This past week was a hard one- we had 2 snow storms, freezing rain, extremely cold weather (-40 degrees Celsius), but we never had a snow day. It was tough to get through the school day when it starts with an extremely stressful drive. I’m glad it’s over, but winter is not even close to being done, so I’m sure we will be dealing with extreme weather again soon!
We still managed to put out some pretty awesome centers, so here is a quick look back on our week:
Winter Soup Sensory Bin
We kept it simple in our sensory bin- there are winter-themed items (foam and plastic snowflakes, clear gems, silver pipe cleaners, cups, and spoons), and we added some water to the bin as the base. I also put a few drops of peppermint extract in the water. It made it smell so fresh, and was a great added sensory experience.
Beginning Sounds
We are still working on our phonics skills with our Year 1 students, and this is great practice for letter formation for our Year 2 students. On the first day, they used the recording sheet with the beginning sound cards.
On the second day, I paired the cards with our magnetic writing boards. Our students love using these because it feels more like playing than writing.
If you would like to use this activity with your class, you can find it here:
Snowflake Fine Motor
I made these pipe cleaner snowflakes, and students were able to use the beads to decorate them.
It is great for fine motor practice, and students can practice pattering, sorting, counting and more skills with this activity!
Snowflake Art
We encouraged our students to create their own snowflakes using white oil pastels on black construction paper. I printed close up pictures of snowflakes that I found by searching on Google, and we also used the book Snowflake Bentley for inspiration.
Once they were done drawing, they wrote a short sentence to describe their snowflakes. Once they were finished, we attached their writing to their picture.
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