Planning for Play: December - January - February

Making time for play in Kindergarten is important... even in the 21st Century! 

Sign up for newsletters and gain access to my exclusive and FREE Yearlong Plan for Structured Play and follow along as we discuss themes for December, January, and February. 

Overview:

December is a wild and crazy time of year as students anticipate the holiday season. So, why not tap into their imaginations and incorporate engineering and science? With the gingerbread engineering theme students  can collaborate, create, and problem solve while having lots of holiday fun!
My favorite TpT resource for December:

January often brings cold weather and indoor recess. This is a great time to build on the engineering theme from December and incorporate force and motion concepts using marble runs, ramps and balls, and vehicles. Students learn about the effects of force and motion through exploration and experimenting.
My favorite resources for January:

February is a time when we tend to think about relationships and letting our loved ones know how much they are loved. In spite of major advancements in modern technology, written communication remains a skill all students need to develop. With the theme Post Office students are encouraged to write, communication, and nurture relationships.
My favorite TpT resources for February:

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT PLANS FOR EVERY MONTH OF THE YEAR!

August - Learning How to Play

September - Community Helpers: Restaurant

October - 21st Century Learners: The News 1, The News 2

November - Thanksgiving: Travel Agency

December - Engineering: Gingerbread Houses

January - Engineering: Force and Motion

February - Writing: Post Office

March - The Arts: My Talents

April - Animals: Vet's Office

May - Culminating Event: Pizza Parlor

Happy Holidays!

Before I wrap up the 2014 holiday season and pack away the Christmas trees I thought I'd take a little time to reflect on some of the holiday activities I shared with my Kinders.  I wish I had made more time to blog while it was happening because we had so much fun while learning 21st Century concepts and applying the Common Core!

Our Gingerbread Unit on engineering involved designing new houses for the Gingerbread family and decorating our child-sized house! 

To culminate the unit, students decorated their own small house to take home!

Our second holiday unit was on Santa's Economics.  Students learned all about wants, needs, consumers, producers, goods, and services in the context of Christmas.  Each Kindergarten class on my team worked to develop a stand and we sold reindeer food to the first graders at our "Reindeer Food Marketplace" in the cafeteria. 

All our students learned so much about consumerism and economics and, most of all, it was fun! 

And it wasn't just fun for the kids, either!   It gave me chills when one teammate told me, "You know, I thought this project was way over the top at first, but these kids get this stuff.  This is the most fun I've had teaching all year!"

I can't wait to work on this unit over the coming year to have it ready for other teachers next Christmas! 

For now, here are a few shots of our project...

The advertising team made posters...

...and hung them in the first grade hall.

The production team formed an assembly line and produced 80 bags of reindeer food in under one hour!

No assembly line is complete without quality control!

Our sales team set up shop in the marketplace!

The sales team worked hard to sell as many bags as possible using our school-wide rewards as currency.

"Team N" sold out of reindeer food after issuing coupons!
Why didn't we think of that?!?

 I hope you and those you hold dearest have had the happiest of holiday seasons!

 

December Currently

It's hard to believe that December is here!  We have assessments, field trips, culminating experiences and after school activities scheduled to fill almost everyday.  I'm excited to try out some of my own new units on engineering and economics in the midst of this busy season!

To give a glimpse of what I'm up to this week, I'm joining with Farley at "Oh' Boy 4th Grade," for her "December Currently" linky party.

I'm always working to provide my kinders with opportunities for meaningful, student-centered play that is also tied to our themes and standards.  This week we are kicking off our holiday centers with a new class project - a gingerbread house!  I salvaged a large appliance box from a local store and used it to partition off our dramatic play area.  For today the center included some copies of large candy clip art and a roll of white wrapping paper.  As the weeks progress I plan to add more with which to decorate!

My students were the quietest during play and explore centers today!  (This is normally NOT the case!)  They were so focused on their project and intently worked on decorations for a solid 30 minutes with relatively few problems.  I truly believe this is a testament to the fact we make time for social learning and play as often as possible... these kids may be of the 21st Century, but they still need to play!  :)

Check back later this week for more gingerbread play ideas AND to see how our house is evolving!