as we delved into the fascinating world of Growing Things and celebrated Earth Day. It’s been a joy to see the children’s curiosity and creativity flourish during this time.
Sensory Bin Fun: We kicked off the first week with our sensory bins. Last week, we had colored popcorn for a science experiment, and this week, we repurposed the colored popcorn as a base for our flower-themed sensory bin. The children loved digging through the popcorn and pretending to plant flowers.
We had a beautiful growing things alphabet bump to play and explore with, matching the corresponding letters to the letters on the page. I love this activity as so many students gravitate towards it in spare moments during the day giving them some extra letter practice without them even knowing it.
Color Mixing: Due to a freezer mishap last week, we had some leftover colored ice cubes. Instead of letting them go to waste, we used them for a fun color mixing activity on Monday morning. The children were fascinated by how the colors blended together to create new ones.
Letter Z: This week, we’re exploring the letter Z. We read the story “Hello Zebra” and talked about all the different ways we could color our zebras for our weekly drawing project. Some students chose to stick with traditional colors, while others got creative with wild and wacky color schemes.
Friday was a day filled with fun and learning as we celebrated Earth Day with a variety of engaging stations organized by our fantastic PAC parents. The children had a blast exploring and participating in the different activities, all centered around the theme of environmental awareness and conservation.
One of the highlights of the day was the obstacle course, where the children had the opportunity to navigate through various challenges that taught them about the importance of overcoming obstacles in our efforts to protect the Earth.
Another exciting station was the salmon talks, where the children learned about the life cycle of salmon and the importance of protecting their habitat. This hands-on experience helped deepen their understanding of the interconnectedness of all living things.
The bridge painting station allowed the children to express their creativity while also learning about the significance of bridges in connecting communities and preserving natural habitats.
The recycling games were not only fun but also educational, teaching the children about the importance of recycling and how it can help reduce waste and protect the environment.
Overall, the Earth Day stations were a huge success, thanks to the dedication and hard work of our PAC parents. It was a day filled with learning, laughter, and appreciation for the planet we call home.
Our second week was dedicated to all things related to growth and plants. We set up a sensory tub filled with various materials related to plants and growth, sparking the children’s interest and imagination. To reinforce our learning, we introduced the alphabet growing things bump game, which added an element of fun and learning to our activities.
“Foxy and Friends” continued to be a favorite among the children, providing them with opportunities for play and exploration.
The seeds provocation table was a hit, with plenty of books about plants and growing cycles to inspire our young minds.
On Monday, we kicked off the week by reading “My Friend Earth.” This beautiful story led to a meaningful discussion about how we can all contribute to taking care of our planet. To demonstrate their understanding, the children created scenes out of playdough, illustrating one way they could help the Earth.
One of the highlights of the week was our directed drawing of the Earth. The children followed a video tutorial, and the results were truly impressive. You can watch the video we followed [here](insert link). We also took a break from our usual routine and enjoyed a change of pace with a fun video.
The day ended on a heartwarming note as each student took a tree home to take home. It was a beautiful way to symbolize our commitment to caring for the Earth and watching it grow, much like the seeds we were learning about.
Despite some interruptions due to our class photo day on Tuesday, we continued our exploration of seeds. We read “The Tiny Seed,” a classic tale that captivated the children’s imagination and taught them about the life cycle of a plant. We finished this off with planting our very own seeds to see what we can grow.
The highlight of the week was creating greenhouses with bean seeds. The children were actively involved in brainstorming all the things their tiny seeds would need to grow, fostering a sense of responsibility and care.
In our writing lessons with “Froggy,” we continued to emphasize the importance of adding a problem and solution to our imaginative stories. It’s been wonderful to see the children’s storytelling skills develop and evolve over the weeks.
We can’t learn about growing things without opening up the flower shop dramatic center. A fun way to explore plants and their uses and to expand our imaginations.
We finished the week with a beautiful Earth Day craft. We used Q Tips to carefully dot paint the land areas in green and the oceans in blue. We then cut them out and glued them onto black paper, and added star sequins to finish them off!
As we wrap up our two weeks of Growing Things and Earth Day festivities, we’re filled with gratitude for the opportunity to learn and grow together. We look forward to seeing the seeds of knowledge we’ve planted continue to grow in the hearts and minds of our young learners.
With many years of experience teaching across various grades and classrooms, I’ve experimented with countless morning routines. From jumping right into the day to starting with a calendar routine, morning paperwork, and morning tubs, I’ve tried it all. One routine that particularly stood out to me was using morning tubs with rotating numbers through the tables. While I loved this approach for a long time, in recent years, it has evolved into something even more magical.
A few years ago, during my ECE postgraduate diploma specializing in Kindergarten, I came across an article on the magic of learning and how it should be sparked from joy. This concept deeply resonated with me, inspiring me to bring more of that magic into my classroom. I was also drawn to the Reggio Emilia approach, which emphasizes the environment as the third teacher and the importance of intentional and purposeful learning environments.
I wanted to incorporate more provocations and student interest-sparked learning opportunities into my classroom. I also believe in giving students choices whenever possible, as I think they should be the ones working the hardest. To simplify my routines, I began loading up my morning bins and keeping them organized and fresh every week, thus giving birth to my morning table routine.
Each morning, at all of the tables in my classroom, I set out play-based materials such as LEGO, Playstix, Starflex, puzzles, Unifix cubes, and story cubes. Additionally, I set up learning experiences at extra tables in my classroom. While each table generally has a theme to simplify planning, there are no hard and fast rules. I typically include a sensory table, a science table, a math table, a language arts table, and alternate between a writing table and an art table, depending on the theme for the week.
One of my favorite changes to the routine is allowing students to wander from table to table, exploring and discovering what catches their interest. It’s incredibly heartwarming to hear their squeals of delight as they explore the room, making for a truly magical start to the day.
This transformation of my morning routine has not only made learning more joyful and engaging for my students but has also reinvigorated my passion for teaching. I believe that by creating a classroom environment that sparks joy and curiosity, we can instill a love for learning that lasts a lifetime.
This week in Kindergarten was a colorful and vibrant celebration of rainbows! Our classroom was transformed into a rainbow wonderland, with rainbow activities and materials that sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow.
At the science table, we died popcorn to use in our sensory table next week. We had a great time watching the popcorn over the day to see if it changed color. The students had great time shaking it and exploring it, a great little way to incorporate some science learning into your day. Helpful hint: use lids that seal properly if you are giving students the freedom to look and explore with it.
The literacy table featured Rainbow Bump, a game that combined literacy skills with a rainbow theme. The math table also had Rainbow Bump, providing a fun and engaging way for the children to practice their alphabet skills while exploring the colors of the rainbow.
One of the highlights of the week was planting the fairy garden with flowers. We are so excited to watch it grow over the coming weeks!
The sensory table was a big hit, filled with rainbow orb beads that shimmered and sparkled as the children played and explored. It was a wonderful sensory experience that engaged their senses and sparked their imagination.
We started the week with our usual introduction to the letter Q, brainstorming words that start with Q. This led to a fun and creative directed drawing of a quail for the letter q. The children showed great enthusiasm and creativity as they brought their quails to life on paper.
The week started with a “The world Made a Rainbow” read aloud. A great way to introduce the colors of the rainbow and to reinforce that rainstorms eventually come to an end.
Our rainbow week in Kindergarten continued to be a colorful and exciting adventure, filled with creativity and learning. We delved deeper into our Froggy books, exploring the elements of a story and learning about problems and resolutions.
We started to talk about how every story has a problem and a resolution, and we practiced putting a problem and resolution into our own stories. It was amazing to see the children’s creativity shine as they came up with their own storylines and solutions through story workshop.
On Wednesday, we had a blast making beautiful water color rainbows. This art activity was a fun exploration into different art mediums, and the children were thrilled to see the vibrant colors come to life on their paper. It was a great way to incorporate our rainbow theme into our art lesson and allow the children to express their creativity.
Throughout the week, the children continued to explore and play with all the rainbow-themed activities in our classroom. The color mixing station at the science table was a popular spot, as was the sensory table with its rainbow orb beads. The literacy and math tables with Rainbow Bump remained favorite activities, providing a fun and educational way for the children to practice their skills.
We also kicked off our Jump Rope for Heart this week with our first assembly and we are so excited to practice our skipping skills before our big event in May!
Overall, it was a week filled with creativity, learning, and fun. The children were fully engaged in all the activities and showed great enthusiasm for exploring the colors of the rainbow. I’m so proud of all their hard work and creativity, and I can’t wait to see what other adventures await us as we continue to explore and learn in Kindergarten!
After a relaxing Easter Monday and a two-week break, we jumped right back into learning and fun in kindergarten! Tuesday was our first day back, and the room was set up for exploration and play, welcoming the children with Easter-themed activities with an emphasis on Easter math activities.
Our sensory table was a hit, filled straw and little bunnies and eggs. It was a sensory delight for the children, sparking their curiosity and imagination.
For added excitement, we added another sensory table filled with wheat and little mini carrots and bunnies.
We also introduced some new Easter games at the various tables. The Easter bunny alphabet bump was a hit, helping the children reinforce their alphabet recognition skills in a fun and engaging way.
At the math table, we had the Easter Bunny Tower & Tumble game, which was a fantastic way to incorporate math skills into our Easter theme. The children had a blast playing and learning at the same time.
Our day started with our usual routines, including our letter introduction and sharing time. I’ve recently added daily sharing time to our schedule to emphasize oral language development. It’s been wonderful to see the children sharing stories and connecting with each other through their shared experiences.
Our Easter week in Kindergarten continued with our weekly directed drawing, and this time, it was all about drawing Easter bunnies! The children showed their creativity and artistic skills as they brought these adorable bunnies to life on paper.
Tuesday brought a bit of a change to our routine, as we have gym in the middle of the block between recess and lunch. Despite the disruption, our art lesson was still enjoyable and creative. The children embraced the opportunity to get active and burn off some energy in gym class, and they returned to the classroom ready to dive back into their artistic creations.
Our Easter week in Kindergarten was filled with creativity and learning as we dove into our imaginary writing unit. On Tuesday, we began exploring the concept of made-up stories using the beloved Froggy books. We read “Froggy Goes to Hawaii” and discussed the elements of a story, including the setting. The children were excited to start creating their own imaginary stories, and their imaginations ran wild as they began to craft their tales.
Wednesday brought more writing adventures as we practiced printing the letter Y and made Easter baskets to take our Easter eggs home in. We also revisited our friends of 10 skills with an Easter Bunny-themed game, adding a fun twist to our math practice. The highlight of the day was dyeing Easter eggs, which not only brought joy but also provided a hands-on exploration into color mixing and color play.
In addition to our writing and math activities, Wednesday is always big buddy day, and we had a blast learning a new game with our big buddies. The Easter Tower & Tumble game was a hit, challenging the children to practice their subitizing skills and continue to work on number recognition. It was a great way to differentiate instruction easily as it has game boards for the number 0-2 and 0-6 and everything in between as well as numbers in every format to practice number recognition skills though math games!
Thursday was all about our letter craft for the week, and we created a yak for the letter Y. The children showed off their creativity and fine motor skills as they cut and glued to create their yaks.
Our Easter week in Kindergarten ended on a high note with a fun and creative exploration into math problem solving through the use of real world problems. We started on Wednesday with learning the song “5 Little Ducks” and then we each got 5 little ducks and practiced figuring out the different combinations of 5. Thursday we moved onto “5 Green and Speckled Frogs” and worked on combinations of frogs on the log and frogs in the water. Finally we ended the week with “5 Little Dinosaurs” and worked on combinations of Dinosaurs and Dinosaur eggs (pom poms).
After all our math adventures in Kindergarten, we ended the week with our usual Forest Friday time, but our lovely PAC parents organized an Easter Egg hunt for the entire school. It was a beautiful day, perfect for exploring the outdoors and looking for Easter eggs.
Overall, it was a week filled with creativity, learning, and Easter math fun. I’m so proud of all the hard work and creativity the children displayed, and I can’t wait to see what other adventures await us in Kindergarten!
Monday and Tuesday marked the kickoff of our much-anticipated Penguin Week in the classroom, and the excitement was palpable! As we always do, we transformed our learning space into a penguin paradise, with each table geared towards a unique theme, creating an immersive and engaging environment for exploration and discovery.
Table Themes:
Sensory Bin Wonderland: The sensory bin was a snowy haven, filled with white snow and an array of animals found in colder climates. Students dove into this frosty landscape, exploring textures and learning about the inhabitants of chilly regions.
Alphabet Adventure: At the alphabet table, students encountered an array of alphabet unifix cubes and the entertaining Penguin Alphabet Bump game. Matching letters became an exciting endeavor as penguins and letters came together in a delightful learning experience.
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Counting Stew Extravaganza: The counting stew table was a winter wonderland of mittens, snowmen, icicles, and more. Students engaged in counting activities, honing their math skills while enjoying the wintry charm of their counting stew.
Math Exploration Station: At the math bump table, students had a blast with 12-sided dice and math bump, exploring numerical concepts in a lively and interactive manner. Learning became a game, making math both educational and entertaining.
Penguin Slide and Glide Challenge: The penguin slide and glide table featured the intriguing math spinners. Here, students delved into addition and subtraction skills, maneuvering their penguins to keep them from slipping off the icy precipice. A truly engaging way to reinforce math concepts!
Artistic Freedom Zone: The art table, intentionally left theme-free, encouraged free exploration with recycled paper, scissors, glue, and various art materials. Students expressed their creativity and individuality, letting their imaginations soar.
Habitat Exploration at the Train Table: The train table became a penguin habitat exploration play zone, complete with loose parts and our previously crafted wet felting mats. Students had the opportunity to delve into the intricacies of penguin habitats through hands-on play.
Monday’s Adventures: We kicked off the week by diving into our letter of the week – U! Students molded uppercase and lowercase U’s out of playdough, all while brainstorming the myriad things that start with the letter U. Our directed drawing session took a chilly turn as we put pencil to paper and brought adorable penguins to life.
Tuesday’s Penguin Olympics: Tuesday saw us immerse ourselves in the world of Emperor Penguins through non-fiction books. Channeling our inner Emperor Penguin Dads, we practiced the art of balancing balls on our feet and waddling around the classroom, adding a touch of whimsy to our learning journey.
Wednesday marked another exciting day in our penguin-filled week of exploration and learning. Our classroom buzzed with enthusiasm as we delved into the delightful world of penguins, sliding and gliding with our feathery friends on a fun penguin ice cube table.
Slide and Glide Penguin Ice Cube Table: The highlight of the day was undoubtedly our Slide and Glide Penguin Ice Cube Table. Laughter filled the air as students joyfully slid their penguins around on miniature ice cubes, immersing themselves in a frosty world of waddles and slippery adventures. The sensory experience added a dynamic layer to our penguin-themed week, creating lasting memories of Arctic escapades.
Writing Adventures: Punctuation Marks and Volcanic Stories: Wednesday also brought an exciting writing lesson as we continued our journey towards the halfway mark to grade one. Our primary focus in these writing sessions is to instill a love of writing in our kindergarten stars. Each lesson follows a structured format, beginning with a mini lesson from a captivating picture book, followed by a demonstration of writing skills, and then a gradual release of responsibility as the students embark on crafting their own stories.
This week, our writing adventure centered around punctuation marks, which we playfully referred to as “stop signs for the reader.” We drew inspiration from the charming story “Oh No, George!” to understand the importance of punctuation in our writing.
For my own writing example, I shared a tale from a different season, drawing upon my summer experiences. I recounted my visit to a volcano, weaving in vivid details from my trip to Yellowstone National Park. The students were captivated by the story, and I sent them off to embark on their own writing journeys.
Surprisingly, the collective interest sparked by my volcanic tale led to a flurry of stories about volcanoes from the little authors in our classroom. It seems we might have stumbled upon a shared fascination that we’ll have to explore further in the future. Providing the freedom for students to choose their writing topics not only fosters individual creativity but also eliminates the struggle of deciding what to write about, ensuring that our writing time is productive and enjoyable for all.
Thursday brought a unique twist to our week as it became a ‘no bus day’ due to challenging road conditions. Despite the smaller class size, it turned out to be a fantastic day filled with extra playtime, additional classroom cleaning, and exciting new additions to our learning space.
Creative Ownership in Dramatic Play: With the help of our eager students, we introduced a new dramatic play center that stirred up a buzz of excitement – the Pancake Cafe! Though our dramatic centers may not make it to the pages of Pinterest, their real beauty lies in the joy and enthusiasm the students bring to them. The Pancake Cafe is quickly becoming a hub of creativity, with students taking ownership and infusing their own ideas into the center. It’s a place where learning becomes a personalized experience, and their excitement is palpable.
Letter Craft Adventure: Under the Dirt: Thursday was also dedicated to unleashing our artistic side as we delved into our letter craft activity. The theme of the day was “under the dirt,” and it’s remarkable to witness the growth in our students’ willingness to try new things and take risks over the past half-year.
Creativity flowed as we crafted scenes featuring gummy worm “under the dirt” inhabitants and red dirt, inspired by the discovery of fossils in the dirt crafts. One student enthusiastically explained that fossils somehow turn the dirt red – a charming detail that showcases their imaginative minds at work.
Fitness Friday Fun: Our morning kicked off with Fitness Friday, a fantastic way to energize our bodies and minds. From stretching to jumping jacks, our penguins waddled their way through a series of fun exercises, fostering not just physical activity but also enhancing focus and engagement.
Exploring Numerical Depths: In our ongoing math adventures, we delved into the world of numbers, discovering the concept of magnitude through an entertaining game of “War.” The game not only reinforced our understanding of numbers but also brought out the playful and competitive spirit in our little mathematicians.
Balloon Tennis Bliss: Midday brought an unexpected twist with a delightful balloon tennis activity. Our penguins showed off their racket skills as they batted balloons back and forth, bringing joy, laughter, and a touch of friendly competition to our Friday festivities.
Forest Friday Adventure: As the week drew to a close, we wrapped up our Friday with our beloved Forest Friday tradition. This time, our adventurous explorers ventured into the enchanted depths of the back forest. From observing nature’s wonders to imagining stories inspired by the rustling leaves, our forest adventure provided a perfect end to our week.
Reflecting on Penguin Week: Throughout the week, our penguins dived into the world of these fascinating birds, exploring their habitats, creating penguin-themed masterpieces, and discovering the joy of learning through play. We’ve witnessed curiosity, creativity, and collaboration bloom in our classroom.
A Grateful Goodbye: As we say goodbye to Penguin Week, we want to express our deepest gratitude for your ongoing support and partnership. Your involvement enhances the learning journey for each penguin in our class, making every day a new opportunity for discovery.
We hope you enjoy the weekend and share in the excitement of your child’s penguin adventures. Stay tuned for more incredible learning journeys ahead!
As the winter chill settles in and snowflakes dance outside the window, there’s a special kind of excitement in the air in our classroom. It’s Snowman Week, a time dedicated to exploring the magical world of snowmen and integrating a variety of learning opportunities for our curious little minds. This week-long adventure not only captivates the students’ imaginations but also provides a rich environment for inquiry-based learning.
Setting the Stage:
The classroom is transformed into a winter wonderland with engaging activities at every turn. Each table is dedicated to a unique snowman-themed exploration, ensuring that every child finds something that sparks their curiosity. From literacy to math, sensory play to art, Snowman Week encompasses a wide range of learning experiences.
At the literacy table, students dive into the world of letters with the Snowman Alphabet Bump. This interactive game not only reinforces letter recognition but also encourages collaboration and friendly competition. As children engage with this activity, they build a foundation for early literacy skills while having fun.
Over at the math table, excitement is brewing with the Mini Dice Snowman Bump. This game introduces the concept of counting and strategizing, all while building adorable snowmen. The mini dice add an element of surprise and challenge, making math a joyous experience.
Art Table – Creative Snowman Masterpieces:
Creativity takes center stage at the art table, where students express themselves through Snowman art projects. Drawing inspiration from their Monday-directed drawing session, the class collaborates to create unique and imaginative snowmen. The emphasis on creative expression allows each child to showcase their individuality.
Sensory Bin – Fake Snow Adventure:
The sensory bin is transformed into a snowy landscape with the introduction of fake snow. As children explore this wintry texture, they engage their senses, fostering sensory development and imaginative play. The sensory bin becomes a miniature snow world where students can build, mold, and explore the magic of winter.
Daily Soft Start and Letter of the Week:
The day begins with a soft start at table time, offering students the freedom to wander and explore the various materials set out on the tables. This week’s focus is on the letter “M,” providing a platform for brainstorming and creative activities related to this letter. Playdough becomes a tool for shaping both uppercase and lowercase “M’s,” as well as crafting items that start with the chosen letter.
Monday’s Directed Drawing:
Mondays kick off with a directed drawing session, promoting active listening and following directions. This week’s masterpiece? Snowmen! The collaborative drawing session allows students to work together, share ideas, and develop their artistic skills.
Flexibility is key in our classroom, and this week was no exception. Despite initial plans for a snowman-themed dramatic center, the students’ keen interest in playing doctor led to a spontaneous setup of a hospital dramatic play area. This adaptability ensures that learning remains dynamic and responsive to the evolving interests of the students.
Counting Safari – Math Exploration:
While the overarching theme is snowmen, the week also aligns with ongoing math skill development. The “Counting Safari” activity takes center stage, offering various counting collection bags, each adorned with different animal stickers. This clever integration of counting and animal recognition keeps the students motivated as they embark on a safari of mathematical exploration.
We finished the week off with an exploration into wet felting with a final project that we can use in our loose parts play in the weeks coming up. We created our mats out of felt and layered smaller pieces on top and added hot water and rubbed it all together!
Conclusion:
Snowman Week isn’t just about snowmen; it’s a holistic approach to learning that incorporates literacy, math, art, and sensory experiences. By fostering an environment of inquiry and adaptability, this themed week becomes a memorable journey through the winter wonderland, igniting curiosity and laying the foundation for a love of learning that extends beyond the snowy season.
Kindy Play 