January

JANUARY

THEME: WEATHER COLOR: WHITE SHAPE: DIAMOND

OBJECTIVE:
1. To give the children hands on experiences with weather - how it
affects them each day -
what they wear, eat, see, do, etc. How the weather we call
winter changes our activities
and changes things around us.
2. With white - to see that white means NO Color - how when mixed
with other colors can
lighten them.
3. With the diamond - where in their world they can find the
diamond and what can they do
with it.

Blocks:
Making caves - for hibernating animals for shelter.
Making snow forts - (as best as they are understood by your age
group).
Making winter homes for animals - stables, barns, insulated homes.
Recreation places - skating rink - hills for sledding or skiing.
Roads and the winter equipment - plows, scrapers, sand spreaders,
etc.
Weather stations and their equipment.

Art: (Creative Experiences)
White chalk / white paint experiences.
Mixing white with other colors.
Reverse stencils (when lifted away leave a white image). Snowy
day or frosty day pictures.
Snowflake stencils (using a green pepper stamp).
Animal tracks.
Diamond shape (made from two triangles).
Wet sand molds.
Bird feeders (continued from the fall, hopefully).
Ice molds.
Whipped ivory for art/ shaving cream.

Science:
Weather art / weather checks.
Weather instruments - thermometers, weather vanes and rain gauges.
* Note: (for pre-toddlers even a bowl filling up with rain outside
is a rain measurer).
Icebergs in water tables (changing shape, affecting temperature, %
above and below water).
Melting ice in a bowl changing shapes - re-freezing ice (how long
it takes, how it happens).
Various animal coverings - what animals wear to keep warm (fur,
feathers, hair, etc.) and how
it has changed for the
winter.
Frost - walking in it, collecting it, making your own on the
windows.
Winter foods - special things we eat in this season.
Winter foods as stored (when is it hidden?) and used by animals.
Warm water play vs cold water play (with ice?).
Cooking winter foods - squash - soups - stew, etc., warm apple
juice - warm applesauce -
heated fruits.







Literary:
My Snowy Day / Polar Bear / The Arctic Express.
Five Little Snowmen.
Puppet Shows.
Winter sticker stories about children's Christmas vacations.
Winter clothes flannel board stories.
Eskimo folk tales.
Stories about animals that live in the Arctic or Antarctic.
Weather feely bags - with ear muffs, mittens, ice scrapers, ice
cubes, snowballs, etc.
Vocabulary words about weather: Snow, sleet, hail, ice, frost,
mist, fog.
Vocabulary words about colors affected by white - light, lighter,
lightest.

Dramatic Play:
Winter clothes, winter cooking, winter jobs.
Living in a Cave (put a tarp over the housekeeping area, use
sleeping bags).
Skating parties - Ice fishing - Sleigh rides.
Pretending to be animals - Putting on favorite stories as plays.

Music:
Skating music - dancing with streamers.
Frosty the Snowman.
Weather songs (It's Raining, It's Pouring; Here comes the Sun, Jack
Frost, etc.).
Jingle Bells - Sleigh Ride.
Finger Symbols and Auto harp (oriental holiday music).

Outdoor Activities:
Indoor Alternatives:
Snow shoes, sleds, slipping and sliding. *
pretending outdoor moves within the
Follow animal tracks, or make tracks of your own. room, in
the halls.
Frosty breathing, frosty breath running. *
exercise classes.
Fox and geese game.
* dancing.
Outdoor dramatic play in coats. *
paper snowball throwing.
Snack outdoors in winter camping. *
indoor basketball.
Nature walks - compare bare trees to evergreens.
What IS growing now? - what is mistletoe and where is it?

Holiday:
New Year's Day - 1 Jan.; Chinese & Islamic New Year - Between 21
Jan - 19 Feb.
Martin Luther King Birthday - 15 Jan.


Note: For any of these holidays it is appropriate to talk about
the activities, the origins, the customs or
traditions accompanying these holidays, IF there are aspects the
children can grasp. For example, New Year's are a restarting of
the calendar (kind of like a
birthday). Another aspect children can grasp is that
different cultures celebrate with
different traditions, music and instruments. Since all
children love to make music,
you can let the children have a hands-on experience with
different instruments.
Martin Luther King activities may be a part of some
child's family activities. You can
provide opportunities for extending their learning
through practice in dramatic play
or during conversation times. Just keep in mind that as
you plan these activities, the
children's interests need to be your guide . . . go with
it if they are interested!