Let’s sing together our song “Rise and Shine – Welcome to School Today” by Dr. Jean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyAD2OoFuoY and our greeting song “Hello to all the children of the world”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nYjGy_ZUG8
My favorite Closing Song sung on “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” tune with movement:
Twinkle, twinkle little stars! Time is over and we say goodbye. (Open and close hands)
We had fun with all our friends. Let’s come back and do it again! (Arm moved up and back)
Twinkle, twinkle, little stars! What a wonderful bunch you are! (Blow kisses)
For the writing/reading process, have your child trace or copy (advanced skill) daily his/her name on paper/dry eraser board/ mini blackboard (kindergarten handwriting page) starting at the top of each letter (you could draw 🙂) either in all uppercase letters or just first letter in capital/uppercase and the rest in lowercase. If your child is starting to write on paper, you can write your child’s name with a highlighter and your child can use a crayon to trace it.
I realize that you might have to survey other members of your family for the question of the day so that your child have enough tally marks to count or have your child put more than one tally mark.
What is an arctic animal?
POLAR BEAR 🐻❄️/GIRAFFE 🦒 / PENGUIN 🐧/ HORSE 🐎 / SEAL 🦭
On the first day, you started with Sammy Snake from Letterland and listen to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frLPWGdq3Kk After listening to the song, you had your child trace a capital S and a lower case s, starting at the top (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJnZePnDo-U) and going down (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bdV4U1tsGc.)
Let’s now listen in the Letterland Story: Sammy Snake Isn’t Satisfied https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6R1M67uQkc. After listening to the story, help your child retell the story using lots of S words.
A whole week activity:
For the phonetic part, have a big yogurt container with a lid filled with small objects or pictures that start with the letter S (sad, sand, sandals, sausage, school, scissors, seaside, seesaw, sister, six, sky, sleep, small, snail, snake, soup, soap, socks, sound, snack, special, spider, star, start, summer, sun, sweets.) You might want to add a picture of an Goat, so that your child can say that Goat does not start with S! Here is a book of S word pictures: https://twistynoodle.com/the-s-book-2-minibook/ Also, you can add new objects/pictures starting with the letter S every day and let your child explore the container all through the week.
Science
What keeps arctic animals warm like polar bears, whales, penguins or seals? The temperatures in the arctic circle are very cold! Brainstorm with your child how arctic animals can stay warm. Do they wear clothes? Arctic animals have something called a blubber to keep them warm: a layer of fat under their skin.
For the Blubber Experiment, you need (1) large bowl, (2) ice, (3) cold water, (4) vegetable shortening, (5) spatula, (6) towel, and (7) 4 ziplock sandwich bags.
Directions:
1. Fill bowl with ice and cold water on a towel.
2. Turn a sandwich bag inside out and put it on your hand.
3. Cover both side of sandwich ziplock bag with shortening with the help of a spatula.
4. Slide the shortening covered bag inside another sandwich ziplock bag and seal them together (blubber).
5. Turn a 3rd bag inside out, slide it in 4th bag, and seal them together (skin).
6. Slide your hand inside the bags with shortening and dip in the ice cold water. What do you feel?
7. Slide your hand inside the bags without shortening. What do you feel?
8. Picture https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/blubber-experiment/
On the tune of “Oh, my Darling Clementine”, we can sing: what’s the weather, what’s the weather, what’s the weather like today? Is it cloudy, is it rainy, is it sunny, is it cold? (You can also change the weather words).
Let your child check the weather and tell you about it. You might want to ask your child to do a weather drawing that you can label. Some activities will be repetitive to create a routine that brings comfort to your child.
Language Arts
Bears are mammals and are called bull, sow or cub. There are lots of polar bears’ books:
1. Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? By Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehoGdGokXfc
2. The Polar Bear and the Snow Cloud by Jane Cabrera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dJHSEGRBJY
3. Little Polar Bear by Hans de Beer (advanced) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f4kNSBoFZo
After viewing a book, help your child to sequence the story: what happened first, next,… at the end. The major themes are loneliness and developing friendship. Brainstorm with your child about friends you both have and how to make new ones.
Polar Bear Song (“Teddy Bear” tune)
Polar bear, polar bear, turn around!
Polar bear, polar bear, touch the ground!
Polar bear, polar bear, growl real loud!
Polar bear, polar bear, sit on the ground!
Other verses: penguin squawk, seal arc, ….
“Walking Through the Arctic” Song with Movement.
I was walking through the arctic (children echo each line and do the action)
And what do you think I saw?
A great big polar bear!
And it said, “Stand up!”
And “Shake, shake, shake this way!”
And “Shake, shake, shake that way!”
And then, “Sit down!”
5 Little Polar Bears Fingerplay
Five little polar bear playing near the shore.
One dived in, and then there were four.
Four little polar bears swimming in the sea.
One chased the seal, and then there were three.
Three little polar bears saying, “What shall we do?”
One went hunting, and then there were two.
Two little polar bears playing in the sun.
One took a nap, and then there was one.
One little polar bear sitting all alone. Soon it will be gone!
Math
For math games, you need (1) either graham teddy bears (to eat after activity) or plastic color sorting bears, (2) paper, and (3) color markers.
1. For counting practice, draw many little dots of color (yellow, blue, red, green, purple, pink) on a sheet of paper. Ask your child to put bears on all the blue dots and then count them. Then, ask about another color.
2. For number to amount correspondence practice, draw number 1 to 10 (10-20 for advanced) in each circle on a sheet of paper. Ask your child to put the number of bears corresponding to the number written in the circle on the circle.
3. For amount to number correspondence practice, draw circle on a sheet of paper with dots of the same color from 1-10 in each (10-20 for advanced). Draw the numbers on a separate sheet of paper and cut out each number. Ask your child to place a number cut corresponding to the number of dots in each circle.
December is here now! The calendar is a daily activity to do with your child that develop number and pattern recognition. Here is the link to print a calendar to update daily with your child. The set has a weather component, if you like. https://www.themailbox.com/magazines/december-calendar-set/december-calendar-set-2
Daily counting of tally marks and show your child a number card or write the number down to show your child. The numbers of the tallies will be different every day. Extend the concept by comparing numbers: which has more? Which has fewer? Which are the same? How many more (count with fingers)?
Art
For Polar Bear Face Art Project, you need (1) big paper plate, (2) white tissue paper little squares or white cotton balls or white big marshmallows or shaving cream, (3) scissors, (4) glue, (5) white and black construction paper, and (6) white little fruit cup (optional).
Directions:
1. Cut 2 bear’s ears out of white construction paper.
2. Cut 1 big circle for nose and 2 little circles for eyes out of black construction paper.
3. Take big paper plate and glue crumbled little tissue paper squares or white cotton balls or big white marshmallows all over. Or cover the plate with shaving cream and let dry.
4. Once dry, glue black paper eyes, fruit cup upside down with black circle for nose, and 2 white bear’s ears.
5. Picture https://fromabcstoacts.com/alphabet-book-uppercase-s/
For Letterland Sammy Snake Art Project, you need (1) blue, green, yellow, red, orange construction paper, (2) scissors, (3) glue, (4) 2 googly eyes, and (5) red marker.
Directions:
1. Cut a capital S out of green construction paper. (https://twistynoodle.com/letter-s-cutting-practice-coloring-page/).
2. Cut a big green triangle for snake’s head.
3. Cut little red, orange, yellow triangles out of construction paper.
4. Glue capital S on blue construction paper sheet, green triangle head with googly eyes, red/orange/yellow little triangles in a pattern on capital S.
5. Draw snake’s tongue with red marker.
6. If you have a Letterland binder, add it to your binder.
6. Picture https://fromabcstoacts.com/alphabet-book-uppercase-s/
Small Motor Skills
Colorful Bears Book https://twistynoodle.com/colorful-bears-minibook/
I can write the letter S https://twistynoodle.com/i-can-write-the-letter-s-3-coloring-page/
Cut and Paste Letter S https://twistynoodle.com/cut-and-paste-the-letter-s-coloring-page/
Gross Motor Skills
Outside time with climbing, jumping, bicycling, running, walking are great ways to develop the whole child.
Like a polar bear, help your child to build a bear’s cave with elements from your home. You can use chairs, tables with blankets, tablecloths or bed sheets. If your child has stuffed animals, bring them in your cave to sleep! If you have snow outside, your child can build an igloo too.
Social-Emotional Development
Like adults, children need to take breaks in their daily lives. I am Peace by Susan Verde https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXA3837uv3w emphasizes the importance to take time to center oneself. Brainstorm with your child the times when you or your child need to take a break from others, a place, a toy, ….. and point out it is ok to do so.