Wisconsin School for the Deaf - The Wisconsin Times Vol. 133 No. 2 Winter 2011-2012 | Page 4

Karibella Ominex hids like a fox. Mia Eldred blows like a seal. Swoop Like a Snowy Owl Sometimes a children’s book holds a wonderful movement-filled activity inside. Many books are more than words and pictures and with a bit of creativity can prove to be a fun way to learn. In the book, Over in the Arctic Where the Cold Winds Blow, by Marianne Berkes, a mother seal tells her pups to breathe. The pups practice swimming up for air and breathing. The pre-K students used party favors to breathe like the seal pups. In another part of the book, the mother Arctic fox told her kits to hide in the den. To understand what it is like to hide like a fox, the preschoolers hid and crawled through a tunnel. Dipping and diving like the whale calves in the cold ocean excited many of the young swimmers as they dipped and dove through hula hoops just like real whales. Many other activities were enjoyed throughout the story such as rolling like a polar bear cub, thumping like an Arctic hare, kicking like a walrus, and swooping like a snowy owl. Where’s The Snow? Every morning the students in the pre-kindergarten class ask, “Where’s the snow?” “Soon it will come,” is the answer repeated many times each week. When a bag of white fiber fill made its way into the classroom for an art activity, the dreams of snow became a reality. Each little hand pulled out as much snow as it could possibly hold. Fluffy man-made snow filled the tabletop where toy polar bears, penguins, seals, and walrus were hiding and pouncing on the cool winter wonderland. Eventually, some of the snow fell on the floor; which made for a surprisingly slippery walk. Before long, the great north winds blew with the help of a fan, turning the room into a mini blizzard for the excited pre-K students. Instantly, Santa Clauses popped up with big white beards and jolly smiles. Shovels appeared for the happy little ones to help put the snow back into a box for the next time when someone wishes for snow. Winter 2012 - 4 Above: Jordan Gatch discovers arctic animals in his winter wonderland. Below: Karibella and Jordan enjoy a Santa moment.