simple sort

Here's a simple sorting activity that Miss S. enjoyed more than I thought she would, to be honest.  (I should have known..she loves anything she can "organize"...why can't she feel that way about her room? :) Moving on...these are simples pictures I cut/colored and laminated.  We talked about each one, then sorted them into the hot or cold category.  Happy Sorting :) 

make it easy:  name/discuss pictures...sort

make it hard:  extend the activity by going on a "cold" hunt around the house...gather things that you would use if it were cold..or draw pics of them.  Sort them in a different way...things we use inside...things we see outside. :)

Pairs

When I taught school, I always, as most of you other teachers, had a day when all the students would dump out their gloves/mittens at morning group time. So, I used the ones we had around here, to do the same thing. First, we sorted them, gloves vs. mittens.
Then, using the pincer grasp, which strengthens the muscles to hold a pencil, to open the clothespin, we clipped them together to make a pair. This was a challenge for little hands. I had to hold the mittens together while she clipped them.

Our clothesline of mittens :)

make it easy: find the matching mitten/glove, discuss similarities/differences, discuss what a "pair" is, sort by color, pattern or size.

make it hard: count by 2's, go on a /m/ hunt...what other things do you see that begin with the sound /m/?

Ice Experiment

After reading Frosty the snowman, and singing it 1,004 times, we experimented a little... Since Frosty melted after the sun came out, we put an ice cube in the window sill...

and another out of the sunlight...and out of reach from big boy :) We made our predictions which would melt first.
the outcome: The ice placed in the windowsill with the sun shining on it melted first!!
I was surprised at how much she enjoyed this...I actually forgot about it until she reminded me that it was melting! :)

make it hard: Draw your predictions, make a time chart and note how the ice has changed

wishin'

A few more treats with snowmen...even though there isn't any snow we can see...but we can wish, right?

Build a felt snowman

Here I go with sequencing, again! :)


One of Stella's favorite books...we re-told the story with felt pieces. I love hearing her do it on her own.

make it easy: Sing Frosty the Snowman

make it hard: Illustrate a book...what happened in the beginning, middle and end? Draw your own snowman!

mittens and marshmallows

This week we made a mitten collage. The letter in the middle is an "M"...can't you tell? :) I wrote it and she glued the felt pieces over it. Here is our special snowman snack. The "candy can" pieces coming out of the side of his head are his ears :)

I'm so proud of her...she's really caught onto the /m/ and /s/ sounds quickly. Its always fun to link sounds to names, too. : )

mmmarshmallow :)

What's more perfect than teaching the /m/ sound than with marshmallows? These are one of Stella's favorite treats, so when she saw me pull them out of the pantry, she was ready to go! Here we are making a snowflake with the tasty treat. Her favorite part, of course, was eating them :)

What's to come in Jan?

The month of January is already here!
This month on the to-do list is:
the letter M (mitten and marshmallow)
the letter S (snow and snowflakes)
Rectangles
Frosty the Snowman
(and whatever else we can fit in :)