White snow and blue skies are not something we see a lot of here in the winter.
But that does not stop us from making colourful tissue paper winter trees.
This was a multi-step, multi-day project, just as my friend Barb from Grade ONEderful said it would be.
First we painted the sky ( 11 x 14" paper) with watered down blue tempera paint. We have been into painting with sponges when filling in bigger spaces - sponge painting is fast and can create interesting textures.
While our blue sky paint was drying, we glue cut up tissue paper squares onto white paper.
As a concession to our kindergarten-ness, I made three different tree templates for the kids to choose from. They could focus their gluing on the tree spaces rather than filling up the whole paper.
The trees (and trunks that I had created) were glued on. We talked about composition and placement. And then the kids glued them where ever they wanted to!
The last step was adding white or silver snowflakes to the sky. (We have our fingers crossed that we will see some snow this winter!)
Single colour trees, multi-coloured trees, striped trees, and even cut down trees - they look awesome and add some much needed colour to the grey dreariness outside.
We have been singing "Let it go, Let it go, I can't hold it back any more" for a year now.
I have helped sort out many who gets to be Elsa and who gets to be Anna disputes - I suggest that each of their personalities and powers are much too big for one person - and remember, in our class, we are good at sharing. Sometimes it works!
It was time to bring Frozen into the classroom (a bit) - introducing, a Frozen-inspired Sensory bin.
Penguins have got to be the the coolest critters waddling the earth.
They definitely know how to capture the imagination of authors and mere mortals alike.
A mere mortal, I love reading penguin books with my kindergarten kids.
Here are six of my faves. They are all penguin books, but most are not really "about" penguins.
The grass outside is green (and waterlogged), but that does not stop us from being snowman obsessed. One of our favourite books has been All You Need for a Snowman.
We are also learning about Mr Picasso portraits. Today the creative geniuses mad this Mr Picasso portrait at Picasso Head. They appreciate Mr Picasso's desire to break the painting rules!
In kindergarten, snowmen and Mr Picasso are natural partners.
We can make Mr Picasso snowmen!
We looked Mr Picasso's paintings of faces. The eyes are often different from each other. The nose is not in its usual place. The mouth can be on one side of the face, or on both. The ears are different from each other and not balanced on either side of the head. Mr Picasso liked to mix things up.
We also read that Mr Picasso used all sorts of bits and pieces of things to make his sculptures.
So, we can be like Mr Picasso and use all sorts of bits and pieces to make a snowman face.
First you have a snowball.
Add two eyes.
A nose.
A mouth.
Maybe some ears.
That's all you need for a snowman - Mr Picasso style.
This week we have gone black, white and waddling all over.
Black, white and waddling is a great opportunity to focus on non-fiction books. Penguins seem to attract engaging, well written, well illustrated books.
My favourite (making it a perfect choice for Perfect Picture Book Friday) black, white and waddling book is The Emperor's Egg.
written by: Martin Jenkins
illustrated by: Jane Chapman
published by: Candlewick Press (2002)
themes: non-fiction, Emperor penguins
fabulous for children 4-7
The book begins ....
Down at the very bottom of the world, there's a huge island that's almost completely covered in snow and ice. It;s called Antarctica, and it's the coldest, windiest place on earth. The weather's bad enough there in summer, but in winter it's really terrible. It's hard to imagine anything actually living there. But wait ... what's that shape over there? It can't be. YES! It's a PENGUIN.
That introduces us to the hero of the tale: the penguin papa.
The book description states: Can you imagine spending the winter outdoors in Antarctica without anything to eat? That's just what the male emperor penguin does. While his mate of off swimming and catching loads of fish, he stands around in the freezing cold with an egg on his feet for two whole months, keeping it warm and waiting for it to hatch. Welcome to the story of the world's most devoted dad.
I love this book because ....
• it shares a bunch of information about Emperor Penguins and their eggs
• this information is presented in a fun, conversational tone, making me root for the papa penguin, huddled with all the other papas, taking care of his egg
• I celebrated with the papa and the hungry chick when Mom came home - family reunion
• my students loved the editorial comments about Mom and Dad penguin regurgitating for their chick
• the illustrations are naturalistic, giving a good idea about the Antarctic landscape, but are still a whole lot warmer and friendlier than the penguin's environment
• it's a lot of fun to read aloud
• it made me and my students laugh
a few penguin resources
We checked out a few penguin cams. Sea World in San Diego has Emperor penguins in their penguin exhibit - it was our favourite.
We also became YouTube penguin clip junkies.
Birth and March of Emperor Penguins - 6 mins 20 secs
Baby Penguins First Steps - 2 mins
The egg on the top right is an Emperor penguin egg.
source: Seaworld clockwise from top centre: king, emperor, Magellanic, Adelie, and gentoo. King and emperor penguins incubate eggs on the tops of their feet. The elliptical shape fits snugly. If the egg happens to fall off, it will roll in a circle instead of a straight line away from the parent bird.
We made like penguins. The kids decided if they were mama or papa penguins and found a "mate". The mama laid an egg (a bean bag), and carefully passed it over to the papa to keep warm on his feet.
The mamas headed out to see for a long (2 month) lunch. The kids were quite worried about eating fish and krill. I assured them that they did not have to eat anything that they did not like - but I figured that they would like it. (It was fishie crackers and popcorn.)
The eggs started hatching. The papas had to take care of the chick and regurgitate to feed their baby. They had a bit too much fun regurgitating!
The mamas came home full and round with fish and krill. The papas turned over care of the chick to the mamas and headed out to sea.
Since my kidlets were so disgusted/enthralled with regurgitation (it has 5 syllables which make it a pretty cool word), I have to share this poem from Antarctic Antics with you.
Regurgitate
It's been one whole hour since I ate.
Why is my dinner always late.
While you and Mom procrastinate,
I might become a featherweight.
You know what I'd appreciate?
Cough it up Dad! Regurgitate!
Lastly, penguin books are so much more fun with penguin socks.
snow flurries in a bottle Where I live, winter means dull, grey, dreary and rain. Snow is a rare and delightful treat. Since there is no snow on the ground, I thought that I would capture a snow flurry in a bottle.
Luckily I had odds and ends of pearl and silver glitter glue, and silver glitter and a brand spanking new and forgotten bottle of galactic glue. Perfect. Ignore the empty plastic bottle; it isn't supposed to be in the picture!
Glitter in the bottom, followed by some hot water, the glitter glue and more hot water. Stir it all up so that the gitter glue is dissolved in the hot water. I had planned to hot glue the lid on, but it pressure sealed itself for me. I like it when work is done for me! Now the kidlets and I can get our snow fix and watch the flakes swirl even if the weather does not co-operate.
It actually snowed today. For about 25 minutes. And then turned back to rain.
That's our version of winter. Except it's usually just rain.
But that does not stop us from winter fun inside.
The winter sensory bin has been a busy place the last couple of days.
All the usual scooping, pouring, sorting, burying, arranging, patterning, telling stories ... Everything for this sensory bin came from the thrift shop, the dollar store, or lying around the house or classroom.
winter sensory tub ingredients
fake snow for the base
snow globes
sparkly containers
balls with glitter inside
spoons/scoops/tongs
cut up blue, silver and pearl necklaces (broken from the dress up box)
