A Cozy Winter Sleep

Well we finally were able to get into school this week for two full days!

The timing of these snow storms really put a damper on our being able to get into school. 

This week I was able to fit in this really cute activity about hibernation.

I love having students explore new books during library. 

Especially books about animals and facts!

This week we focused on finding information about what animals do to prepare for winter. 

We started with this anchor chart to get our brains ready for the activity. 

As the conversation progressed we did get a little off topic naming animals that DO NOT hibernate. But that why I love exploring books. We were able to prove some of our predictions wrong and set the record straight. 

I read the story "Hibernation" to familiarize my students with what we were looking for to complete our project. 

Students were given various books about animals and were to find a sentence that described what the animal did to prepare for the winter. Then they were to record their information on their research paper to present to the class. 

(When repeating this project I would assign students with specific animals and different books. Maybe one book a student so they all had something completely different to report on.) 

I found that many students used similar information from others and our library had a limited collection of books that offered various animals and winter specific details. 

The activity was a huge success regardless. 

My kids love finding information in a book AND

 I love that they are finding evidence to support their writing. 

They did a great job and I love their illustrations. 

We continued hibernation with "The Bear Snores On".

We didn't in the school or local library so I used this awesome video ...

This family reads the story with a variety of voices for each character.

My kids LOVED this story!

Then we made some text to self connections with this activity ...

" I was fast asleep, when all of a sudden ..."

 

My kiddos had so many great ideas for this one and I love where their creative minds took them. 

Of course you start with the usual: my mom, dad, brother, sister, alarm ... 

But then the ideas were endless: thunder, lightening, a nightmare, fireworks, music from a party, people talking, cars driving by, the birds, or really bright sun. 

They had so many great experiences to share!!