Happy New Year! It’s
hard to believe 2015 is here! I’m
heading back to school January 5th and looking ahead at the
month. I am going to focus on weekly
themes. I actually have 5 theme ideas
for January, but only 4 weeks to plan! I am planning to be prepared for all
five themes to give me some options.
The theme for my first week back is SNOW! (I’m not including snowmen, as that is a
theme for another week!) Here’s what I have planned…
Preschool/Early Elementary-
1. We will make snow
and play with Playmobil snow people and arctic animal figurines.
You can download the recipe here:
It’s pretty simple to make.
I’ll have the kiddos follow the pictorial directions to take the lead in
making the snow. This will hopefully
spur lots of spoken language!
2. Read There
Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow by Lucille Colandro. Following reading, I will target goals with
the Secret Door game. (See this post to
see what you need to make this versatile game:
http://listening4language.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-new-cariboo-secret-door.html
)
I have
uploaded the cards for the doors with the pics from the story here:
After your
game is assembled with the above cards on each door, you can target
comprehension, listening, sequencing, vocabulary and more!
I also
will have each kiddo make their own There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some
Snow reader, courtesy of Mrs. Lindsay.
This freebie can be found here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/There-Was-a-Cold-Lady-Who-Swallowed-Some-Snow-Emergent-Reader-Freebie-504552
Late
Elementary-
1. Use YouTube videos to spark discussion and/or
writing. I’ve compiled 4 different video
clips, featuring snow. After viewing,
the kiddos working on writing can use a graphic organizer to complete the 5 W’s
prior to writing a summary. Kiddos
working on other language goals will discuss, evaluate, make inferences,
etc. There are lots of possibilities for
these videos and they’re always highly engaging.
The QR code links to the videos can be downloaded
here:
2. Complete a
non-fiction reading and either discuss, answer questions, or write a
response. Here is a passage I found on the Web about Snow
Science:
It says it’s 2nd grade level, but I’m using it
with older kids, and think it will be fine!
3. Complete a fiction
reading, and complete some or all of the accompanying activities, depending
upon their goals. A freebie about a Snow
Day, courtesy of Common Core and So Much More, can be found on Teachers Pay
Teachers.
If we have
extra time, for either age level, we will make paper snowflakes.
Here’s a link to a pdf: http://britton.disted.camosun.bc.ca/snowflak.pdf
This is
nice for students who have following direction goals.
Hopefully
the above ideas will be helpful to you for planning a week of SNOW! (I’m hoping the snow we make at school will
be the only snow I see next week!)
