Wind and Water

January 3-7

Welcome Back!  We hope that you and your family had a wonderful vacation.  This month we will begin our next unit of Wind and Water.  Additionally, we will also be incorporating Preschool Life Skills curriculum throughout our day.  The first skill we will target is for children to stop what they are doing and respond to their name being called. Please refer to the home page for a more detailed explanation of this curriculum.


Outside Time
We would like to be able to go outside as often as we can.  We are planning to have Wednesdays be our outside day, if the weather cooperates.  So please plan to send your child in with winter gear every Wednesday.  If the weather is expected to be nice enough for outside play on a different day, we will send out an email/blog requesting snow gear to play outside the following day. 

If your child attends the morning class, please send in snow pants, boots, winter coat, hat and mittens for your child to play in.  If your child attends the afternoon session, please have your child arrive in all of their appropriate snow gear as we will start our day on the playground.  Label, Label, Label. Please remember to label all items sent to school, if possible, both mittens and boots.  When the children are either getting ready or undressing their winter gear, often times clothing is easily mixed together.  Labels will help us to return all belongings back to you and your child.

Theme- Wind and Water Week 1

In unit 3, children explore wind and water observations, experiments, and books to learn about such topics as evaporation, weather, temperature, insulation, rain, and snow. Through the story time books, children hear about a boy playing on a windy day, baby rabbits and kitten finding shelter in storms, a child playing in the snow, and a silly hen trying to keep warm in winter. In addition, to listening to stories, children increase their listening and speaking vocabulary and continue to learn about rhymes and identify letters and sounds.


Theme Concepts

-We find water in different forms- as rain(liquid), snow and ice(solid), and as steam(gas). Temperature affects the form of water.

-Water soaks into, or is absorbed by, some things but is repelled by others.

-Wind- moving air- affects things. Lighter things are moved a lot by wind. Heavier things are moved less by wind. The amount of wind changes with the weather. In storms, wind can blow very hard.

-Water comes to us through rain or snow.

-Water evaporates from puddles and from things that are wet.

-Plants and animals need water to live.

-Water and wind provide opportunities for recreation.



Books this week
-Giberto and the Wind by Marie Hall
-One Dark Night by Hazel Hutchins



Small Groups this week
Math -Shape Bingo Game
Fine Motor -Making Small Boxes
Literacy Game -Picture Card memory game using words from unit 3 storybooks
Art-Making Kites
Science -What Can Air Move? (science experiments to explore air movement)
Literacy -The Wind Blew – Students will identify items the wind can blow to create a book

Choice Time:
Art: Painting with straws (moving paint on paper blowing into straws)

Easel: Painting with colors from the book Gilberto and the Wind (black, brown and white paint)

Writing: copying words from word cards

Sand and Water: water and sailboats

Library: Exploring books

Math: Exploring which items is heavier, then using a balance scale to make comparisons.

Dramatic Play: using a clothes line and clothes pins to hang up clothes

Blocks: building with Lincoln Logs



Songs, Word Play, Letters
Songs: Come On and Join in the Game; Clap Your Hands; Wheels on the Bus

Poems: Hands; Stand Up; My Big Balloon;

Literacy Skills: Naming sound game and rhyming word game

Letter of the Week F