January 9: Preschool Storytime: Winter

(Reminder note: When it is time to read a story, I read the titles of three books and then display them. The children pick which one we read. The three fictional ones listed below are the ones they picked. Additional picture book ideas are listed at the bottom.)

Opening song:                                                     (Tune: "The Farmer in the Dell")

                         We tap hola like this

                         We tap hola like this

                          Hi-ho cherry

                          We tap hola like this

                          Continue with other verses:

                          We drop hola like this...

                          We circle hola like this...

                          We spin hola like this...

                          We toss hola like this...

                           We roll hola like this...

There are four seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter. Fall ended right before Christmas. It is now winter. I discussed some of the signs of winter

Held up W and w
Talked about sound of Ww
Talked about things that start with w
Make a lowercase w in the air
Put the alphabet chart on the floor. Let each child take the pointer and point to the letter Ww.


BOOK #1: "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats

I passed out copies of the words to all of the songs about winter. I told the children to find a letter Ww on the page and show it to his/her parent. I put out clip art of five snowflakes before starting the song.

MOVEMENT SONG: (We sang the song first all in English. Then we sang a few of the words in Spanish.)

“Five Little Snowflakes”

Five little/cinco pequeños snowflakes
Dancing here and there.
Then one little/un pequeño snowflake blew away in the air!

Four little/cuatro pequeños snowflakes
Dancing here and there.
Then one little/un pequeño snowflake blew away in the air!

Three little/tres pequeños snowflakes
Dancing here and there.
Then one little/un pequeño snowflake blew away in the air!

Two little/dos pequeños snowflakes
Dancing here and there.
Then one little/un pequeño snowflake blew away in the air!

One little/un pequeño snowflake
Dancing here and there.
Then that little snowflake blew away in the air!

Zero little snowflakesDancing here and there.
Not one to be found in the air
Cause five/cinco little/pequeño snowflakes have fallen to the ground!

BOOK: "Waiting for Snow" by Marsha Diane Arnold

Action song using snowflakes: (Before singing, I gave each child one or two clip art snowflakes.)

“Ten Little Snowflakes”
(Tune: 10 Little Indians”)

One/un little, two/dos little, three/tres little snowflakes
Four/cuatro little, five/cinco little, six/seis little snowflakes
Seven/siete little, eight/ocho little, nine/nueve little snowflakes
Ten/diez little snowflakes on my tongue! (stick tongue out, and pretend to lick snowflake)

One/un little, two/dos little, three/tres little snowflakes
Four/cuatro little, five/cinco little, six/seis little snowflakes
Seven/siete little, eight/ocho little, nine/nueve little snowflakes
Ten/diez little snowflakes on my hat! (pat head with snowflake)

One/un little, two/dos little, three/tres little snowflakes
Four/cuatro little, five/cinco little, six/seis little snowflakes
Seven/siete little, eight/ocho little, nine/nueve little snowflakes
Ten/diez little snowflakes on my mittens! (hold out hands to hold your snowflake)

One/un little, two/dos little, three/tres little snowflakes
Four/cuatro little, five/cinco little, six/seis little snowflakes
Seven/siete little, eight/ocho little, nine/nueve little snowflakes
Ten/diez little snowflakes on my boots! (put snowflake on shoes)

BOOK: "Hoot and Peep: A Song for Snow" by Lita Judge

Goodbye song:                                                    (Tune: "The Farmer in the Dell") 

                         We tap adios like this

                         We tap adios like this

                          Hi-ho cherry

                          We tap adios like this

                          Continue with other verses:

                          We drop adios like this...

                          We circle adios like this...

                          We spin adios like this...

                          We toss adios like this...

                           We roll adios like this...

Craft Time:  

I modeled the rainbow writing page for letter Ww, the Ww dot page, and the craft before the children starting working on them. Before starting the craft, the children write the given letter using 3 different colors of crayons. I have attached a link to the free rainbow writing letters I used. Completing the dot page is optional.

You can find free rainbow writing letters here. Since they are free, they lack a dot for where to start. print one off, add the dots with a black marker, and then make copies of that one. You can find the dot pages here. 

Click here for a link for letter formation prompts for capital and lowercase letters. Children need to spend more time working on the lowercase letters than on the capital letters.




Craft: Tape Resist Salt Painting
Two combined sources: https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/97862/winter-preschool-art
and https://artprojectsforkids.org/winter-birch-trees/

Materials:
1. 11 by 17 paper cut to 11 by 12 in size
2. Blue painter's tape
3. Table salt
4. Set of 8 watercolor paints
5. White tempera paint
6. Scissors
7. Cup of water

My example

Step 1: Make border with tape. (I prepared the borders in advance.)
Then make design with tape.

Step 2: Cover white areas with watercolor paint. 
While they are still wet, sprinkle these areas with salt.

Step 3: Remove tape.

Step 4: Dip  other end of watercolor brush in white paint to make snow dots.

Step 5: Add bark edges to the left and right sides of the tree.

*All photos are with parent permission.

You can find additional winter craft ideas for preschoolers here.

I always let the children pick which three books I read from the ones I bring with me. These are some additional suggested books that the children didn't pick:

1. "Curious George in the Snow" by Margaret and H. A. Rey
2. "Stella: Queen of the Snow" by Marie Louise Gay
3. "If It's Snowy and You Know It, Clap Your Paws"by Kim Norman
4. "The Twelve Days of Winter" by Deborah Lee Rose
5. "The Jacket I Wear in the Snow" by Shirley Neitzel
6. "Fancy Nancy: There's No Day Like a Snow Day" by Jane O'Connor
7. "Big Snow" by Jonathan Bean
8. "Goodbye Autumn, Hello Winter" by Kenard Pak