Mrs. Albanese's Kindergarten Class

Happy new year!

I'm so sorry for the delay with writing this blog post - the annual winter cold hit our family hard these past two weeks and I haven't been feeling 100%. Now that we are back in full swing at school, I'd love to share a few things we have been doing!

HAPPY NEW YEAR CRAFT

We haven't done this craft in a couple of years so we decided to bring it back again.

We used paper towel rolls (cut up and folded on the bottom to make a fan) and dipped them in paint to get the fireworks effect.

Download this activity for FREE by clicking HERE.

GLASS BOTTLE WATER XYLOPHONE

When I tried this activity a few years back it was such a hit so I wanted to bring it back again.

I filled each jar with water of varying amounts and added food colouring.

Can you play a song?

I even had students make their own songs up and record them!

Click HERE if you would like to download this activity!

CAN YOU MAKE A SNOWFLAKE?

We added loose parts and had students make their own snowflakes.

WINTER MATH PROVOCATIONS

We started our graphing unit at the beginning of January (blog post coming soon!) and had students survey their friends if they wore mittens or gloves).

With the JK students, they completed this 1:1 correspondence math booklet counting snowflakes.

You can find these math activities in my "Let's Play - Winter" pack on TpT.

WINTER STORY - LOOSE PARTS

I added a bunch of loose parts that I thought were "wintery" and had students make up their own stories.

SNOWMAN TOWER

These snowmen are made out of cork! They were painted white and we just added a face and nose to make them more realistic.

How tall can you build a tower?

WINTER WONDERLAND DRAMATIC PLAY

Come join us for hot chocolate, skating, ice fishing and more at our Winter Wonderland Dramatic Play centre!

You can find this Winter Wonderland Dramatic Play centre in my TpT store.

FIND IT - WINTER

I made a whole bunch of these "Find It" games recently. I printed the number cards 1-10 and added them to my Pocket Chart Centre.

One card has a snowman hidden behind it.

Students choose a number and see if they can find the snowman!

You can find the "Find It! Winter game" in my TpT store.

WHERE IS THE SNOWMAN?
A POSITIONAL WORDS ACTIVITY
I made this activity a few years back but wanted to modify it to include a few more activities.
Use the large cards as a whole/small group lesson where students can place the snowman card correctly on each card.

Students can cut/paste the snowman onto the worksheet.

My son made this snowman a few years back using a sock and rice! Super easy if you don't have a stuffed toy.

Choose a card and have students demonstrate where to put the snowman stuffed toy based on the action you call (i.e. "On top of the house." - pretend student is house)

You can download this activity for FREE by clicking below.

ANIMAL TRACKS
We have had so much fun playing in the snow in our yard this past week that it's lead us to a discussion about animal tracks in the snow. Whose could they be?
I set up this provocation inviting students to use the large plastic animals and stamp their footprints in the "snow" (white playdough) and match them to the animal track cards.
I downloaded these free animal track cards from Prekinders.

(I know the animal doesn't quite match but these students were so engaged at this centre!)

LIGHT TABLE SHAPE PICTURES
I set up these translucent pattern block shapes at the light table for students to build a picture.

RAINBOW PEBBLES
I absolutely love this activity! It's one the best purchases we bought at our school.
Students can use these rainbow pebbles to create a design inspired by one of the cards or their own!

WINTER ACTIVITES
Since we are in the heart of winter, we have been discussing this season in depth and having fun with games, centres and activities!
We thought of the different things we do, wear and play in the winter versus the summer.

We sorted winter words by syllables.

We played "Roll and Cover the Snowman" -> roll the die, find the number and cover it!

You can find these math activities in my "Let's Play - Winter" pack on TpT.

CHINESE LUNAR NEW YEAR
This weekend some of the children in the class were celebrating Chinese Lunar New Year.
We read these books and learned a lot about the different animals that are in the Chinese zodiac, traditions and symbols.

I set up this Chinese New Year Write the Room activity also!

You can find this Chinese New Year Write the Room activity in my TpT store.

WINTER BINGO
We played Winter Bingo!

I made this game last year and it's a FREE download from this blog post.

MAGNETS
I noticed that the students were rally interested in learning more about magnets as they were using the fishing rods from the Winter Wonderland Dramatic Play centre around the room, searching for things that are magnetic. So I set up this provocation to explore magnets further!