During January the children learned about cold climates and worked with the story “A Whale of a Tale” from Twenty Tellable Tales compiled by Margaret Read MacDonald. This story originates from the Eskimos. At the beginning of the month children looked at the globe to see where Eskimos live and then where they live. Our class talked about weather and animals found in arctic climates.
Teachers told the story using flannelboard figures copied from prints in the book. Children also learned Chinese vocabulary related to the story.
A winter painting was created to go along with the story. Children were given a canvas on which to squirt dots of acrylic paint in cool colors to create a winter background.
The paints were then mixed to produce the background for the story figures to be printed onto.
Misty-Jade and I made stamps from the story figures. We traced the prints onto foam sheets, drew in the details, and then traced the details with an Exacto knife.
Stamp pads were made using two layers of fabric interfacing cut into circles to fit inside a plastic picnic plate. The fabric was soaked with water and then white acrylic paint was poured on top and spread out.
Children stamped the figures onto their winter paintings. After the paint dried the children applied a coat of Mod Podge diluted with water to the pictures. Some irridescent glitter was sprinkled over the Mod Podge for snow.
Last week the children retold the story during circle time using their pictures as a guide. They were all able to include the Chinese vocabulary they had learned.
Here is M’s rendition of the “Whale of a Tale!”
Little Pandas Playschool 
