Polar Pal Literacy Activities

Our Polar Pal unit is a lot of fun and affords us a vehicle to introduce many social studies, science and math activities. We also work in many fun literacy activities.

Writing In Snow
We practiced writing letters and our names in "snow" (shaving cream) on the tables. My tables were in need of a good cleaning so this activity was beneficial in more ways than one!

Morning Message
Several of our Morning Messages have been written to coincide with our theme. This is a good way for the children to see the writing process in action and practice important literacy skills.

Flannelboard Fun
We use our flannelboard quite a bit. It is such a great literacy tool and allows the children to retell favorite stories and fingerplays on their own.

One of our favorites is the hibernation story of "The Bear and the Mountain"

I also tell the origin, or "just-so" story of "How Mr. Fox Got His Red Coat".

Hibernation Rhyming Game
We play a rhyming game where the children pretend to be bears hibernating. As they lay "sleeping", I say two words. If they rhyme, the bears "wake up". If the words don't rhyme, the bears stay asleep.

Bears on an Iceburg
Ms. Debbie over at Once Upon A Day In Preschool wrote this great post about Bears On Boats incorporating math and language skills in a fun small group activity.

Since we were learning that polar bears often travel on iceburgs, I tweaked the idea a little bit to fit fit our theme. We rolled the dice and placed that number of bears on an iceburg (wooden block), then told a story to the group about where the bear was going. This was a fantastic way to incorporate math and language development in one short small group activity!

Writing a Fairy Tale
We've read many fairy tales since our school year began and have compared many versions of stories like "Cinderella", "The Gingerbread Man", "The Three Bears" and "The Three Little Pigs". We've also been learning about story components such as setting, characters, problem, feelings and solution. We've used a "story stick" to discuss several stories and their elements.

As we began our fairy tale, it was easy for the children to stay on track, since they understood the important elements that should be included. We started the story on the whiteboard and after it was complete, I transcribed it onto chart paper. Our story:

Pre-K Polar Bear Fairy Tale

 Once upon a time there was a baby polar bear. He ran away from his mommy. He went out to catch some fish. He missed his family and wanted to go back home.  He finally met a Snow Princess. She said, "I can help you find your home. Follow me!" The polar bear followed the Snow Princess all the way home. He was so happy to see his mom and dad. He told the Snow Princess "thank you".   

The End

Polar Pal Books
These are the books we've read this week.