Another Post From the Past (January 2017):

Christmas is behind us, but we’re still holding on.  There’s no reason we can’t continue to hum Let it Snow, Walking in a Winter Wonderland, and Jingle Bells, right?

The Snowy Day was the perfect book for celebrating the winter season and easing our way into the new year.

I always ask the kids to create a lapbook cover page for each book we row.

Jordan put his whole heart into this drawing. His artwork looked AMAZING! I was SO proud of him!

Bible:

I made two versions of this Bible verse printable, because I didn’t draw the Picture of Peter until after we started rowing The Snowy Day.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.

Parker worked on his Bible verse puzzle throughout this row.

Advent Wreath:

Though Christmas was over we continued to work through our Kids of Integrity advent devotions.

A Sweet Fragrance:

I made a Sweet Smell of Christmas worksheet, because I thought a 5 Senses experiment would pair nicely with our lesson on leaving a sweet smelling aroma of Christ.

You can download your FREE worksheet here at our TPT Store.

First, we read The Sweet Smell of Christmas (Scented Storybook). Then we headed to the kitchen for a smell experiment.

This was a really fun and festive experiment!

We added our ornament on our advent wreath!

Cooperation:

Our aunt bought us this cute gingerbread turkey to build. What better way to learn about cooperation, right?

Since we were building a turkey AND we still had A Turkey for Thanksgiving on load from the library, I paired it with this activity.

After reading the story, the kids worked together to build this sweet turkey!

We added our final ornament, a paper chain, on our advent wreath.

God’s Love:

Since we finished our advent wreath, we started our next Bible unit on God’s love.

We painted cardboard hearts with white glue.

We added tissue paper squares to our hearts.

We sprayed our tissue hearts to make the colors bleed.

Ready to Row:

The kids helped make our faux snow, the perfect medium for The Snowy Day.

The kids had do much fun with our sensory story box. We were already off to a fun start!

I printed our Snowy Day vocabulary cards (Homeschool Creations) and set up our Story Sensory box.

We started our row with a warm breakfast, The Snowy Dayread-aloud, and a snow-themed graphing activity (Life Over Cs).

Since it doesn’t snow in our neck of the woods, Parker decorated the windows with snowmen!

I brought out our Highlights snowman cards and played a few rounds of memory match.

Language Arts:

Vocabulary:

Parker used the vocabulary words to match the items in our sensory story box.

We also strengthened our memory muscles with story sequencing cards (Homeschoolshare).

Phonics:

I created a Snowflake Preschool Pack for Parker to work on phonics.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

Letter Recognition:

Parker worked on matching his uppercase and lowercase letters.

Writing:

I brought out our winter letter tracing cards.

First, I had Parker use his finger to trace the uppercase and lowercase letters.

Next, he used his penguin erasers to build the letters.

He also used the snowflake letters to practice writing his letters.

Bub used the sensory snow to practice writing his spelling words.

Sorting by Sound:

Parker sorted by short and long vowels.

He also sorted by word family.

CVC Words:

I created a free Snowflake Words CVC activity for the boys to work on.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.

Parker loved working on his CVC words using our seek and find worksheets.

We brought it out again since Parks had so much fun practicing his CVC words.

The boys also worked on our roll, read, and cover worksheets.

We continued to work on our pink reading cards (The Helpful Garden).

Cause & Effect CRAFTivity:

I prepped this adorable Snowy Day CRAFTtivity from Smitten With First.

The kids put their Peter cut-outs together, added faces, and cut and pasted the labels under cause or effect.

This was a good introduction to teaching the kids that each action “causes” an effect, good or bad. They turned out cute!

Author Study:

Haley and I read all about Ezra Jack Keats in his book A Poem for Peter: The Story of Ezra Jack Keats and the Creation of The Snowy Day.  It was fun to do something special just with her.

MATH:

I added many math activities to our Learning Lane. You can find links pinned to our Snowy Day Pinterest Board.

Numbers:

Parker practiced writing and spelling his numbers.

Addition:

I set out many addition activities for Parker to do while rowing this book.

Shapes:

Parker worked on reviewing shapes too.  

Even & Odd Sorting:

I set out a few different even and odd sorting activities on Learning Lane.

Logic & Reasoning:

Parkie also worked on various math puzzles.

He also worked on sorting and matching activities.

SCIENCE:

Color Mixing:

I created some winter themed Color Theory worksheets.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.

The kids worked through their worksheets.

Afterwards we color mixed with bread dough. It was tough to work in the colors.

The bread came out colorful AND delicious!

Animals in Winter:

Habitat:

I created a My-Go-Along Animal pack for The Snowy Day.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.

Animal Tracks:

I set out an invitation to make “Tracks in the Snow”.

We read several books about animal tracks.

The kids had fun playing with our snow dough and making animal tracks.

Adapt, Migrate, or Hibernate:

I set out a fun science experiment to accompany our Over and Under the Pond: read-aloud.

Winter:

We continued reading about the wonderful winter season.

We even had the power go out and had to do our homework and piano lesson by candlelight. It was such a thrill for the kids.

ARTS, CRAFTS, & FUN:

Christmas Angels:

In my opinion, January is not too late to wrap up Christmas crafts.

We read The Berenstain Bears and the Christmas Angel (Berenstain Bears/Living Lights) and the kids finished their corn husks angels.

Snow Day Art:

I made a batch of fluffy snow paint with white tempura, elmer’s glue, and shaving cream.

The kids painted their snowy scene.

And then they added Peter.

They turned out adorable!

Chicken Pot Pies:

There’s nothing like a hot meal on a winter night. I thought it would be fun to make pot pies.

First, we watched a video on how to make chicken pot pies.

Bub and I prepped the vegetables.

Haley cooked the vegetables and made the stew for our pot pies.

We put our pot pies in the oven to bake. They turned out delicious, but not everyone was a fan.

Snowman Craft:

I set out an invitation to create a snowman craft.I chose You Make Me Smile to pair with this craft.

After reading, the kids built and decorated their own snowmen.

Pesto Snowflake bread:

Daddy found this cool cooking video around Christmastime. I thought it would be fun to make.

Bub and I made the snowflake bread together. It was pretty yummy!

Teddy Bear Bread:

Parker LOVES teddy bears. During this row, we read Teddy’s Snowy Day.

Parkie and I made yummy teddy bear bread.

We also made yummy peanut butter teddy toast.

We even read to our teddy bears! We had such a fun time rowing The Snowy Day.

HELPFUL LINKS:

The Snowy Day Pinterest Board:

Check out our Pinterest Board to find the printables we used and many pins that inspired our activities!

The Snowy Day Playlist:

Watch our The Snowy Day playlist for a mix of winter-themed read-alouds, songs, science clips and more!