We read the book, “The Mitten” by Jan Brett.  This book is about a boy named Nicki who drops his white mitten in the snow and leaves it behind.

One by one, woodland animals find it and crawl in; first, a curious mole, then a rabbit, a hedgehog, an owl, a badger and a fox, each one larger than the last. Finally, a big brown bear is followed in by a tiny brown mouse and with an itchy nose. Ah-choo!

We practiced retelling the story by putting the animals in the correct order.

Ask me to retell the story for you.

We read a delightful book by Leo Lionni called A Color of His Own.  This book is about a little chameleon who notices that he does not have a color of his own like other animals.  The chameleon is sad because he is always changing color depending on where he is standing.  Finally, the chameleon finds a friend who teaches him that is OK to be different.  We loved the message that true identity comes from who you are inside.

The children wanted to create their own chameleon.  We used one of the elements of design: line  (e.g., thick, thin, wavy, zigzag, broken, spiral, jagged, etc.) to draw the background.  Then we painted it with watercolor paint.

Ask me what kinds of lines I used for my chameleon.

We have been learning about the how living things may make physical and behavioural changes to survive in different conditions (e.g., migration, hibernation, adaptation etc.).

As winter begins, we thought that we would decorate our Christmas tree in order to provide food for the animals that stay active in our community all season long.  We strung popcorn and cranberries, hung oranges and pinecones covered in Wow butter and birdseed, and made ornaments out of brown bread cut in the shape of bears and squirrels.

After the day has ended, the tree will be put out in the school yard so that the animals have something to eat.  Bon appetit!