Winter is such a magical time of year – especially if you live in area where your children will be lucky enough to experience a snowfall! I have created some resources to help support my lessons and centers to teach about how animals in our environment cope with this chilly season. They are great for engaging prekindergarten students and are very adaptable – use them in lessons or as independent activities in your centers!
During my ‘Animals in Winter’ theme I like to focus on hibernation, adaptation and migration. In the past I have used initial discussions to find out what the children already know. For example, they may have seen squirrels gathering nuts, listened to stories of fictional bears sleeping in caves and even see geese flying away. I then build on this knowledge about when they have seen this and why they think the animals might be behaving this way. I also use the strip puzzles that focus on the three types of activity that animals do in Winter to reinforce the new terminology. These activities are also ideal for strengthening scissor skills and the puzzles lend themselves to developing problem solving skills!
It’s so important for emergent readers to have access to a variety of texts – fictional and non-fictional. Therefore, I created an easy reader coloring book that shows which animals adapt, migrate or hibernate. The children can colour the pages and assemble the book themselves (my students love to use a stapler to create their books). The book could also be shared with the children and throughout you could ask them if they think the animal would adapt, migrate or hibernate. It’s so important to repeat new words throughout the course of a theme to ensure they are embedded in a child’s vocabulary.
I have also included a coloring page that reviews the activities of animals in Winter. I like to use these types of worksheets to encourage discussions with the children.
There is also an extension task that encourages foundational classifying skills for more able learners to further demonstrate their understanding. It’s also great for your more able learners.
We also do lots of other creative hands-on learning. I tend to get my ideas from Pinterest. You are more than welcome to checkout my Winter Theme board for ideas!
