Washi Tape Ornaments

My other favorite holiday project is our washi tape ornaments! We use four popsicle sticks with washi tape, scrapbook stickers and polaroid pictures.  They are the best!

Holiday Stations

Here were some of our fun, holiday themed stations for the week. 

We had "snow writing" where we practiced writing heart words in the shaving cream. 

A holiday write the room, where students have to find the pictures posted on the walls in the classroom and write the word to match the picture. 

 We also did a grid mystery picture.  Students had to color just one page of the "mystery picture" and we guessed what it might be.  Then we learned about how to use a grid and attached our picture to the correct coordinate.  At the end it made this!

Giant Gingerbread Man

We conquered the giant gingerbread man today! We were so lucky to have help from Adam, Lily's dad.  He helped everyone roll out their dough and took over the cutting and baking.  It was a HUGE help, thank you!

Frozen Olaf Craft

Mrs. Wick planned a special craft for us this week, the kids made Olaf snowmen out of paper towel tubes.  They turned out so cute, I love how much personality their faces have!

Snow Globe Family

We did one of my favorite projects this week, paper snow globes based off the book Snow Globe Family.  We read the book and talked about what kind of activities we would do in the snow if we lived inside of a snow globe.  After, we make paper snow globes using snow paint (Elmer's Glue and shaving cream). The bottom of the snow globe is a list of the activities they would like to do!

Holiday Songs

We had our holiday concert on Monday and the class did so well! I was impressed with their ability to remember all the different songs.  Here some videos from their performance!

Snowman December Poem

Every month we work on a poem and artwork to go with the poem.  This month we did...

Little Snowman

I'm a little snowman short and fat 

Here is my scarf and here is my hat

When the snow is falling come and play

Build a snowman every day

December Character Education

Our school's theme for December is kindness and love.  Here are some of the books I chose to spark discussion and activities in the classrooms. 

Ordinary Marys Extraordinary Deed

 

It can when she’s Ordinary Mary—an ordinary girl from an ordinary school, on her way to her ordinary house—who stumbles upon ordinary blueberries. When she decides to pick them for her neighbor, Mrs. Bishop, she starts a chain reaction that multiplies around the world. Mrs. Bishop makes blueberry muffins and gives them to her paperboy and four others—one of whom is Mr. Stevens, who then helps five different people with their luggage—one of whom is Maria, who then helps five people—including a man named Joseph who didn’t have enough money for his groceries—and so on, until the deed comes back to Mary.

Good People Everywhere

A colorful picture book that will warm the hearts of children and adults alike, each of its pages contain endearing examples and vibrant illustrations to inspire children to grow into grateful, caring, and giving people. 

Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch

One wintry day, a postman delivers a mysterious package with a big pink bow to a lonely man named Mr. Hatch. After some time, Mr. Hatch discovers just who his secret admirer is and, in doing so, enjoys the biggest surprise of his life!

The Sandwich Swap

Lily and Salma are best friends. They like doing all the same things, and they always eat lunch together. Lily eats peanut butter and Salma eats hummus-but what's that between friends? It turns out, a lot. Before they know it, a food fight breaks out. Can Lily and Salma put aside their differences? Or will a sandwich come between them?

We also have a bulletin board going in the hallway at school to spread more kindness. Students can write a small goal that they would like to complete to be more kind, to snowball the effect. 

Puzzles

Last week, I pulled out a giant floor puzzle to work on with a large group. It provided so many great opportunities to teach the kids about teamwork and cooperation,  I heard lots of great communication going on by the end!

Math Links

To practice adding into the teen numbers, we started by working with 10 + __ = ___ .  We made paper chains for math problems into the teen numbers using black links for 10 and red links for what they were adding to ten.  It really helped envision the idea!

Polar Express Day

We had our polar express day today! We wear our pajamas all day, get to do holiday themed activities and even get a vista from Santa after we board the "train." In the afternoon we will watch part of the movie!

Writing Letters

Our STEAM lab and 2nd graders have been working hard on our own Brighton Post Office.  We were so excited to be able to write letters to anyone at the school! We started off with post cards and learned a song about writing letters and how to use 'to' and 'from.'

Friendship Feast

Wow, we have been so busy getting ready for our friendship feast with pre-k! The past couple weeks have been filled with art projects, songs and some baking in preparation for our event.  Here are some pictures of our activities!