Introduce the season of winter to pre-K students by reading the story "When Winter Comes" by Nancy Van Laan. Discuss with children what they learned from the story and all the different ways they know that winter is coming, which were shared in the story. Provide each student with a sheet of white paper and crayons. Preschoolers can create their own illustration for a way they know winter is coming and write a short sentence, with the teacher's help if needed, to go along with their illustration.
Many animals hibernate during the winter months. Introduce hibernation to students and what happens with animals when they hibernate, along with learning which animals spend the winter hibernating. Create a list of animals on the front board with the students' help of all the animals they can think of that might hibernate. Go through the list with students and discuss whether the animal does actually hibernate or stays active during the winter months. Talk about what type of environment the animals hibernate in, for how long they remain dormant and what types of foods they eat before beginning their long winter sleep. Give each child a sheet of paper and crayons to create a drawing of an animal that was discussed hibernating. Encourage children to write the name of the animal on their own underneath their finished drawing.
Use the winter snow as a base for a science experiment with pre-K students. Some areas of the world don't see snow during the winter months. Use a globe or map of the world to locate these areas. If you live in an area where there isn't snow, ice cubes can be used instead of snow from the outdoors. Each pre-K student can go outdoors and collect a small cup or bowl of snow. Position the containers of snow around the classroom and ask students to make predictions as to how quickly it will take the snow to melt. One student can be in charge of watching the clock to keep time.
Create a chart on the front board of all the students' predictions and then watch the cups to see which melted the fastest. Did it matter where the cups were positioned? Let each child take a turn sharing his thoughts.