Winter Animals

We had such a GREAT week at preschool learning around the fun theme of "Winter Animals".

One of the favorites from the week was our extra sensory table. It had frozen water balloons (colored from food coloring) in it!

They also really enjoyed the play-dough center. They made "snowballs" on the penguins and mittens! They especially loved making animal tracks in the white "snow" (play-dough).

We made houses for the animals in the block center...

It is so cute to see these little ones pretend play! Here is Karsen busy at the grocery store. She was so excited to buy those eggs. :)

Now Mady Kate is shopping away... purse on her arm and everything!

The class loves this new play McDonald's in our classroom. They use the "cash register" and play money. A couple of the kids asked, "How may I help you?" So cute!

At our sensory center, they loved finding winter animals in the snow (cotton) and playing with them. They also were excited to see their names in there again this week!

They were so excited to find their own!

Their names are on the carpet for circle time. For the past two weeks, they have done a great job finding them! (of course it does help that their pictures are on them too. ;)

Our number of the week was seven. The class used dotter markers to count the seven circles on their papers. We then used a cute little saying to help us remember what the number 7 looks like: "Line across and down from Heaven, that's the way we make a seven!"

They did an awesome job counting seven penguins and gluing them to their papers!

These penguin footprint crafts turned out so adorable! They will go in the portfolios, but I thought you'd like to see them now too!

Wyatt getting his foot painted! :)

So cute! Mrs. Beth always does such a wonderful job with these crafts! Below Karsen is being her big helper. She wanted to put the eyes on too. :)

We talked a lot this week about what keeps winter animals warm when it is SO COLD outside. The kids mentioned that the animals' fur and feathers keep them warm, but we also learned about "blubber" (the layer of fat under the animals' skin). We did a fun experiment to see how the blubber helps keep the winter animals warm!!

First, we put Crisco, "like blubber", on their fists....

Then we wrapped their hands in paper towels, put plastic gloves over them, and dipped them in the water!

Without the "blubber", the water is FREEZING. With it, the water feels "normal" or "warm", as the kids said.

Shaving cream is of course always a hit, but this week it was especially fun. They pretended it was snow and even played with winter animals in it!!

cutting and coloring...

waddling like penguins!! :)

Our letter of the week was W. We sang our letter song and made the w sound. We talked about how Wyatt and William both have names that start with W and how the color white starts with W. They had fun painting their W with white paint and making "snowballs".

The kids enjoyed gluing lots of feathers to their owl projects!

We will be finishing these up next week to send home. Pretty cute so far :)

Eden had a fun idea and pretended to be the teacher. She was reading a book to us. :)

Some of the other girls wanted a turn too!

Evan is so excited about his polar bear handprint. :)

Karsen with hers... They are so proud. :)

Now she's in the salon working... giving Eden a beautiful style :)

Mrs. Beth and I get so many laughs and smiles each Thursday and Friday working with your sweet kids. It is truly such a joy to be their teachers. We had a couple out this week and missed them! I told the class they can see these pictures on the computer with their mommies and daddies and tell them all about their week at school. Hope you enjoy! :) Have a great weekend.