Saturday, January 5, 2013

Ww is for Winter!

   Winter is in full swing out here in Western New York!
   The snow started falling right on time…right before Christmas!  And the snow is here to stay…for at least the next few months!

   So, I have a confession to make; 
   Although I am sure that I am not the only one who does this....but...
   Even though I am not too fond of the curriculum we use, as it stifles creativity, I must say that I often manipulate the curriculum in such a way where I can also incorporate my weekly/monthly themes. It is sometimes difficult to do, but I refuse to let a set curriculum stop me from continuing to provide creative and fun learning activities! I figure that as long as I am addressing the needs of my students and also implementing learning goals and objectives in a similar sequence as in the curriculum, then all is good.  Right?  =)
    So, anyhow, now is that winter is upon us- why not learn about the letter W? To learn about the letter W, the munchkins learned about winter and formed the letter W with white masking tape! We have tons of different colored tape and I am finding many new and fun ways to use it!
   We also learned that W is for watermelon!  I had them practice their cutting skills and cut out a red triangle and then they searched for seeds with the letter W on it and glued it onto the red triangle. After they made the watermelon, they painted one coat of watermelon scented water (from a Kool Aid packet) over the paper to give it a nice, yummy scent!
   And what kind of winter unit would it be if I did not do an activity about a Snowman?! I have seen this idea all over Pinterest and I knew my munchkins would LOVE it!
   A little bit of shaving cream and glue, some paper art supplies & buttons...
            and Ta-Da--- a SUPER CUTE snowman!
   I think that besides Fall, Winter is my next favorite season when it comes to creative and fun art activities! 
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3 comments:

  1. Jessica FJanuary 5, 2013 at 5:05 PM

    Love the way your snowmen turned out! :)

    And you're definitely not the only one. I really dislike my curriculum. It suggests my prekinders should copy theme-related words into writing journals for our writing activity every week! So I do the same thing. I look through the curriculum to find the targeted skill, swap in an authentic theme-related text, and run with it. (And I use writer's workshop... no mindless copying for me!) So far no one's really said yay or nay, which I'm grateful for but also a little saddened by. I've even had one teacher tell me that I should be following the curriculum exactly because that's why parents chose our school.

    Anyways, end rant! Love all the stuff you do and never stop because you're great! :)

    ~Jessica
    Fun in PreK-1

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    Replies
    1. Teaching MunchkinsJanuary 5, 2013 at 5:19 PM

      Thanks for the comment!
      I know what you mean...I have met and worked with teachers who follow the curriculum word for word, activity for activity and I never saw much creativity come out of their classroom. It is kinda sad, I agree. Just because there is a set curriculum, doesn't mean teachers should follow it religiously-ESPECIALLY in preschool!! There are curriculums that fail to take into account the fact that each group of children is different and adaptations to meet those needs are vaguely addressed- so a teacher must be creative anyways.
      I figure that as long as children are learning the skills they need to, there is nothing wrong with throwing some fun and creative ideas in the mix! =)
      Don't ever feel bad or allow anyone to try and make you feel bad for trying to being creative!!
      I believe creativity is essential for Preschool!!

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    2. Jessica FJanuary 5, 2013 at 5:50 PM

      Thanks for the encouragement Sara! :) I totally agree!

      ~Jessica

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