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.