What are you doing for Groundhog Day?  You can start today by making this educational and interactive bulletin board.  Or make this a huge wall display in your hallway and get other students and passersby excited and involved.  Click on the link at the end of the list to print/view all of the Groundhog Day bulletin board templates.

On the left is a photo of a small construction paper placement picture I made, so you can get an idea of the way things are laid out. 

• Cut your caption out of die cut letters from an Ellison machine or type them out on your computer, cut them out and staple them across the top of your b. board.  
• A title can be: Will Phil See His Shadow?  Will The Groundhog See His Shadow?  _______________'s Class Counts Down to February 2nd. What's Your Guess? or whatever else you may come up with.  
• On the top of the bulletin board staple light blue paper for the sky, on the bottom attach light brown paper for the earth.
• Cut out a few hills of snow to scatter here and there. To make them sparkle, brush on some Elmer’s glue and apply to the edges.  Sprinkle with opalescent glitter.
• Using a darker shade of brown, make a large hill for a burrow.  Staple this to one side of your b. board.
• Add texture by ripping up some pieces of sand paper, or scrunching up various shades of tissue paper and stapling these to the burrow.
• Show the hole area by drawing it with a black magic marker, or cut an oval out of large construction paper.  
• Before stapling the burrow to the side of your bulletin board cut a slit in the top where the hole is, so that you can insert “Phil” on February 2^nd.

• Enlarge my drawing of Phil by using an overhead projector and trace him on another shade of brown paper.   You can add dimension by coloring him with markers or crayons, and adding a large wiggle eye.

• Print a copy of my “Do Not Disturb!” sign, mount it on construction paper, punch holes in each corner, and tie a piece of colorful yarn to each hole. Tack on to the front of the burrow with a thumbtack.
• Print off the Woodchuck Chatter Newspaper sheet and glue it to the back of the Do Not Disturb sign.  On February 2^nd flip over this sign.  Affix the yes or no answer to the empty box.
• Cut out a large white cloud and large yellow sun.  Place both of these in the sky, one in each corner.   You can add dimension to the sun using crepe paper streamers as rays.  You can add dimension to the cloud by having your students help you pull apart cotton balls and glue them to the cloud.  You can also scrunch up white tissue paper and staple that to the cloud.

• Run off copies of the groundhog prediction page.  Have your students TRACE then WRITE the sentence, make their prediction and then color their groundhog.  Make sure they sign their name at the top of their paper.

• If your b. board is in the hallway, make a copy of your class composite and have students glue their school photo next to their prediction.
• Mount students’ groundhogs on a variety of colored construction paper and staple them to the opposite side of your bulletin board of where you have your burrow.
• Print off my groundhog prediction graph and display that on your b.board as well.

• Tie a yarn loop to a plastic sheet protector, attach it to your bulletin board with a tack and hang it on the opposite end of the Do Not Disturb sign. Print off the Groundhog Day Countdown label and glue it to a piece of construction paper.  Cut it out and staple it above the countdown sheet protector. Print the Groundhog Countdown number pages, cut them out and glue them to construction paper, insert them inside the sheet protector from 10 to 0. Assign this as one of your daily jobs. Your students will have fun changing the numbers as they count down to February 2^nd.

• On February 2^nd insert the last number card in the countdown, flip over the Do Not Disturb sign, announce the news, affix the appropriate label, insert Phil and see how many of your students were correct. I think a big “Hooray!” for Phil is appropriate as well as for everyone who participated.
  

• This photo of Phil courtesy of the Punxsutawney Pennsylvania site's photo album.

• Follow the event up by clicking on the official site and watching what took place for the real Phil at  the official Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Website. You can also check out  the Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania site, Phil’s home.  They have an Interactive Fun section with a Groundhogese Translator, which allows children to type in a phrase and have it translated into the original “groundhog-speak”. Click on the audio and hear a rendering of Groundhogese! Other activities include Ask the Groundhog and Send a Post Card.

• 
• If you’d like a nice compare and contrast activity, check out a Canadian site and have your students compare our northern neighbors'  Wiarton Willie the groundhog from the town of South Bruce Peninsula in Canada with USA’s Pennsylvania’s Phil. You could use a Venn diagram for this activity.  Click on the link to print/view this groundhog comparison contrast Venn diagram activity. 
• 
  
• If you want to make the Groundhog Day bulletin board above, Click on the link to view/print all of the Groundhog Day bulletin board templates.

I hope you have a groundhog great time with these activities!

As always, I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com

Brrr-illiant Winter Writing

Even if your students aren’t from a state of ice and snow, they can put on their thinking caps and pretend. Simply “take them there” by reading them stories about frigid and frosty places.

Ice is Nice

Brainstorm what kinds of things you can do on the ice, like skate, go ice fishing, have your sled pulled behind a tractor, play hockey, take a walk, snowmobile across the lake/river etc.  Discuss safety and not venturing out on thin ice, always being out on the ice with a buddy etc.  Have students cover a 5x7 sheet of tag board with aluminum foil.  On a piece of white paper, they draw a picture of themselves doing an activity on the ice, color, cut and then glue it to their "aluminum ice pond".  They write a sentence underneath with a blue permanent marker: "On the ice I like to...."

Marvelous Mittens

After reading a story about playing in the snow, have your students make a class mitten book.  Draw a large mitten on a sheet of paper and run it off on a variety of colored construction paper on a Duplo machine, or make a template out of tag board and have your students trace and cut one out.  Have children decide what's their favorite thing to do in the snow, and then have them complete the sentence: My mittens keep me warm when I... They draw a picture of themselves doing that activity in the middle of the mitten.  Collect the mittens, punch a hole in the bottom left hand corner and tie with a fat piece of yarn for a cute class book, or string a clothesline across a bulletin board that you have stapled snowflake wrapping paper on for a background and use clothespins to hang up each student's mitten. Click on the mitten link below for a template and cover for your book. 

I do another mitten writing class book after reading Jan Brett’s story The Mitten. {amazonWS:itemId=0399252967}For a dramatic play extension of this story I use animal masks that I bought from Oriental Trading. I made a huge white mitten out of a piece of tag board. I use this as the “flap door” for my wiggle-worm tunnel, which I've thrown a white sheet over.

Jan Brett has a wonderful site www.janbrett.com Listed under her activities tab, you can print off the animals for this story.  I laminated these and put a scratchy Velcro dot on the back. I pass these out to my students and we sequence the story on a flannel board. You could also use magnet strip and do this on your white board.

After reading the story,  we scramble up the pictures and see if we can remember their order. When we do, the first set of children don an animal mask and crawl into the mitten. When all the animals are snug inside, we count to 100 by 10's and then they exit out of the back, giving their mask to another child, until everyone has had a turn.

It's a nice way to get the wiggles out and be dramatic at the same time.  If you don't have a tunnel, see if your gym teacher or pre school does or simply drape the sheet over a table with your mitten safety pinned to the front.

As a writing extension, I have my students write on a large white mitten: "I felt _________ inside the mitten." They color, cut and glue the picture of the animal they were to their mitten.  I staple the mittens together and make a class book.  Click on the link for a template and cover for your book.  Mitten templates for both class books.  

Writing is “Snow” Much Fun!

After reading a story about a snowman, (Snowmen At Night by Caralyn Buehner, is a great book) have your students gather around and sing Frosty the Snowman.  Make a pattern of a small, medium, and large circle and have them cut them out and glue them together stacking them in the shape of a snowman. Add a square and a rectangle to make the hat, and a triangular carrot nose and you can review shapes.  Have students add the rest of the facial features.  Now, have them brainstorm what they would like to do with their snowman if he really could come to life!

Inside the middle "tummy" circle have your students write: When my snowman came to life he... In the bottom tummy circle have them draw a picture of their snowman doing that activity with them.  To make this a keepsake, run off a copy of your class composite picture and cut their pix in the shape of an oval.  Have them glue their picture on the head of the figure that they have drawn to represent themselves playing with their snowman. 

Staple navy blue bulletin board paper at the top of your bulletin board (for a night time affect) then cut some white "hills" from fluffy blanket bunting that they sell in bags at Christmas time or at fabric stores and staple it to the bottom of the board. Staple your students Frosty Snowmen "...over the hills of snow!"  You could add some extra zip by splattering the navy paper with white paint, using a tooth brush, for a blizzard affect, and then sprinkling opalescent glitter on the top of the paint while it is wet. 

Or...put your student's snowmen in a class book by having them glue their Frosty to a navy sheet of construction paper. 

Slip Slidin’ Away…

After reading 10 On A Sled, (See January Books of The Month post.) or another story about tobogganing or sliding down the hillside. Pass out strips of multi-colored construction paper. (Toboggans).  Discuss how your students’ felt when they went sledding, or road on a roller coaster or went speeding on their bike.  Talk about descriptive words that they could use to describe those feelings and then have them trace and then complete the sentence: Wheee! Sliding down the hill I felt ... on their toboggan.  There's space to the left if you want to include their class photo.  Add a title page, staple and then read the booklet to the class. Click on the link for a toboggan template.

It’s Great To Skate And Write!

Another winter activity that is fun for students is skating.  Making an ice skate is also fun; so why not turn it into a writing activity?  Click on the link to make a Skate template.  Punch holes in the skate so your students can get some fine motor skills in by lacing a piece of yarn through each hole.   Tape their yarn ends at the back. Have them insert another piece at the top and tie a bow. For the blade of the skate, students wrap a narrow piece of aluminum foil over a jumbo Popsicle stick and glue it to the tabs of the skate.  Students write their name at the top of the skate. Write the following sentences on the board for your students to choose one, copy it on their skate and then complete the sentence:  I like to skate because… or skating makes me feel…… or I wish I could skate because…….

I’m Hooked On Writing!

My 3 and 5 year old grandson’s love to go ice fishing! Even though some of your students may never have had that opportunity, they will have fun making a straw pole and catching a construction paper fish for this writing activity.  Purchase a box of neon-colored drinking straws. They sell them at The Dollar Store.  Run off the copy of the fish on multi-colored construction paper and have your students complete the sentence: “I’m hooked on ______________ because __________.” or “____________ is _____________.” or make up your own prompt.  Punch a hole at the top of the fish and tie a piece of yarn to it that is then attached to the straw fishing pole.  If you want your students to have a little "snip & cut" scissor practice, have them cut the lines on the fins of their fish.

Put a long sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of your bulletin board. Have students cut out an oval “ice hole”, brush on some white glue and sprinkle with opalescent glitter. They color and cut out their bundled-up figure.  They could also pull apart some cotton balls and glue the "fluffy stuff" around the hood, cuffs, and hem of the child's coat for added dimension.  Teacher runs off their class photo on the copy machine, and cuts their faces into ovals.  Students glue them to their figure.  Put children fishing on the b. board, holding their hooked fish over their ice hole. Title can be: “Fishing for Compliments.” Or “Hooked on Writing.”    Click on the link to print/view Hooked on Writing templates

You Send Me!

Show your students a variety of postage stamps and explain the concept as well as how much it costs to mail a valentine.  Pass out the template and have them design their own stamp.  Ask them if they could write a letter to anyone in the world, who would they write a letter to and why, then have them complete the sentence at the bottom.  Fill in the title page and mount it on construction paper for a cute class book your students will LOVE making and reading. Click on the link to print/view a You Send Me stamp template booklet.

Yay! It’s 100 Day!

We make several class books for 100 Day. I do one each day the week we will be celebrating our 100^th Day, and then one on 100 Day.  We make a book for  If  I had 100 Dollars I would buy… another for  I could eat 100 ---------, but I could not eat 100 ________________  as well as  I would like 100 _____________ in my room, but not 100 _______________ ! Our last activity is:  Our Class' 100 Wishes.  This makes a cute book or b. board.  

My class of Y5's always tops off at 20 so it's easy to divide that into 100.  Everyone gets five wishes.  I cut out yellow construction paper stars on a die-cut machine.  We sit on our Circle of Friends carpet and discuss making a wish on a star. I teach them the rhymes: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as well as Star Light - Star Bright.  I play Disney's "When You Wish Upon A Star" song from Pinocchio, while they work on their writing.  I jot down what their wishes are on their star.  Later they glue their school photo to their star, and we hang them in the hallway with the equation 5 x 20 = 100 wishes for 100 Day.  

In all of the class books my students draw a picture under the captions.  I have them trace the words and then write them, completing the sentence.  Their ideas are quite hilarious.  I make covers for each of the books, glue them to construction paper, staple them together, and then read them during story time at the end of the day.  Click on the link for 100 Day class books.

I display our class books on a table during Parent-Teacher conferences. In June,  I take each child’s contribution out of each book and make their own “big book”. This makes a great keepsake of all the writing that they did for the year.

Whatever you're doing to warm kids up to writing this month,

I hope you have a simply wonderful time! 

Are you trying to stay healthy during the winter months?  A great way to do that is to teach your students to cough and sneeze in their elbow.  Why, because they usually don't have a tissue handy to sneeze in.  

I actually practice this with my students! Don’t laugh.  Practice not only makes perfect, it makes for less sniffling on my part and fewer sick days!  I explain to my students that they can’t get germs on their hands from sneezing and coughing if they’re doing it in their elbows.

To demonstrate how germs get on our hands I shake some talcum powder on mine telling my students that this is like a sneeze sprinkling germs on their hands.  I rub my hands together as if to “rub out” the germs. Then I shake a few of my students hands, “sneeze” some more talcum powder on mine, until I have finally grasped all of my students' hands and given each of them some “sniffles” of talcum powder germs.

Now we file into our huge storage closet.  I turn on a black light bar and say, “Are you ready for me to turn the big light off so we can see the germs on our hands?”  They are amazed at how the black light makes everyone’s hands glow with germs!  The light goes back on, as well as the light bulb in their heads as to the importance of NOT sneezing into their hands.

A fun story to read after this experiment is The Flea’s Sneeze by Lynn Downey.  The illustrations by Karla Firehammer are adorable.  This poor little flea doesn't have a tissue either, and no one's taught him about sneezing in his elbow; so what do you think is going to happen to the other animals in the barn?  

{amazonWS:itemId=0805088687}

I scan the pictures of the animals, laminate them and cut them out, adding a scratchy Velcro dot to the back.   Before I read the story I pass them out to my students.  When we come to that character in the story that child puts the animal on the flannel board.  You could also put a piece of magnet strip on the back and use your white board.   I’ve also made a huge “Ah-choo” sign that I attach to a flyswatter.  When I hold it up all of the children sneeze in their elbow. At the end of the story when the pig is about to sneeze, I hold up the sign again and we sneeze in our elbows once more.  Click on the link to print off a copy of a barn, some animals and an "Achoo!", so that you can make manipulatives to tell the story.  Storytelling manipulatives

For discussion I ask them why they think the pig is sneezing?  Did he cover his mouth or sneeze in his elbow?   I ask them if they think any of the other animals in the barn will also get sick and why?  Does that happen in their family too one another member has a cold?

As children get the hang of sneezing and coughing in their elbow I encourage them by saying: “Thank you for sneezing/coughing in your elbow Kelli.”  Let’s everyone practice that.”

A nice graphing extension for January is to keep track of how many children are absent and present each day; you could then compare it with February.  As a math extension after the story, we graph which was our favorite animal character . Click on the link for my graphs.

Children can all identify with having the sniffles and being sick.  Why not take advantage of that and make a class book.  Click on the link for my class Ah-Choo booklet 

In September I ran an article about staying healthy.  Check it out for some great tips!

If you'd like to compare and contrast this book with another, a great choice would be The Napping House by Amanda Goodman.  Here a woman is sleeping with all sorts of animals in her bed with a naughty little flea on top that wakes the first creature up with a bite! 

I wish you a wonderful winter season and just incase you’re sneezing right now...

“Bless you!”

An Old Favorite:

Title: Bear Snores On

Author: Karma Wilson

Illustrator: Jane Chapman

Price: $9.95

Gist:  "In a cave in the woods, in his deep, dark lair, through the long, cold winter sleeps a great brown bear."

• A sleeping bear "snores" or sleeps "on" as the title implies all the while animals in the forest, who do not hibernate, take shelter in his cave. They gather around a cozy campfire to eat and keep warm,  having a wonderful time 'til they wake him up in a rather unusual way.

Why I LOVE It:

• This book is one of a collection of "bear books" from this author.  I have collected them all!   I like books that have addditional stories in a series because my students often say "Read it again! Read it again!" because they enjoy the book so much.  These adorable bear books are a favorite of theirs and having a collection gives me a variety of books to read. (Bear Stays Up for Christmas, Bear Wants More, Bear's New Friend, Bear Feels Sick, and Bear Feels Scared are her other bear books. ) You can see them all on her amazon author page.
  
• The main character is a brown bear and that fits in perfectly with my "hibernating bear theme" that continues through January and is celebrated with a Winnie the Pooh pajama party day as we are now studying the letter P as well. 
• The text is rhyming.  The lyrical verse is fun to read and my Y5's enjoy listening to it.  Rhyming is one of my report card standards so I especially enjoy the teachable moments reading a rhyming book presents.  I will read a sentence and then pause for my students to fill in the appropriate rhyming word.  Even if they don't get the exact one the author has in mind (which they almost always do) they are still thinking of other rhyming words! Karma Wilson says that she "loves to write in rhyme because she thinks that well written rhyme naturally teaches children to expand their vocabulary and love books and reading."  I agree.
  
• Jane Chapman is one of my favorite illustrators and her animals are absolutely adorable.  They dance and prance on the page and seem to come to life.  My students also find them quite fascinating.  The pictures are great for showing the various emotions of the animal characters.  They are happy and carefree, then they wake the bear and are frightened, they are also sympathetic and caring, and finally extremely tired and pooped out after all of their frolicking.  Jane portrays all of these beautifully. 

Story Telling Tips:

• As stated above, pause while reading so that your students can fill in the rhyming word. As a rhyming lesson, after you have read the story, write the rhyming words on the board and have the children think of more words that rhyme.
  
• I scan the pages of the book that have the animal characters on them, laminate and cut them out and then put a piece of scraatchy Velcro or magnet strip on the back.  I pass these out to my students and when we come to that character in the story they put it on my flannel or white board.  After I get done reading I mix up the animals and we see if we can put them in the proper order in which they first appeared in the story.
  
• I also use these animals in a word identification activity.  I place them in a vertical line and then say the animals name.  I ask the children what letter they think the animal's name begins with and then I write it on the board.  When we get all of their names on the board then we alphabetize their names writing them in numerical order going reviewing ordinal numbers.  If you have older students, pass the animals out to the students and see if they can place the animal next to their correct name. You could add these animal names to your word wall.
  
• Many of these animals are easily found as stuffed animals at garage sales.  Simply slit open the bottom portion of the animal.  Take the stuffing out of the arms and body, leaving the head stuffed and you'll have an "instant" puppet to use while telling the story, or give to your students to help you tell the story with. 
  
• Using my clipart animals, print off a set of animals, laminate and cut them out.  Attach to Popsicle sticks with a hot glue gun or use glue dots.  Pass them out to your students so that each child has an animal.  When you come to the page where that animal is featured, have those students raise and wave their Popsicle stick, and if they can think of an animal noise, pretend to be that animal.
  Clipart Animals
• Allow children to wear a paper plate animal bear mask.  Have them roll up in blankets and pretend to be hibernating bears. Teacher will designate when she wants them to sneeze and wake up growling and cranky pretending to be the bear in the story.  To "sooth" my crabby bears I pass out teddy grahams.  If you get the multi-colored box it has 3 shades of brown bears which are great for a sorting or patterning math activity.  Dunking these bears in a bit of honey is also a delicious snack. I'm always surprised that quite a few of my little ones have never tasted honey.

Art Activity: Bear paper plate mask.

Skill Sheets: I've designed some math extensions and included a graphing sheet as well as an animal addition exercise + several language arts skill sheets to help with reading, writing and alphabetizing! Enjoy. Click on the link to view/print. Skill sheets

Magic Trick: I use my change bag and show my students that it is empty.  I give one of them a small brown bear and they drop him in the bag.  Everyone says: "Go hibernate." So that word continues to become part of their vocabulary, I have them repeat it 3 times.  We take a peek to make sure he is sleeping and all pretend to snore like the bear in the story.  Then we say: "Wake up! It's springtime." I punch out the bag to show them that the bear has indeed awoke and left the cave! Where do you think he went?  He's hungry of course; so he went to go look for food.

Visit Karma Wilson's website and check out her other great books.  I always check to see if the authors I feature have websites and then I'll provide a link to them.  I was pleased to find out that Karma also has some cute ideas for teachers/parents to do with her books.  Click on the link to check them out.  They include some for Bear Snores On! Ideas 

Our illustrator, Jane Chapman, one of my all-time favorites, does not have her own website, but can be contacted via this site.

January is the perfect month to curl up with a good book!  I hope you enjoy some snuggle time with your favorite cub(s).

Be sure to scroll down & check out our FREE easy reader for this month!

What Can I Write About In January? 

January is the Month of Resolutions.  Look that word up in the dictionary. Think of 2 or 3 resolutions that you will or won’t do this year and then explain why you will and won't do them.

January 1-7^th is Celebration of Life Week.  Here are some ideas for that: Tell me in a paragraph why you are glad you are alive. Or… What do you hope to accomplish in your life that will make other people want to celebrate? Or… There used to be a show called “This is Your Life ______!” If you were on that show what would they say about your life thus far?

January 2-8^th is “Someday We’ll Laugh About This Week!”  Write about things that make you laugh, or an event or something that happened to you, that you and your friends are already laughing about.

January 8-14^th is Universal Letter Writing Week.  Write a letter to anyone you want that is living or dead, famous or not, talking about something that is important to you.

January 9-15^th is Home Office Safety & Security Week.  Since 9-11 things have really changed in our world. Do you feel safe at school?  Do you feel safe at home? Why or why not?  What things make you feel safe?  What things are being done to make you feel safe? What can you do personally to make yourself feel safer?

Janury 9-15^th is International Snowmobile Safety and Awareness Week. Have you ever ridden on or driven a snowmobile? Tell me about it.  If not, would you like to? Why or why not?   Or… What’s your favorite winter activity? Why?

January 15-17^th is Bald Eagle Appreciation Days.  This is our National Bird.  When our country was choosing one Benjamin Franklin argued that the turkey would be a better choice.  How would you have voted and why?  Or… The Bald Eagle was near extinction because of the use of DDT. Write about your thoughts on how so many species are endangered. What do you think can you as a student can do about this problem?

January 16^th-22^nd is International Printing Week: Do you read the newspaper? Why or why not? Do you think it’s important for young people to listen to the news and be informed?  Or…do you read magazines?  What are the names of them? Why do you read them?  Why are they your favorites? Or…Do you think printed “paper” material will eventually become nonexistent and everything will eventually be done on the computer online and we’ll become a virtually “paperless” society?  How do you feel about that?

January 16-22^nd is “Hunt for Happiness Week”.  Tell me about the things that make you happy and why. Or…write about the happiest day in your life.  Or…Plan an imaginary “Happy Day!” what would you include from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, filling it with all the things and people that bring you the most joy.

January 16^th-21^st is National Professionals' Week.  Tell me what you want to be when you grow up and why. Or…If you could have ANY job in the world what would it be and why? Or… If you could follow one professional person around for a week to learn from them, who would you shadow and why?

The Sundance Film Festival and the KidFilm Festival are the weeks of 20-30^th and 22-25^th. Tell me about your all-time favorite movie and why you like it so much.  Or…Who are your favorite actress and actor and why?  Or…if you could be a movie star, what kinds of films would you be in and why?  In the early days of Hollywood stars changed their real names. Would you change your name? Why or why not? What would it be if you did? Or...if you could be one of your favorite filmstars for a day who would you be and why and what would you do?

No Name Calling Week is January 24^th-28^th. Has anyone ever called you a name? Tell me about it? Have you ever called anyone a name? Do you think this is hurtful/harmful?  Do you think the nursery rhyme “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never harm me!” is true or not? Why? Read the story Chrysanthemum. Tell me how you relate to that story or write a book review about it.

It’s National Take Back Your Time Week January 25-29^th.  If you had an instant replay button on your life, what days would you like to live over and why?  Or…Are you an organized person who manages their time wisely or do you procrastinate, wait to the last minute, and fly by the seat of your pants?  Are you happy with the way things are with your management of time, or does it stress you out?  How can you improve?  Do you want to?

It’s Apple and Apricots Month as well as Artichoke and Asparagus Month. What are your favorite fruits and vegetables? Do you eat enough of them? What fruits and vegetables don’t you like?  Why don’t you like them?  What fruits and vegetables have you never tried?  Would you like to try them?

It’s National Soup Month! What’s your favorite mmm mmm good soup(s)? Why do you like it/them?  What soup(s) don’t you like?  What soup(s) haven’t you tried?  Would you like to try it/them?

Well it's January and we're smack in the middle of winter.  Do you like winter? Do you like the snow and chilly temperatures?  How do you feel about Daylight Saving's Time and it being dark when you get up?  Do you like winter sports and activities you can do outside in the winter better than other seasons?  Is this your favorite season?  Think about these questions and then write about how you feel about winter.  If you're not in a cold and snowy state, would you like to live in a place that has cold weather and lots of snow? Or perhaps you do live in a cold state, would you rather live in a warmer state that doesn't have snow?  Tell me your thoughts and....

 Happy Writing!

For more writing prompts, click on the link.  I've made a booklet that contains some for each month on a variety of topics!

A Brand New Favorite!

Gist:

This book is a take off of the song There Were Ten In The Bed And The Little One Said Roll Over...only here there are 10 on a sled, actually a toboggan and they are arctic animals having a blast flying down a snow covered hill.

Why I Love It:

• Liza Woodruff's illustrations are brrr-illiant! Very colorful and the fact that the animals riding on the sled are artic or wintry animals add to the story; they too, are extremely adorable. My personal favorite is the moose.
• It's hilarious!  Your students will be giggling as the "wolf wipes out" and the caribou yells: "Great thunder duck under!" as they go careening under a huge pine tree! The illustrations add to the fun and frolic and you almost feel like you're on the sled, or at least wish you'd get a turn to ride with these cute characters.
  
• It's a rhyming book, and since that's one of my report card standards and so important in teaching reading it makes it all the more special. My Y5's love rhyming books.  To exercise their brains and increase their skills, I pause in my reading and let them guess the rhyming word.  They really do extremely well with this and enjoy this "guessing game" activity.  I think it makes reading the book more fun too.
• The book also has great alliterative words when the animals go flying off the sled. i.e. the sheep shot out, the fox flipped out etc. I like to do tongue twisting activities with my students and often use alliterative phrases involving animals.
• It's a nice addition to my collection of January books that help me take my students "somewhere" so that I can teach a mini-geography lesson when we go on our "magic carpet ride" to the setting in the book.  Here the last run "...is in the moonlit land of the midnight sun." So we get a chance to discuss what that means as well.

Story Telling Tips: 

• Although more than just Alaska can be considered the land of the midnight sun, it's one of the places I choose to show my students because it's part of the United States.  As mentioned above I incorporate a geography lesson with with the reading of the story.
• After the story, I choose 10 of my students to sit in a line behind each other as if they were on a sled.  The rest of us chant: "There were 10 on the sled and the caribou said 'We're gliding, start sliding.' So they all slid over and 1 fell off.   The child on the end of the sled rolls off and then we continue the song... "There were 9 on the sled and the caribou said..." Another child rolls off and we continue 'til only the caribou is left and then we choose another 10 "animals" to sit on the sled until everyone has had a turn.
• I made color copies of each of the animals as they rolled off the sled, laminated them and put a scratchy dot of Velcro on the back of each piece.  I pass the animals out to my students, and as we read the story and the animals fly off the sled, I have them place them on the sled on my flannel board.  After we're done reading the story, I take the animals off the sled and see if my students can sequence which animal fell off first etc. 

Art Activity: Ted On A Sled

• Run off copies of the bear on brown-colored construction paper and have your students cut out their bear.
• To make it more of a keepsake, I Xerox my students' class photo and cut them into an oval shape.  They glue the picture to the center of their teddy's face and then glue their teddy bear onto their sled so that he is sitting on the end of it. (There's a tab for this.)
  
• Cut 2-inch wide strips out of all different colors of construction paper to make toboggans from extra large sheets of construction paper.
• After students have glued their teddy to the end of the sled help them write their name with Elmer's glue and then sprinkle on the glitter of their choice.  You could also use glitter glue. 
• Set aside to dry and then have children roll the opposite end of their toboggan on a pencil gently uncurling it so that their teddy bear really looks like he's sitting on a curved sled.
• I staple white batting that I've cut to look like sloping snow hills on a long bulletin board, and then staple the teds on a sled in all different positions sliding down the hills.
• Click here for the Bear Pattern

How Do You Get Your Students To Transition Quickly and Quietly?

Sometimes it's like "herding cats" or getting all the fairy princess-ballerinas in a row isn't it?  There has been so much buzz about this on my mail rings that I thought I’d address it as January's Hot Topic to see if anyone will offer some of their handy tips and ideas.  It seems lots of teachers are having problems getting those kittens in a line and having them settle into "purrr-fect" behavior....I decided to sit down and write down as many tips as I could think of that I’ve used over the past 11 years teaching young children and I came up with a list of over 70!  I’d like to get this list to 100, so if you have some ideas that work for you please share! diane@teachwithme.com and I’ll add them.

Click here to view/print a copy of my article and 74 Transition Tips

Hot Chocolate:

On the day my students earned their cup of hot cocoa by spelling the words HOT CHOCOLATE, I thought it would be fun if we also made a paper mug of cocoa. We hung our “mess-terpieces” in the window as a different way to display our work.  It was a wonderful way to unwind after a busy day. The “chocolate” glued on the mug, reviewed the “oval” shape, and the cutting and “splattering” activities were great fine-motor skills. 

Lay each child's mug in the bottom of a large box lid, have them dip a child's-size toothbrush in white paint and splatter a paint-flecked pattern on their blue mug.  I made name labels for my students to stick on the center of their mugs as well as some punch-cut snowflakes. Click on the link to view/print the pattern.  Mug of Hot Chocolate

Icicles: To drip or not to drip?

Cut black or dark blue construction paper in half lengthwise.  Pour white tempera paint in a plastic squeeze ketchup bottle or empty Elmer’s glue bottle. Have children write their names with a white crayon on their papers and then turn them over.  Remove one of the long sides of a box. Place the student’s paper in the box.  Have them squeeze a thick line of paint at the top of their paper so that it faces the open end of the box.  Lay the box on the table.  Give them a straw. Child blows on the line of paint to make “icicles” down the row of his paper.  After he has made as many icicles as he wants have them carefully lift up their paper and let it drip a little more, then set aside to dry.  These are great put together and used as a bulletin board boarder or hung around the ceiling of your hallway.

Envelope Snowman Puppet:

Give each child a long white envelope, black construction paper rectangle, (for top hat) and some scraps of construction paper, a glue stick and some colored markers.  Have them seal their envelope, carefully slit open the bottom (you may want to do this for younger children) and decorate their envelope to look like a snowman’s head. Wrap a piece of plaid ribbon around the bottom of the entire envelope and then staple it on the sides, for the perfect scarf. (Bolts of this go on sale after Christmas.) I also purchased large wiggle eyes and glue dots during the deeply discounted sales going on.  They added just the right touch! Red-heart stickers or hot-pink sale-dot stickers make great cheeks. Children can add a smile and they’re set!

When everyone is done, have them think of a name for their snow pal, bring them to the carpet area and sit in a circle.  Students insert their hand and introduce their puppet pal to their classmates. To get the “wiggles” out use the puppets to do the Snowman Pokey.

Snowflake Yardstick:

My Y5’s think it’s “snow” fun measuring things! They enjoy the challenge of scampering around finding things that are as long as their ruler, as well as measuring how tall their best friend is and then having their friend measure them.  We do a subtraction activity and then compare their heights.  I use this as an opportunity to graph how tall everyone is in the class; surprisingly there really isn't that much difference.

They also like to go out and measure how much snow has fallen on the playground or how big the snow bank in front of our school has gotten, where the snowplow man dumps everything when he shovels the walk.  That’s why when they get to make their own snowflake yardstick they get very excited.  Run off my sheet of 1-inch square flakes on 4 different colors of construction or copy paper.  Each child will need 33 white squares, 1 pink square, 1 blue square and 1 light purple square.  They glue a strip of 11 white squares on to their 36 ½ inch long piece of tag board and then glue one of the colored snowflake squares down to represent 12 inches; repeating this process for 24 inches, and finally 36 inches; the 24^th and 36^th square also being a colored snowflake. 

I make my tag board strips 1½ inches wide.  I’ve also included a list of fun things for your students to measure.  If your students are really young and you think a yardstick is too big for them to handle, have your students simply make a 12-inch ruler.  Have a room mom help you make the yardstick strips.  When you are measuring the tag board use two strips for each child and do not throw away the excess.  I measure 36 ½  or 37 inches  so there’s a bit of an edge at the end of my students’ rulers to allow for uneven cutting.  (I tell them that when they are measuring to use the snowflakes as their guide as they are one inch long.) Lay the two, 1½ inch strips of tag board, on top of each other and then pull them apart until they have reached the length you want.  I mark that off with a pen and then glue the strips on top of each other with a glue stick, putting a piece of Scotch tape on top of each end for extra support. This makes their yardstick extra sturdy in the middle.  

Have children write their name on their yardstick as soon as they get it.  Have them cut two strips of 6 squares long. Have them put glue on the end snowflake marked with an X and put the other end snowflake on top of it so you have a strip of 11. Glue that long strip to the middle of the tag board yardstick followed by a colored 12^th snowflake then repeat for the 2^nd and 3^rd (24 and 36-inch) strips and colored snowflake squares, making sure to butt them up against the previous strip. 

Remind students NOT to cut out the individual snowflakes.  Only the 3 colored snowflakes are individual.  Gluing 36 individual 1-inch squares is simply too much work!  I put the lines on the snowflakes so that students can count the squares and know how many inches something is.  As with my class, you will probably have a few students cutting out the individual squares too, so I'm giving you a heads up to be on the look out for those little snippers.  Snowflake Squares & a list of fun things to measure + a height graph

Just Hangin’ Around Snowman:

Making paper chains are great fine motor skills.  Make sure you demonstrate how to put one together right before your students’ eyes.  Some of mine always want to pinch the ends together so they look like raindrops instead of circles.  I have my students press and hold their links together for a count of 10.  That way the glue is sure to stick and hold and their chains don’t fall apart while they’re making them.  We vary our counting from 10 to 0 “blasting off”, counting by 10’s to 100, and counting in Spanish. It’s a great way to review counting skills while doing this activity.  

Pre-cut 1 ½ inch white and black strips of construction paper on your paper cutter, cutting widthwise. Each student will need 3 white and one black.  I also pre-cut the orange noses, and a ½ -inch strip of brown and a ½ -inch strip of black for each student. These become the hat brim and arms of the snowman.  Have children draw a face in the middle of one of the strips of white paper and glue on the carrot nose by folding the end of it and gluing just the “hinge” part down, so that it sticks out like a real carrot.  

Have students draw 3 buttons on the bottom strip before they make it a link as well.  Show them your sample.  Students then make their 3 white snowman links making sure to start with their “face” link.  Children fold their black “hat” link in half and then fold the ends up and rub glue on each end. Students glue the ends around the top of their white “head” link so that it looks like a hat. The top part looks like the top of the hat.  Pass out the small “brim” piece so that they can glue it across the hat.   Punch a hole in the top of the hat, loop with a piece of yarn so you can hang from the ceiling.  Pass out the brown strips of paper.  Students fold them, and cut in half.  They hinge the ends like the nose and glue them to each side of the middle “belly” link for arms.  Children can have them stick straight out, or they can glue them so they dangle down.  Attaching little mittens also looks cute.  I give my students a small sticker name label to put across the hat brim.  You could also write it on with a white crayon.

I hope you enjoy these “Quickie Crafts” with your little ones.  For more winter art check out my Winter Art & Activity Book,  and January Mini Art and Activity Book for lots more January fun!

     The snow’s melting; look at all that mud! That’s what these no-bake cookies remind me off…little mud pies! And that’s just one of the reasons they are so much fun for kids to make.

No-Bake Oatmeal Mud Pie Cookies

Ingredients:

• ½ cup milk
• 1 stick margarine
• ½ cup cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups oatmeal
• ½ cup peanut butter

Directions:

• Blend cocoa, margarine, sugar, milk, and salt together in a pot.
• Put pot on low heat and cook ‘til blended and melted together.
• Remove from heat.
• Add vanilla, peanut butter and oatmeal.
• Mix well.
• Drop from spoon onto wax paper.
• Let cool.
• Mmm mmm delicious!

Build a Sweet Treat Snowman!

Ingredients per person:

• Hershey Chocolate Kiss
• 3 large marshmallows
• 1 piece of red licorice
• 2 thin stick pretzels or 2 shoestring potatoes
• 6 raisins
• 8” paper plate
• Popsicle stick
• Toothpick
• Small tube of red gel
• 1 can of white frosting

Directions:

• Cut raisins into 1/3rds so that students can use them for eyes, noses, and buttons.
• Cut licorice in ½ and then in ½ again and then slice it down the middle lengthwise. This is the snowman’s scarf.
• Pass supplies out to students.
• Have students design their snowman on their plate.
• The kiss is the snowman’s hat.
• Give each student a spoonful of frosting. They use their Popsicle stick to “glue” their marshmallows together and stick their accessories and facial parts on. The raisins might stick on by themselves if they pick at the inside with the toothpick.
• Children can poke a hole in the sides of the snowman with the toothpick and insert their potato sticks/pretzels for arms.
• Adult puts a red gel smile on each snowman.

Frosted Face Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• Pre-made sugar cookie dough
• 2 cans white frosting
• Popsicle sticks
•  Things to decorate the snowman face: Raisins, red hots, M&M's, Skittles, colored gum drops, Fruit Loops etc. 

Directions:

• Follow directions on cookie dough and make circular cookies.
• Set up the decorations on paper plates at a table. Children choose which things they want, putting them on their plate and then return to their seats to decorate. 
• Give each child a spoonful of frosting and have them frost their cookie "face" with the Popsicle stick and then decorate their snowman. 
• Take a group photo of all the frosty faces and then "crunch-nibble-munch!"

Snow Covered Logs

Ingredients per person:

• 1 banana
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• ¼ cup shredded coconut (There will be some leftovers.)

Directions:

• Cut banana in half lengthwise
• Spread peanut butter on the halves.
• Press together like a sandwich.
• Sprinkle the coconut on a sheet of waxed paper.
• Roll the banana in the coconut until completely covered.
• Chill in fridge for 15 minutes.

Purple Sauce Slurpies

Ingredients:

• 6 cups applesauce
• 3 cups grape juice
• 24 paper Dixie cups
• 24 Popsicle sticks

Directions:

• Combine applesauce and grape juice in a large bowl.
• Stir until blended.
• Spoon equal amounts into Dixie cups.
• Freeze for 1 hour and then insert Popsicle sticks.

From a Liquid To a Solid

In January we study liquids turning into solids and then melting when they get hot.

A fun way that I demonstrate the liquid to a solid with my students is making Popsicles.  As a behavior modification technique I write the word Popsicles on the board and circle a letter at the end of each portion of our day, if everyone has performed/behaved appropriately.  It helps them clean up, line up, stay focused, get their work done etc.  When all the letters are circled, we take the Popsicles out of the freezer and see that the liquid has turned into a solid!  We also let one melt in the sun on our shelf to see a solid turn back into a liquid.

Popsicles with a Punch

Ingredients:

• Red Hawaiian Punch or juice of your choice.  This is my Y5’s favorite.  The blue Hawaiian punch is also a fun color for winter.
• Tupperware molds or Dixie cups + Popsicle sticks.

Directions:

• Pour liquid into molds.
• Put covers on
• Put in freezer
• Run under a bit of warm water to loosen the molds
• If you don't have molds, use Dixie cups, fill them 1/2 full and freeze for 1 hour.  Insert Popsicle sticks. 
  
• When ready to serve, remove paper.
  

Dirty Snow-Ball Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 15 oz. package Hershey Kisses
• Powdered sugar

Directions:

• Combine sugar, butter and vanilla in a large bowl and beat until fluffy.
• Add nuts and blend.
• Chill the dough.
• Shape dough around unwrapped individual chocolate kisses.
• Put on greased cookie sheet.
• Bake 12 minutes at 350 degrees.
• Set pan aside to cool
• Roll in powdered sugar ‘til completely covered and looking like a slightly dirty snowball.

Kool-Aid Cool-Snow Cones

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups crushed ice
• 2 Cups sugar
• ¾ Cup water
• 1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid

Directions:

• Combine sugar and water in a pot and bring to a full boil.
• Remove from heat.
• Stir in the Kool-Aid
• Chill.
• Crush the ice cubes in a blender.
• Put the ice in a cup or cone and pour the Kool-Aid syrup over the ice.
• Eat with a sippy straw spoon.
• I’ve also used real “just-fallen” clean snow for that special touch of “winter wonderland magic!”

Yogurt “Snow” Fun Pops

Ingredients:

• 2 cups vanilla yogurt
• 6 oz. frozen orange juice
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

• Mix ingredients in large bowl ‘til blended.
• Pour into ice cube trays.
• Freeze for 30 minutes and then insert Popsicle sticks.

     Dreaming up frozen concoctions with a kid in the kitchen can be "snow" much fun, especially if your state is a bit on the warmer side!  I hope you have a great time with yours.  

     These recipes were all rather on the "cool" side, but January is also National Soup Month so why not have a nice bowl of your favorite some frosty day, especially if your state is on the colder side like mine is in Michigan.  MM-MMM-Good!  And you won't be alone while enjoying this comfort food.  According to Lifestyle Magazine approximately ten billion bowls of soup are consumed by Americans every year!  Bon Appétit!