Last week we discovered some exciting new and old fairy tales from "Rapunzel" to "Rumpelstiltskin" to "The Three Little Bears." Our activities from the week played along well with our stories and it was exciting for all. On Tuesday, we read "Jack and the Beanstalk" and worked with beans and numbers for a more or less game. They practiced their counting skills, number recognition, and tally marking.
Wednesday was our craft day and we got to make Princess hats and crowns to go along with our story "The Princess and the Frog." We also completed a graph that day on who would kiss a frog if they could get anything they wanted, it was a very giggly and entertaining conversation. Turns out over half of my kiddos would kiss a frog, but four of them were disgusted at the the thought! Ha 
Thursday was "The Gingerbread Man" and Friday was "The Princess and the Pea" story. I made gingerbread clay for them to play with (which smelled amazing) along with Christmas cookie cutters. On Friday, they then got to recreate the princess and the pea with a fun craft with their substitute :)
This past week we learned all about Arctic animals and how they survive in the cold. Penguins and Polar bears were at the top of most of our discussions and we discovered some fun facts about these unique animals. Our craft on Wednesday involved making our own penguin friends, which was quite amusing. I put all of the pieces on the table for them and they got to decided how and where to put all the pieces :)
We learned many things about how mom and dad penguins work together to care for their young and take turns watching the egg and heading to the sea to feast. We found out their are 17 types of penguins and NONE of them can fly! We also learned how to waddle like penguins and practiced carrying the egg like penguins do with some Nerf footballs.
Friday we discussed polar bears more and how they care for their young and keep warm. This conversation erupted in laughter after discussing how polar bears eat. We learned that Mommy polar bears are the only ones that care for the babies. The book we read made it seem like we were the polar bear by talking in first person, which was very neat, but apparently confusing as I ended up with this comment, "HEY! I do to have a dad at home!" haha They then explained that polar bears drink milk from their mom's just like cats and dogs until they are big enough to travel to the sea with their mom. A hand popped up then with this statement "When I was a baby I drank milk from my mom's boob!!" (ensue hysterical laughter) Ha! It took a few minutes to get them back on track, but quickly moved on to our other activities then.
Half of the students got to practice their counting with "snowballs" (mini marshmallows) and fine motor skills by using tweezers. When they had all 12 in their cup (our number of the week) they were then able to eat them. The other half then got to do a blubber experiment with me. They dunked their hand in ice cold water and then got to do the same thing, but inside a bag of "blubber" (Shortening) to see how polar bears and other arctic animals keep warm in freezing weather. This was a fun experiment that I would definitely do again, as they were mind-blown how it wasn't even cold anymore!
Now for a few funnies from our week!
"Miss Cronin, my dad spent all our monies to buy a new car. We don't even have one money anymore!" lol
Discussing how polar bears lick their young to keep them clean:
"Hey my mom licks me clean too!"
"Oofta you're all sweaty, were you playing pretty hard today?"-Me
"No its from the pool"
"What pool" -Me
"The pool we went to at the end of the summer before they closed…I just never get dry!" Haha
I have also put up our December Family Project's so be sure to check them out! This month they were to disguise their gingerbread man so that he doesn't get caught and eaten. This one had me in a fit of laughter so thought I better share…. :)
Have a good final week before Christmas!
Miss Cronin
