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Preschool Syllabus: Winter

Our monthly theme this month is "winter" - standard but classic. We will be reading and talking a lot about winter weather and activities. We will also be learning a little about polar regions.

WRITING CENTER ADDITIONS - these items are added to the markers, crayons, and paper that is always available.
letter and winter-theme foam stickers, name stamping 
(pdf via 1+1+1=1), prewriting skill practice
(pdf via confessions of a homeschooler)
skills practiced: fine motor, printing name/letters, 
letter recognition, creativity, phonics

LEARNING "TRAYS" - I rotate these, setting out about four a day from which the boy's can choose.


story sequencing cards - big buddy puts the cards in the correct 
order and then explains the pictures/story to me.
skills practiced: sequencing, communicating thought, vocabulary

fishing for letters and numbers (tutorial and further description
found here
skills practiced: letter and numeral recognition, counting, fine motor,
knowledge of social activities

match rhyming snowflakes (pictures via prekinders)
skills practiced: comparing, phonics, rhyming 

sorting polar and non polar animals (cards via national 
geographic kids)
skills practiced: sorting, comparing, knowledge of animals

snowflake matching (pdf via confessions of a homeschooler)
skills practiced: comparing, sorting

snowman colors (activity via prek + k sharing)
skills practiced: colors, fine motor, sorting

winter size sort (pdf available here)
skills practiced: sizes, vocabulary, ordering

tonging pom pom's - the boys will also use this to practice
patterns
skills practiced: fine motor, patterns, working from left to right

polar region and winter puzzles
skills practiced: fine motor, spatial reasoning, problem solving,

winter-themed pattern puzzles (pdf via prekinders)
skills practiced: fine motor, geometry, spatial reasoning

snowball numbers (pdf via 1+1+1=1)
skills practiced: counting, fine motor, numeral recognition 

clothes-pinning numbers
skills practiced: counting, fine motor, numeral recognition

lacing mitten (mitten is card-stock glued onto a cereal box)
skills practiced: fine motor 

snow play-dough
skills practiced: fine motor, creativity

winter sensory bin (fake snow, tin lined with foil colored blue,
 shovel, and polar figures)
skills practiced: imagination, creativity, fine motor, knowledge of 
polar regions

don't break the ice
skills practiced: social, fine motor, cause and effect, logical reasoning

painting with polar animal stencils (stencils are from michaels)
skills practiced: creativity, fine motor, knowledge of polar animals 

So far we have been enjoying this unit. The boys especially love ice fishing and playing Don't Break the Ice.  Now if only the weather would cooperate, we could enjoy a few "real" winter activities.

P.S. To see our other winter unit please click here. You can visit our homeschool page for more theme units and educational ideas. 

Lots more great kid friendly ideas can also be found at these link parties: Link and LearnWeekly Kid Co-opMontessori MondayHip Homeschool HopPreschool CornerFor the Kids Fridays, and Show and Share Saturday. 

Comments

  1. wow! so many wonderful ideas! i love the winter tangrams! thanks for stopping by to check out my sensory bin! i'm also a new follower!

    andie @ crayonfreckles

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great set of activities! Thanks for sharing!

    Lisa
    Criss-Cross Applesauce

    ReplyDelete
  3. You have done lots of great activities. Thanks for the inspiration. From montessori Monday hop.

    Veronica @ http://watchmeplaynlearn.blogspot.com/2012/01/week-19-day-3-fluffy-white-stuff.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. The lacing mitten is so cute! Great ideas!

    Aesthetic Lounge

    ReplyDelete
  5. Some wonderful ideas! Thank you for sharing and inspiring a bit for the preschool mom as well!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rachel, you are so sweet! Your comments made me smile. I am so glad I am not the only one with dirty snow play dough!

    I hope you will come share all these wonderful ideas at WOTT this week!

    his4homeschooling.blogspot.com/2012/01/whats-on-tray-wednesday-2.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great ideas! I just recently discovered your blog and it is very inspiring. I plan on trying many of your activities with my preschooler. I am wondering where did you find your plastic trays? I've been looking everywhere for some colorful trays, but all I find are either too big or too small.
    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. phoenix house painter Fantastic goods from you, man. I have understand your stuff previous to and you are just too excellent. I really like what you have acquired here, really like what you’re saying and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it wise. I cant wait to read much more from you. This is really a great site.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your trays are great! I just spent way more time then I should have poking around on your site and pinning ideas for my tot and preschooler. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Lisa
    Criss-Cross Applesauce

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you for the inspiration. I love the winter theme and I can use many of these activity with my tot. I am pinning these and many other from your site to my boards for setting up tot trays. Thanks to Pinterest.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ohhh my goodness... You have such lovely inspirational displays here. I am so inspired to make my own count n clip cards now :D GOD Bless and Thank You ever so kindly for all you share so freely!

    ReplyDelete

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