Valentine's Day

 

• Three things that I love are…- We did a share circle about things that we love. Fold a piece of construction paper in half lengthwise. Cut 3 flaps on one side of the paper. When they open each flap, there will be a picture of something they love. For example, 3 things I love are… dogs, pizza, and God. Encourage creative pictures!

 Valentine's Day Banners- We made banners for our parents using construction paper, heart doilies, and felt. We glued the hand cut outs with 2 fingers down to say I love you in sign language! Then we added some string so they can be hung up at home!

 Here is a fish made out of hearts!

·        Heart sequencing- Give each student a bag of foam hearts. Have them put the hearts in order from smallest to biggest. They may also sort the hearts by size or color. If they are going to sequence the hearts, it would be a good idea to sort the hearts by size first. 

Other ideas:

 Matching Hearts- Pull all of the hearts out of an old deck of cards (preferably one that is not a full set). Cut the cards in half. Give each student half of a card. Have them find their other half! When they find each other, they need to count the hearts on their card.

A Tisket a Tasket- Have a small brown basket cut out and a variety of small colored hearts on the felt board. Say the rhyme “A tisket, a tasket, can ____ put the blue heart in the basket?” Substitute students names and colors until all children have had a turn.

Conversation Hearts Sorting- In small groups, give each student a cup of candy conversation hearts and a sorting mat. Students must sort the hearts by color. When they are finished, they can put all the hearts back in the cup and trade cups with somebody else. When all the hearts are put back in the cups, give them a few pieces from the bag to eat. Save the ones in the cups for sorting only so we don’t pass germs.

Estimation Jar- Fill a small jar with conversation hearts. Make a chart with student’s names and have them estimate how many hearts are in the jar. After everyone has guessed, count the hearts together. See who had the closest guess!

Estimation Heart- After estimating how many hearts are in a jar, the following day students will continue learning about estimation. Each child will get a paper with a small outline of a heart. They will need to guess how many candy hearts will fit in the big heart. Teachers will help write down their guesses. Then they will use the candy hearts to see how many actually fit.

    Circle Time Activity- Sing to tune of London Bridge “Will you be my Valentine, Valentine, Valentine Will you be my Valentine, Be a friend of Mine?”  We stand in a circle and one child has a big decorated heart. As we sing, she/he walks around the circle and chooses a friend to give the heart to. Then we repeat. The one rule, you have to give it to someone different each time.

Winter

As it began to get cold outside, we learned about Winter! We experimented with water and learned about two states of matter. To make this snowman, I filled 3 balloons with water and froze them over night. The next day, I put the ice on top of one another carefully and added felt eyes, nose, mouth, and hat. Students drew a picture of the snowman in the morning and then later in the afternoon after the snowman had melted.

Blubber Gloves- We discussed how some animals keep warm in the winter. You will need a small bucket of ice water for this activity. Have students place one hand in a plastic bag layered with shortening to represent the blubber. Then they will put both hands in the ice water to feel the difference. Discuss how some animals have a layer of blubber to keep them warm.

Sequencing - We put pictures of a snowman in order from when he was big all the way to him melting!

What I love about Winter- We did a share circle about the things we love to do in the Winter. Then we asked students to pick one and the teachers wrote down their responses on a snowflake. Then they could color the snowflake a shade of blue.

Shaving Cream Snowman- We used shaving cream and glue to make a snowman! Then we added paper dots for eys and a mouth. They drew on the arms and snowflakes with crayons.

Other Winter ideas:

• Practice writing names in shaving cream or draw a snowman in the shaving cream
• Use honeycomb cereal as snowflake stamps
• Discuss where animals go in the winter time to keep warm. Sing hibernation songs and discuss the different animals. Before the lesson, hide stuffed animals around the room. Have students find the animals. Sit in a circle and have students tell the class what their animal does in the winter to keep warm.
• Read The Mitten by Jan Brett. Have students put the animals in order as they were told in the book. Who was the first to go in the Mitten? Glue animals on a sentence strip and glue a big mitten at the end of the strip.

Winter Songs:

Hibernation Song

(to tune of wheels on the bus)
The weather's getting cold so bundle up,

bundle up, bundle up

The weather's getting cold so bundle up,

winter's coming soon.

The bears in the cave sleep all the time............

The squirrels in the trees get lots of nuts...............

The frogs and toads go deep in mud.......

The ducks and the geese go flying south........

The people in the town wear hats and gloves..........

I’m a little Penguin

tune: I’m a little teapot

I’m a little penguin, look at me,
Fishing and swimming in the deep blue sea.
My wings are black and my tail is white.
And I like sliding down the snow so bright!

Hibernation –sung to “Alouette”
Hibernation.

Time for Hibernation.
Hibernation.

Time to go to sleep.
In the winter where’s the bear?
Sleeping in its cave or lair.
Where’s the bear? cave or lair. Oh!

In the winter where’s the frog?
Sleeping by a pond or log.

In the winter where’s the snake?
In the mud beneath the lake.

In the winter where’s the bat?
In a cave is where its at.