Around Our Schoolroom: Winter

This past month we've been learning a little bit about winter - original, I know! We've done a winter theme is the past and I've been rotated some of those activities on our shelves as well as adding some new ones. In addition to my three kids (2, 4, & 6) I also babysit a 5-year-old girl. These activities are designed for their various ability levels. For my oldest, Big Buddy, these are a supplement to his first grade curriculum. Here are the new items I have added, you can see our previous winter theme unit, here. 

Language

lower case and capital letter mitten matching: i've hung a rope across one of our doorways and 
the children match the letters and then use the clothespins to hang them. 
*i've made the pdf available here.

homophone mitten matching: follows the same process listed above but with homophones.
I have made the pdf available here.

snowball letters: depending on the child, they can either put them in alphabetical order or 
we spell their names for them to fill in. 
*the cards are from, early learning activities. i printed two per page so they'd be a bit smaller.

animal beginning letter match: children use clothespins to mark the correct beginning letter.
*i've made the pdf available here.

snowball sight word game - children pull out a snowball, build the letter on snowballs, and 
then write the word. 
*the game is from, first grade parade.  pdf is available here.

Math - 

hibernating cave bears: children match bears to corresponding cave holes. 
*the caves are lunch sacks, glued to construction paper, and covered with fake snow. 

snowflake counting: i discovered that our snowflakes fit perfectly in to our unit cube tray. 

snowflake number recognition: children first put numbers in order and then cover them 
with the correct number of snowflakes
*pdf is from 1+1+1=1

snowflake addition and multiplication: children use snowflakes to represent the equations.
*using these and other counters have been partially helpful in big buddy grasping the concept of multiplication. 

Science/Social Studies -

winter animal nomenclature cards: depending on the child they either match the animal to the 
correct card or use the two piece cards and match the word and animal to the picture card.
*i've made pdf available here. besides the penguins these cards align with the safari ltd arctic toob

adapt, hibernate, and migrate sorting
*this pdf is available from montessori print shop for $2.79

animal prints track book
*this pdf is available for free from montessori for everyone

season clothing sorting
*this pdf is available for free from montessori for everyone

Creativity/Sensory - 

additions to our art cart: foam stickers, snowflake hole puncher, snowflake stencils. 
*these materials are available for the kids to use at anytime/anyway they wish. 

snow play-dough and snowflake cookie cutters. 
*play-dough is homemade play-dough with glitter added

snowman building: makeup pads, foam pieces, pipe cleaners, buttons, ribbons, scrapbook paper 
hats, and matchsticks. 
*thanks to happy hooligans for the idea

moldable snow and arctic animals
*the snow is cornstarch and vegetable oil, about a 4/1 ratio, with glitter mixed in. we didn't have any baby oil 
but that can be used instead of vegetable oil for a whiter appliance. 

Hoping to post a list of our favorite winter books soon. If you are looking for more ideas be sure to check out our homeschool page where you can find other winter themed activities and crafts.