Unit 9 Winter Recap

We loved our big pile of winter and snow themed books! Especially because these last few weeks in South Carolina have truly felt like winter! So chilly and perfect for snuggling up with books! 🙂 One of our first activities was to practice counting with marshmallows and a cocoa counting page. Unfortunately, I dropped the ball and completely forgot to grab mini marshmallows at ALDI and we improvised. All the marshmallows from the box of Lucky Charms suited just as well. I might say Macie Jane enjoyed the activity all the more for that reason. 🙂 

That same day we also did a receptive listening activity. The was something new and I was excited to try it with both girls! The activity uses a set of cards with different images printed on them. Each card has a written direction that I read aloud and the girls would follow. Phrases like, “touch the mitten by the mug with a snowflake” or “before you touch the mug touch the pink mitten.” Some were more tricky than others but I think they really enjoyed the activity. Both girls asked to play it again! 

Scissor skill actives always hit a warm spot in Macie Jane’s heart. I’m not sure I’ve met a little person who loves to chop paper into itty bitty bits as much as she does. 🙂 I let her go town chopping up the paper to her heart’s content after practicing following the lines. It’s great hand strengthening and she’s having fun so, why not?! 

The Snowman invitation activity was a little surprising to me as far as who really took to it. I supplied the girls with a ball of orange Play-doh, tiny sticks, beads, crayons, and snow man templates. It was Sadie who really stuck with the activity long after Macie Jane lost interest. She made a whole snowman family and decorated them to the nines with beads and scribbles. Invitation to play activities are completely open ended. I give the materials and offer no directions or suggestions. I let their imagination lead the way. Typically these activities captivate both girls. (They do usually end up creating a sizable mess but nothing a little teamwork to tidy up can’t fix.)

We jumped back into journaling. The girls both have Primary Composition notebooks. They have blank space at the top of the page for coloring and wide guidelines for writing. We glue projects into the notebooks (rightwards, letter of the week, etc) but mostly we use them to draw a picture of our Bible story, unit theme, or anything they imagine. We accompany they pictures with dictated sentences. I’ll ask them about what they colored and write it down. In the next month or so I’ll start letting Macie Jane title her picture. I’ll dot out the title and she’ll just trace the letters.

We got good counting and number reading practice in too! Both snowman popsicle stick and the muffin tin counting activities required Macie Jane to read number words and comprehend their meaning. Bonus: The popsicle stick snowmen were just TOO cute!

We wrapped the week up with a FAVORITE activity! Back from last year by popular demand, I recreated the hot cocoa sensory bin. A bag or two of pinto beans, cottonballs, toy mugs, and a ladle. Y’all, I can’t tell you how long they played “Hot Cocoa Shop” (…also can’t tell you how many pinto beans I keep finding everywhere- haha!) They LOVED this! They came back to it throughout the weekend before I put it up for my sanity sake, but I think I’ll be pulling it out again this week for sure. They’re just too cute playing together. 

It was a really sweet and super fun week learning about winter, playing and learning with the winter theme, reading number words, practicing fine/larger motor skills, speech, STEM, and more! Now we’re excited to hop into all things Valentine’s! We’d love to have you join us! Find our newest unit and a list of all you’ll need to follow along on the resource page or click the link below!