This Week in JK

S is for Snow

We brought in fresh snow daily for students to play with in the sensory center. It was fun to use food coloring and mix colors and make "snow cones."

Science

We also used a product called Insta-Snow. The kids were amazed to watch a sand like material turn into "snow' just by adding water.

Recess

We are cheering and chanting for each other on the balance beam.

Art

We used a mixture of shaving cream and glue to create puffy paint. 

Small Group and Center Time
Students are working on projects that help us describe the difference between winter activities and summer activities.

S is for Snowflakes
We learned how to cut out paper snowflakes. The kids were amazed at what some simple cuts can do.

This Week in JK

BEARS

Teddy Bear Day

We celebrated another self-proclaimed holiday, Teddy Bear Day, on Friday. We learned many things about all sorts of bears this week. We learned about their habitat, what they eat, and how they hibernate. We also read stories where bears were the characters, and we made art projects with bears.

B is for Bear
We finger painted the letter B and then turned it into a bear.

Math
We measured our bears with cubes. We also had to record other characteristics about the texture and color of our bears.

Art

We painted bear caves and drew polar bears with chalk.

Reading and Science
We learned about what it means to use a label. We are labeling a polar bear's legs, body, head, and tail.

Our Favorite Book This Week

....BEARS!

B is for Butter!
Miss Mary from the Dakota Prairie Museum visited us again this week. We got to churn butter. Here we are taking our turns churning.

 After a short bit, the cream turned to whipped cream. A little while later, we had butter!

Miss Mary has to wash the butter with water to get all the buttermilk out. This helps extend the life of the butter and it helps with the taste as well. She is using a special spoon that is over 100 years old.

Mystery Reader

Thank you to our latest mystery reader! 

This Week in JK

Art

This week we read books by Jan Brett. One of her most popular books is a story called "The Mitten." We painted patterns on our mittens and made an attempt at symmetry as well.

 Here, students are retelling "The Mitten" using cutout characters. This story is perfect for talking about ordinal numbers as well.

One-On-One Time

During our one-on-one time, all students got a chance to play this game called Mental Blox. Students must create a structure that is the same as the structure on the card. It really makes us think and use good fine motor skills.

Center Time
Students are working together at the writing center.

Reading Center

Our reading center has been rearranged. Students are enjoying some more Jan Brett books this week.

Dramatic Play
The dramatic play center featured a doll house and a fire house. Students enjoyed arranging and rearranging all the furniture in both of the houses.

Building Center

 Magformers are another great educational toy we have in our classroom. Students get creative with this vehicle. 

This Week in JK

Skip to my Lou

We love having a song or nursery rhyme of the week. Not only do we learn about rhythm and rhyme, we are building memory capabilities that can be applied to all sorts of activities. It's just a huge bonus that they are fun!

Center Time
Our math center features this cool penguins on ice game. Students are encourages to build patterns. Students on the right are in the building center.

Not only can magnifying glasses be used to view  rocks and other fun things in the science center, they can make our faces look bigger!

 We brought the bricks back out right before Christmas break. These are popular at the building center.

Small Group

We have been learning about same and different in math this week. During small group, students got to play a classifying game. They had to decide which pictures belong to which category and how the pictures were similar. 

Homework
We had homework this week called "Snapshots of Winter Break." Students were asked to draw pictures of who they saw, where they went, and how they had fun over the last few weeks away from school. They each had the opportunity to share with the class.

Mystery Reader
Thank you to our mystery reader who came to us all the way from Watertown! We loved her story and her treats. :)

Art Projects

Our art projects are filling up the hallway and our classroom walls. 

 We also made New Year's resolutions and drew a picture of ourselves with New Year's party hats. Portrait drawings are tough, but we are getting more confident.