Winter Games - 3 Simple Centers

Winter is here! Although the weather outside may not be snowy. Our classroom centers will be.

Here are  three simple center ideas that you can use to transform your centers into Winter Games.  Each of these centers can be easily adapted to meet the needs of your students and classroom and with a few minor changes they can be used all winter. #teachertimesaver

Snowman Bowling

For this center, I am using SitSpots as place holders for our snow people.  On the bottom of the container, I have written CVC words that I would like my students to practice.

This center would also be a great introduction to subtraction.  This song could be adapted to engage all students while one child goes up to bowl.

Mitten Rhymes

I love using instant snow as a center. For this center, students will match the rhymes and hang on a clothesline.  Not only are students practicing rhyming, this center includes sensory play and fine motor.  We all know that kids need more of this, too!

Click here for your set of mitten rhymes.

Ice Fishing

A photo posted by Mrs.Parker (@learningwithmrsparker) on Jan 23, 2015 at 1:17pm PST

Look at that smile! I turned an ordinary copy paper box into a fun ice fishing center by simply cutting a hole on the top, adding some shredded paper and fish.   

Don't have fish! Don't worry Differentiated Kindergarten has a great freebie you can use. 

Well, there you have it. Three simple winter centers for your classroom!

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Learning is Snow Much Fun

While most of the United States experienced severe weather this week, here in southern California we had a rather pleasant and mild week.  So, how do you prepare for winter fun when there is no snow?

Well, you have to make it!

I found this wonderful resource to make a snow.  Not only did it take two ingredients, it also felt cold to the touch.  Above is my six year old having a little sensory snow fun, too.

We made this at school today and my class was super excited to conduct this experiment.  We made a science connection using this resource.  We were all so engaged that I don't have any pictures to show you.

Afterwards, our snow was included into a Word Work center.

Students worked in pairs to match the mitten rhymes.  

Learning can be snow much fun even when you have to make do without having snow right outside to play in.  

Happy Teaching!

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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!

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"Snow" Painting

A few weeks ago, I pinned this cute picture. I knew I wanted to try the activity in my classroom but needed to "test" it out first to see how it would work.  I had my four year son and seven year old niece test it out for me!  It turns out this activity is great for all ages!


To get started, you will need:

 Step 2:

Let's create!

End results:

Need book suggestions? Check out these. 

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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