Winter Wonderland

The transition back to school after the holidays can be difficult especially for kids with special needs. To help make the change from video games and hot chocolate to reading and math, we transformed our room into a Winter Wonderland. I find that in an educational world of high stakes testing and pressure to perform, we often neglect our students natural abilities and interests. Never underestimate the ability to engage children with some of THEIR interests. I find that having a relatable theme can build on prior knowledge, inspire playfulness and encourage curiosity AND meet common core standards/TEKS.
So here's how we integrated our theme with learning standards:

Reading:
I printed out and laminated these super cute alphabet penguins with lower and upper case letters. The set also includes pictures to match beginning sounds with letters.

Access these cute penguins at my TeachersNotebook @ http://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/misscaroline

We also read Snowy Day and of course made "snow". This recipe is so easy and magically stays cold for several days. We saved ours in a ziplock bag.

Recipe:
1 can shaving cream
3 small boxes or 1 large box of baking soda
Mix in a large bowl or tub. Add more or less baking soda to reach desired texture. We made ours like moon sand.


We built snowmen and used this for our writing prompt- How to Build a Snowman

Recommended Books:
There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow
The Mitten
Snowmen All Year
Tacky the Penguin
Snowy Day

Sensory Learning:
Winter sensory bin- rice, peppermint extract, silver glitter.

My kids love this activity and it smells amazing! I put in a dump truck and some shovels along with shapes and letters. We tied this in with Katy the Snow Plow- a great read on a cold, snowy day.

Math:
Number snowflakes compliments of 3Dinosaurs (great resources!) in prep cups. Students use tongs to put the correct number of objects in each cup. You can use candy, beans, pom poms depending on the fine motor skills of your students.

Fine Motor on Fun Friday:
This week we watched a short clip of Curious George on Ice. We learned that a smaller igloo holds heat better than a big igloo. Then we built our own. Tape, newspaper, dixie cups, glue and marshmallows.

Shape the igloo with newspaper and tape lose ends. We used dixie cups cut in half as the opening to the igloos.

Stack marshmallows from bottom to top in a circular direction. We used white glue to stick everything together. If you take off the marshmallows once they are on, be prepared for sticky fingers. Also, if you put too much pressure on the marshmallows by squeezing more in, the bottom layers may fall. 

One of my sweet students loving this project!

Classroom Management:
One of our favorite things in our classroom is the store. Students earn money for various tasks and completed objectives throughout the day. In the afternoon, they can shop in the store. This is such a fun way to teach cause/effect, counting, saving vs. spending, developing oral language and so much more.

Super easy...cardboard box and felt. I used white sparkle felt so I can change the decorations and store name with each theme. For the winter unit, we opened the "Snow Shack".