Teddy Bear Picnic

The children truly enjoyed our teddy bear picnic.  The idea of a teddy bear picnic is based off of the book by Jimmy Kennedy.  During our picnic the children taste tested Teddy Grahams, honey, and blueberries.  The blueberries were a big hit!  We then graphed which flavor teddy graham they thought tasted the best.  The children also played the teddy bear toss.  There were five buckets set out with numbers programed on them.  The children tossed their teddy bear into a bucket and recorded the number on their recording sheet.  

Shhh the bears are sleeping!

Today we watched a great YouTube video that showed a black bear preparing to hibernate in Wisconsin.  I did have to fast forward through parts of it to keep things flowing.  I have included the link if your child would like to see more of it.  http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wlThdzKXjQQ

During centers today the children played a bear path rhyming game.  They all enjoyed this activity.  At another center they made their "b" page for the alphabet book that they are making.  At an independent center the children colored a bear head, cut it out, and wrote their name on it.  I modeled the directions for them and gave them a visual list of the direction to follow.  I then had them complete the project on their own.  They showed great independence with this!

Brown Bear

Today the children, yes the children, read the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?  I began circle time by reading the story to the children.  We then used puppets to retell the story.  During center time the children were each given a copy of the story and we read it together.  I then gave them a whisper phone(an item that looks like an antique phone from the 1990's).  The children whispered in their phone and read the story independently.  We then played a bear letter game.  Each bear had a letter on it so we said, "J bear, J bear, who do you see?"  The children would look at their neighbors bear and identify the letter on it and say, "I see F bear looking at me."

The children also visited the listening center today.  Here they listened to the story Panda Bear, Panda Bear What Do You See?  At another center the children made a page for a class book.  On their page they wrote their name and a friends name to fill in the sentence ___, ___, who do you see?  I see ____ looking at me.  To complete their page the children drew a self portrait.  I assembled the book, read it to the children, and placed it in our classroom library.  The children love to read books that they helped create.

B is for Bears

This week is bear week in our classroom.  Today we read two different versions of the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  We then compared and contrasted both stories.  During center time the children sequenced pictures from the story.  We will use them tomorrow to retell the events in the story to a friend.

At another center the children went fishing.  When they caught their fish a number was missing on it.  For example 6, ---, 8.  The children had to think of the number that filled in the blank.  They will have to do this in kindergarten as part of their assessments.

During playtime the children could go to the bear have that I set up in books and puzzles.  They had to be very quiet in the cave for the bears are hibernating and we do not want to wake them up.  In the house center the children used items from a prop box to act out the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Great Day

Today we had a great day exploring the Above and Beyond Children's museum.  Here are a few pictures of our adventures.

Nutty Day

Today was a nutty day in 4K.  The winter animal that we talked about today was the squirrel.  The children learned that squirrels adapt in winter.  To do this they spend time in the fall gathering food.  They use the food they stored to sustain themselvesthrough the winter. At an independent center the children went on a nut hunt.  I hid acorns around the room that had letters programed on them.  When the children found a letter they recorded it on their recording sheet.  At another center the children used their fine motor skills to create a picture of a squirrel.

Since it is a short week we will be having our letter "A, a" basket tomorrow.  For the field trip on Thursday your child does not need a backpack, snow pants, or boots.

Rabbits

Today the children learned that some rabbits change the color of their fur as a way to adapt to winter.  Our read aloud was titled Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit.  At one center the children played a new game.  It had them identifying the beginning sound of objects and placing them on the correct game mats.  This was very fun for them.  At another center the children played hide the rabbit.  Each child was placed with a partner.  One child had white rabbit cards and the other child had brown rabbit cards.  The children took turns rolling two dice and turning over the card that matched the sum. 

 During center time today a few of our friends enjoyed stamping and writing winter words.

Adapt

Today's lessons focused birds.  We learned that some birds like the Robin migrate in winter, while other birds like Cardinals and Juncos stay in Wisconsin and adapt to the cold weather.  Our read aloud today was titled Birds.

During centers today the children followed four steps to make a bagel bird feeder.  When your child brings their feeder home please help them hang it up outside.  By doing this they learn compassion for other living things.

At the second center the children cut out a bird.  They then painted it to look like a Blue Jay or Cardinal.  We learned that these birds grow more feathers to adapt, they store food, and they roost together to keep each other warm.

Today we also had IGDI's testing, and we finally got to go outside and play in the snow.  Hurray!!

Migration

This week we will be learning about animals and how they survive the cold Wisconsin winter.  Animals will do one of three things.  They will adapt, migrate, or hibernate.  Today we learned about migration.  We read a few nonfiction books Migration and Animals in Winter.  We also read a great fiction book about a monarch butterflies migration titled I Gotta Go, I Gotta Go.  

For centers today the children cut out five geese.  They then used a mixture of shaving cream and glue to make a cloud on a piece of paper.  They used their finger to make the letter v in their cloud.  Lastly, they placed the geese they cut out on the v to make it look like they were flying in a v formation.  At circle time we pretended we were geese and we flew in this same formation.

The Mitten

Today we read the story The Mitten Jan Brett.  This story reminded us of the story Gingerbread Baby, which we read in November.  When a child reads we ask them to make connections.  We want them to connect the story they are reading to something familiar in their lives, another story, or even an event that has happened in the world.  We call the connections we make to other books text-to-text-connections.

After reading the story the children were broken into centers.  One center they visited was called Mitten Match.  On the wash line I hung mittens with the capital letters on them.  The children worked cooperatively to match lowercase mittens to the capitals.  When they were done they practiced writing the letters on a dry erase board.  At another center the children sewed a mitten together.  The children also colored the characters from the story The Mitten.