January and Feburary can be long months in the classroom. It seems like we almost always have indoor recess and the school days are longer than usual. To keep things fresh, we keep lessons hands-on and as engaging as possible. Here are some of the things we are doing and prepping this week in my classroom.

Hot & Cold

We’ve been working on oposite pairs quite a bit in the new year. This week’s pair was hot and cold. To teach the concept, the SLP who works with my students with and I planned a whole group activity where we used hot hands and ice cubes. Students had the oppertunity to feel both hot and cold. Then, we used a hairdryer to melt the ice.

When we finished, read the book, Hot and Cold by Eric Carle (you can find the read-a-loud version we used here). The pages have symbols that we used as prompts that show ‘hot’ and ‘cold’. The opposite pairs are imbedded into the book on every page so there was a lot of practice oppertunities.

We wrapped up the concept by finding objects and identifying if they were hot or cold and Adjective Bingo. 

Cold Inspired Sensory Play

We changed out our sensory bin to penguins, plastic pretend ice cubes and styrofoam blocks to be iceburgs. For dry play, student can build and use the sensory bin just like this. For more adventerous play, add water and add a few drops of blue watercolor or food coloring. My students love water play, and we typically reserve it for the spring and summer when days are warm. Having indoor water play in the winter is a treat everyone enjoys. 

Prepping for Feburary

We are prepping a few different items getting ready for Feburary. This adjective adapted book set will be perfect to continue teaching adjectives. The new Dinosaur Easy Matching Weekly Workbook will be perfect for centers!

What activites are you doing this week in your classroom? What sensory play and concepts will you be teaching? Whatever it is, find a way to have fun with your students! The best way to learn is by having fun together.