Snow, Snow, and More Snow

As I sit at home today (our 2nd snow day this week) I decided to catch up on all the fun activities we have been doing at the Crete Elementary Library.  And since it is so snowy out,  I should share the snow activities we have done in the month of January.  Even though January was fairly warm,  we still decorated the library snowflakes and read many snow books.

 Olaf was a huge hit with all ages!  It is amazing
how many young children can sing the "Frozen"
song "Do you wanna build a snowman?

 Funny story about the large snowflake snowman by the door.
The first day I hung him up, I went to the lost and found
bucket to get a real scarf for his neck.  It wasn't but 15 minutes later and a 2nd grade student recognized his
scarf hanging on the wall.  He was embarassed to ask for his
scarf back, yet I was glad all it took to find it's home, was
to hang it on the wall.  No one has claimed this black
scarf yet.

 I collected at least 30 "snow" type books for my snow
display, and withing a few days, the shelves were empty!  That's a good thing right!!
 

We also were blessed with
a snowman collection for the month of January.  We
had over 30 named snowmen decorating our shelves.  Everything from Frosty, to Shimmer Glitter, to Sparkles, and we even had Dancing Dan.  Thanks Jeanette for sharing your treasures with our students!

Reindeer Facts

 Did you know reindeer don't have any top teeth?
Reindeer can travel in herds of up to 100,000.
Reindeer use their 2 toes to dig under the ice for food.

These are just of a few of the interesting facts that our students learned about reindeer.

As the First Graders have been exploring the non-fiction section
of our Library, we have been researching reindeer.  We used both reindeer/caribou books and the internet to gain many interesting facts.  Students then chose 4 facts that they wanted to share with others and wrote them on their "All About Reindeer" sheet.

Kindergarten Authors

One of the topics I cover with Kindergarten every year is Author/Illustrator.  Most of the time those words are new vocabulary for our students.  This year each Kindergartner was able to write/draw in their own book.  We even made an author page for their book, which included their picture and a few of their favorite things.  Books were a hit!

Run Run As Fast As You Can

The Kindergarten classes in Crete always spend a few days reading and comparing the many version of the classic tale "The Gingerbread Man".  Some chase the Gingerbread man around the school, and others create milk carton Gingerbread Houses. So to add to their fun I like to read Jan Brett's book "Gingerbread Friends" and "The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School" by Laura Murray.

       

 

Our Kindergarten students were able to decorate their own Gingerbread cookie on the computer using the webstie www.sprintsweets.com.  Eat it up, then create again.  We also enjoyed using the ipods to listen to the song/app "The Gingerbread Man"