These are some of my storyprops that I use with my Winter stories.
Five little snowmen went out to play,
Out came the sun,
And one snowman melted away.
Four little snowmen went out to play,
Out came the sun,
And another snowman melted away.
Continue until no snowmen are left.
Put sun above the snowman, and let him "melt" as a child takes the snowman off the board.
"Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats-After you finish telling/reading this story try this: Place alot of packing pieces/confetti into your parachute. Place it on top of the ceiling. Then rig it up, where you can pull it and let the "snow" fall on the children.
Mitten-If you read Jan Brett's The Mitten, you can download the masks from her web site(www.janbrett.com) and do this activity: Make a huge mitten from bulletin board paper. As you read the story, place the appropriate animal in the mitten. The kids will love this!! After they are familiar with the story, let your students take turns putting the animals in!!
The Mitten Song-Song: Sing to the tune of "I know an old lady"
I know a mouse that jumped in a mitten,
I don't know why he jumped in the mitten,
perhaps it will bust.
Continue on adding all the characters in the story.
Make a large snowman from white posterboard. Make a hat and scarf from each color:
Red, yellow, green, orange, blue, purple, pink, brown, and black. Add velcro to the snowman and to the
hats and scarfs. Each day, at circle, let a child put on the appropriate colored scarf to match the hat.
On our snowman, we put each button a different color and shape. We talk about this too, as we do our
activity.
*(We sing this to put our scarf and hat on our snowman at circle time)
10 little snowmen-(Tune: Little monkeys jumping on the bed)
10 little snowmen riding on a sled,
one fell off and bumped his head,
Frosty called the doctor and the doctor said,
No more snowmen riding on that sled!
continue until none are left.
I make a sled on posterboard, snowmen diecuts and then attach them on/off with velcro.
Our music therapist
**We are so BLESSED to have such an awesome and creative music therapist. He really reaches our children through his musical and language rich activities.**
Snowflakes-Using snowflake diecuts, the music therapist lets our children "dance" like snowflakes, and then drop their snowflake onto the snow.
Snowbird-Using a white snowbird puppet, snow blanket, and sponge crumbs, he sings this song: When all the ground, is white with snow, the hungry snowbird comes, and hops about with great delight, to find the scattered crumbs. He flies the snowbird down to the snow and hops the bird around; then lets the bird pick up a crumb. The children all get a chance to do this! They LOVE it!
Snowman picture- Our therapist has a picture of a snowman watching a little boy slide down a hill on a sled. He talks to the children about the things they see in the picture, then he sings them this song: I wish I were a snowman, so fat and round and still, then I could watch the children, sledding down the hill. He uses a small xylophone and pulls the stick "down" the keys. He let the children have a turn doing this too.
Snowman sledding-This activity is done after the snowman picture activity and song. He shows the children a snowman on a miniature sled and then puts the snowman at the top of a posterboard hill and then lets it slide down the hill. The children then all have a turn.
Animals in a Mitten. Using a real mitten and plastic animals, the children choose which animal they would like to put in the mitten, when it is their turn. "It's frosty cold here outside, let me in, let me in, where it's nice and warm". We sing this each time an animal is added. Winter clothes-Using real winter clothes(jacket, snow boots, mittens, pants, hat, scarf) he lets the children pick which item they would like to wear outside in the cold, while singing this song: "What do we wear in the wintertime, hey, hey, hey".
Snowman-Using a snowman with a removable hat, and three styrofoam balls, he lets the children try to knock the hat off the snowman after singing this song: Here is a snowman, big and white, Isn't he a funny sight?
Penguin Song
I'm a Little penguin
Look at me
Fishing and swimming
In the deep sea
My wings are black
and my tail is white
I like sliding down the snow so white!!
***I use this song with the penguin above(also on the art page). I attach him to a yard stick, and use him to accompany this song. This helps my student to really put meaning to the song.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
I use an AAC display with this story; this helps children who are non-verbal "read" the story. If you do not have an AAC device, you may cut these apart and just use them as cards and have the children hold them up as you read that part of the story; or as another child "reads" that part.
(If you need this AAC overlay, please email me and I will be glad to help you out!!
I have also found a GREAT children's music CD that has penguin, polar bear, and snow songs on it. It is called Snowflakes and Rainbows by Paula Metzger.
Snowflakes and Rainbows Music
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