The Hat and Animals in the Winter

This was our first week back after Winter Break.

Fitting "everything in" has been somewhat of a challenge this school year as we are required to teach our reading series with fidelity.  Well, we had this week "off." As a result, I was able to spend more time on teaching other literature and incorporating a winter theme throughout the day.

Not wanting to have my students loose valuable learning time, I used Hello Two Peas in a Pod's  Phonological Awareness Curriculum for January.  We read The Hat and followed the lesson plan format.  My students were engaged and I loved how easy it was to teach! I could see instantly what my students need in Phonemic Awareness.

At the end of the week, we made Hedgie to go along with the story.

The one on the left is what I intended it to look like.  The one of the right was what we made.  The students painted snow onto a transparency.  While that dried, we created our Hedgie.  The original idea can be found here.  

Students enjoyed fun winter themed literacy centers.  They made sight words using this snowballs created by Little Minds at Work.  Ice fishing was a huge hit!  All you need is a box to go along with this Lakeshore game .  I simply wrote the words onto the fish with a Sharpie.  Lastly, we reviewed rhymes with this mitten hanging center.

Our favorite activity was learning which animals hibernate or migrate.

We learned about dens and made paper bag dens using a lunch bag, cotton and paper plate.  Simple but effective. We turned our buddy reading area into a den.  If you look closely, you can see a few book boxes that students could use during their reading time. 

Finally, we sorted our stuffed animal collection and discussed if it would hibernate or migrate.  This song went along perfectly.  

Overall, it was a productive first week back to school.

Happy Teaching and Learning!