Winter, Winter Everywhere...almost!

We have been working, writing, creating, and learning to get ready for the winter break. I have one student that keeps reminding me that it isn't officially winter yet, as the official beginning of winter is not until Dec. 21. Well, winter has already begun in our classroom. We have been learning about the winter season and snowmen! Who doesn't love a nice, big, friendly snowman? We have read many different winter themed books including "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats. We created a snowy picture and imagined what activities we would do in the snow.

We also read "There was a Cold Lady who Swallowed Some Snow" by Lucille Colandro and, of course, our old lady swallowed all those items and hiccupped out a fully dressed snowman! We then completed a group writing project in which each student wrote what his/her old lady swallowed including chocolate, a car, a sock monkey, and Santa Claus--just to name a few!

We read "Pip & Squeak", which is a cute short story about two mice on an adventure to find the perfect gift to bring to their friend's party. One mouse thinks cheese is the best while the other mouse has a different idea for their rabbit friend.

After reading, we discussed why one mouse thought cheese was the best gift for their friend. Then we talked about what we might give to a friend. The students then used play-doh to mold the perfect gift.

Students then used this experience to write about the gift they created for their friend. The students wrote what the gift would be, why they chose that gift, and then made an illustration of the gift.

The students also decided they wanted to make a snowman sculpture for our classroom. The first step in creating the sculpture was to plan. We brainstormed what materials we could use from our classroom to build a snowman. Here is what they came up with: 

We then experimented with solid figure blocks and balance to decide which shape and size should come first, next, then, and last.

Next, students drew out a plan for what our snowman would look like when completed. Only one student drew a snowman with a box design instead of the traditional round body. We chose his drawing as the guide for our sculpture. Finally, construction began.

He is visualizing what the snowman will look like when completed. 

They added details (including a mohawk) and Snowy was complete!

Our sculpture was now our friend. Snowy helped us come up with many ideas for writing stories involving sequencing skills. Snag this writing freebie from Dana Lester here at TPT.

We have written narratives of the adventures of our snowman. We have described him using adjectives and even listed verbs that he would probably do/does at night. We have had many learning experiences from Snowy. Today we incorporated him into our math lesson. We measured Snowy to find out his height. We discovered he was 65 cubes tall (including his mohawk, of course). Then I separated the students into pairs using awesome animal group sorting cards similar to these from Chantel Johnson. I couldn't find my exact set but these cards were a quick and easy way to sort the students. Here is where we predicted how tall he would be: 

We measured him.

Then the students split into their pairs and measured each other using cubes. They recorded their findings on data sheets I created. You can download them for free from Kinder Gardening by A. Scrivner. 

The students worked very well together.

       

                                       
                                      

I am so proud of how much they are learning and growing. I can't wait for our Winter Snowman Party tomorrow to celebrate a successful 1st semester...and Snowy will be the guest of honor!

For lesson planning: I noticed that this activity was a little more advanced for some groups. It would make a great 1st grade or enrichment activity.