The Big Picture: Change! Out with the old and in with the new...year, that is! With

2017 just beginning, the Monkeys are showing incredible

growth in every area! All school year, we are focusing on the

theme of change throughout our units of study and centers.

As we move through our winter themes, the children are

learning that change happens all around us everyday.

Jumping into

2017!

January marks the beginning

of a brand new year and we

could not be more excited!

With the success of our

wonderful Winter Celebration

and the new wintery themes

being covered, the Monkeys

have had a playfully packed

month of learning. Our

January topics have included:

snowmen, winter, arctic

animals, fairytales, and

opposites.

Miss Sparacino Miss Fernandez

The Monkey Messenger

UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES:

*****No School*****

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7

Winter Recess!

February 20th – February 24th

MONKEY MESSENGER JANUARY 2017

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What Have We Been Reading?

Snowmen At Night By: Caralyn Beuhner

The Gruffalo By: Julia Donaldson

The Snowman By: Raymond Briggs

Sneezy the Snowman By: Maureen Wright

The Jacket I wear in the Snow By: Shirley Neitzel

A Silly Snowy Day By: Michael Coleman

Snow By: Pauline Cartwright

Owl Babies By: Martin Waddell

Beluga Passage By: Linda Lingemann

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? By: Bill Martin

Miss Nelson is Missing By: James Marshall

Goodnight Already By: Jory John & Benji Davies

The Three Bears ABC By: Grace Maccarone

Goatilocks and the Three Bears By: Erica S. Perl

Rubia and the Three Osos By: Susan Middleton Elya

What Have We Been Singing?

** Denotes songs that are on Youtube.com.

I’m A Little Snowman**

Five Little Snowmen**

The Penguin Song**

Snowflakes, Snowflakes**

Bear Hunt**

If You’re a Kid** (regular and animal

version)

Slowmo (Koo Koo Kanga Roo) **

Get Yo Body Movin’ (Koo Koo Kanga Roo)**

Freeze Dance**

Let’s Get Fit (Counting to 100)**

Mittens Song**

Wishy Washy Washer Woman**

Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Debbie &

Friends)**

Opposites Song**

Down Around the Corner

Snack Song

Good Morning/Afternoon Song

Days of the Week

January Vocabulary

Snow Illustrator

Snowmen Opposites

Snowball Fairytales

January Fantastic

Arctic Animals

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Since only 6 parents could attend our celebration, we want to give all an inside look at

what went on in our classroom on that very special day. We had 6 different, extra special

center activities, each run by a family member volunteer. The children loved our center “Do

You Want to Feed a Snowman?” The children were given three white ping pong balls each to

throw at a snowman. The snowman had a cutout circle for his mouth and for his stomach. It

was filled with laughter and silliness to see who could feed the snowman the most “snowballs!”

Another popular center was the sensory table activity, “Snowy Spies”. Here, the

children took turns feeling around a table filled with cotton balls to find all types of wintery

objects. On the floor were pictures labeled for all 5 items hidden in the table: 5 snowflakes,

4 snowmen, 3 mugs, 2 penguins, and 1 skunk. Once an item was found, the children would place

it on the floor by its corresponding picture and then continue to find the rest!

On the carpet in the blocks center, we had a “Reading in the Snow” center. Here the

children sat on cozy bean bag chairs on top of snow. The parent at this center read a winter

story to each group of children.

The children enjoyed using paint at our “Blizzard Painting” center! At this center, the

children used tweezers to pick up small wooden spheres that were covered in paint. They

dropped the spheres onto a piece of white paper in a tray, picked up the tray, and tilted it in

all directions. This allowed the sphere to roll all over the paper leaving trails of different

wintery colors which created the effect of a blizzard. Once finished with a sphere, the

children would pick it up with the tweezers and return it to the same paint tray. The

tweezers added the strengthening of fine motor skills as beautiful art was created!

The second art center was called “Frosty the Snowman.” Here the children assembled

a snowman as they gathered different sized circles for the body and hat to go on top! The

children glued these pieces onto a blue background and they then decorated their snowman

by giving him a face, buttons, and stick arms. Following this, the children used q-tips that

were dipped into white paint to create snowflakes around their snowman.

Lastly, the children had a blast at “Winter Jeopardy”. Each child took turns picking

different categories to answer questions about. The categories were shapes, colors, meeting,

skeletons, and mystery.

After our special center activities, we did a movement song and dance for our family

volunteers and then we had a special snack. The children and teachers were very thankful for

our parent volunteers’ participation, as it was exciting to have visitors in our classroom. We

look forward to our Spring Celebration and the 6 new family volunteers who will join us! We

will confirm this date with you all in the coming months. Thank you again to our class parents

and family volunteers who made our Winter Celebration such a wonderful experience!

Winter Celebration!

MONKEY MESSENGER JANUARY 2017

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MONKEY MESSENGER JANUARY 2017

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Writing Center! The Monkeys had fun using their fingers to write their names in snow on trays! Our

Monkeys showed off their illustrating skills while they drew detailed images of snowmen

on blue paper. The Monkeys used “snowballs” to write each letter of their names. Each

child had to count out the letters in his or her name and then grab that many white

circles. They then worked diligently as they wrote each letter on a different circle. Once

this was done, the Monkeys glued the circles on top of one another to create a snowman!

After observing the changes that take place in the winter, we decorated snowflakes to

place on our classroom tree. This month, we created another class book titled “What the

Monkeys Love the Most About the Winter.” Here, the children came up with different

activities that they enjoy such as building snowmen, catching snowflakes, or even making

snow angels! The Monkeys came up with creative ways to illustrate these thoughts. We

then scribed what they said. We have been blown away by the children’s artistic abilities

at the writing center. As we learned about the different arctic animals, the Monkeys used

pictures as a guide to help them sketch these animals.

Math Center! This past month, the Monkeys enjoyed working on snowman math

activities. They used different shapes to build their own snowmen

such as circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles. They also showed

off their number recognition as they helped snowmen find their

buttons. The Monkeys have been creating ABC patterns with unfix

cubes, counters, and links! We are amazed to see how quickly they are

picking up patterning. During fairytale week, the children created ABC

patterns using the characters from “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”

While learning about arctic animals, a big hit at the math center was

“Feed the Puffin” in which the children rolled a die to figure out how

many goldfish to give to the puffin.

MONKEY MESSENGER JANUARY 2017

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Cozy Corner!

Discovery Center!

During our winter week, we placed white cotton balls all

over the carpet as if it had snowed inside our classroom!

In order to strengthen the Monkey’s fine motor skills, the

children were required to pick up the snowballs one by one

using tweezers. A popular activity at this center was

“Follow the Bear Paw Prints.” Here, the children spun a

spinner to see how many bear steps they had to take

around the cozy corner. To work on the Monkeys’ gross

motor skills, they were given bean bags as “fish” to toss to

the “puffins.”

The children were able to apply their inferencing skills as they had to

match footprints to the corresponding arctic animals! Such animals

included polar bears, arctic foxes, snowshoe hares, etc. The Monkeys

showed off their building skills as they used Lincoln Logs to build the

three bears’ house! The used their tactile senses as they picked up

different items at the discovery center. They then sorted and glued

these items onto a chart. One side was for hard items while the other

side was for soft items.

MONKEY MESSENGER JANUARY 2017

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Fine Motor!

During this wintery month, we created our own sparkly, sticky, snow dough! The Monkeys had a

lot of fun getting their hands messy and building creative snow figures. The Monkeys have

been strengthening their fine motor skills as they created their own snow globes. The children

used their palms to push down on a snowflake puncher to make as many snowflakes as possible

to fill their globes. They then practiced their cutting skills as they cut out a blue circle

background to represent their snow globe. Once their globes were assembled, each child wrote

their name on the base! To practice letter recognition, the Monkeys picked up snowball letters

and then traced that letter in the “snow.” While learning about arctic animals, the Monkeys

created their own animal tracks in model magic using small arctic animals. They were amazed to

see the different tiny foot prints that were left on the model magic. To keep the arctic

animals warm, the Monkeys ripped up construction paper to create thicker fur for arctic foxes

and they ripped up cotton balls to create thicker fur for polar bears! A big hit this month has

been our carpet squares. The Monkeys have been patiently focusing on using tacks to outline

various arctic animals, as well as, the three bears. This activity not only enhances the

children’s pincer muscles, but it supports their hand to eye coordination.

MONKEY MESSENGER JANUARY 2017

We’ve said our goodbyes to 2016 and are welcoming the new year with

lots of laughs and learning!

As the winter months approach us, please be sure to keep your

child home in the event that he/she is feeling under the weather.

We would like to eliminate the spread of germs as much as possible

within our educational environment. In the event of absence,

please be sure to send an email.

As a reminder, please walk all the way up to the door for drop off and pick up.

** Due to safety reasons, all parents and children must depart

immediately after pick up!! **

Stay tuned for February.

Thank you,

Miss Sparacino & Miss Fernandez

E-mail address: upkmonkeys@gmail.com