Stopping By Woods

Handwriting Without Tears.  We reviewed all the letters we have done so far.  The kids helped me put the magnets together and I wrote the letters one-by-one on the board for them.  We then went back to our book and traced over all the dark letters with a marker.  The kids are doing great!

Math.  We did a gingerbread man color by number.


Game.  We played a Christmas version of hot potato.  When the music stopped, a child got to choose a gift from the pile.  The kids loved giving and receiving each gift.


Journal.  My Christmas wishlist includes...

Play Practice.  We split all the kids up with a different helper.  They all chose three Christmas activities each and we took turns acting the skits out and the rest of us guessed what they were. Forgive the sideways pics.  I'm on a computer in the middle of Idaho and the internet is hit or miss.  Just turn your head to the side and enjoy!  Ha!




Stations.  At one station, the kids decorated Christmas ornaments for Nora's grandparents.  At the other two we played Qwirkle and Jenga.

Storm In The Night

Literature.  We read Storm in The Night.  It's a story about a boy and his relationship with his grandpa.  I invited all the kids' grandpas to come to class or said we could call them.  I was overwhelmed by the cute activities each Grandpa (and some Grandmas) did for the kids!  They made it so special for our kinder class.

PE.  We made a tree with painter's tape.  We did different balance beam activities and tried to stay on the trunk of the tree.




Grandpa Time.  I called my Dad and Grandpa (Parks and Billie's Grandpa and Great-Grandpa).  We prepared question ahead of time.  It was the neatest experience!  Wyatt B. asked if they had action figures.  It was amazing to hear about all the different experiences they had growing up and how things are different now.

We called Wyatt's grandpa.  He was so darling and had some great jokes for us.  How special!!  The kids were in the joke telling mood for the rest of the day.

Nora's Grandpa.  Her grandpa was so darling and said he would love some ornaments on his tree so for another class we made some ornaments and put them in an envelope for him.

Grandma Sally.  Wyatt's Grandma came in and helped with the whole class.  She told a darling Gingerbread story and gave the kids a gingerbread cookie afterward.

Parks and Billie's grandma.  My mom, Tammy, came in and read stories with the kids and helped out with class for the day.
 

Mariah's Grandpa.  He was so sweet and heard some of the kids' jokes and we asked him some questions.  He reminded me of my grandpa...the way he looked and spoke.  He was darling.

Brenna's Grandpa.  Both of them read a Christmas story to the class.  One of them cut out Brenna's face and she was under the "B" for the Christmas alphabet (cute idea).


Science Experiment.  We poured baby oil into the mason jar.  In a separate container we mixed warm water and white paint.  We poured the white paint mixture and glitter into the jar and let them sink below the oil.  We talked about how water is more dense and and also that the water molecules are attracted to each other and stick together.  All the kids put little bits of Alka seltzer in the jar and it made a beautiful storm.  I handed each child a whole Alka seltzer tablet and when they put them in at the same time, everything exploded and spilled over!!  Ha!  The kids were screaming and loved it!



Art.  We hot glued all the graham cracker house ahead of time and let the kids decorate them with candy and frosting.  What a hit!  I combined this with our Spanish lesson and pointed different words out on theirs "casas".





Thank you to my helpers.  They hot glued all the gingerbread houses the class period before so they were already for the kids.

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Circle Time.  The kids are working on Jack Sprat, Hey Diddle Diddle, Dear Laddies and Jellyfish, and our Spanish song.  For Christmas, we got out our bells and shakers to sing Christmas Bells are Ringing and Jingle Bells.  We sprinkled in some other Christmas songs as well.

Literature.  We read Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.  Mike took good care of Mary Anne.  How can we take good care of what we have?  Our earth?

Music.  The highlight of our day was having Billie's daddy, Josh, play the guitar for us.  We danced to  La Bamba and Christmas music.  Angel loves to dance and really got into everything.  Josh also played some slower music for our yoga and even meditation time.  He said he got a little choked up singing It's a Wonderful World to the kids.


Art.  We mixed glue and shaving cream together to make "snow".  The kids made a snowman.  It dries to such a fun and puffy texture.

The next class we did puffy paint on a plastic sheet.  You can peel this and hang it on the window.  I printed a snowflake coloring page and slipped in a sheet protector.  The kids did a beautiful job! 



Math.  We practiced sorting today.  I got some coins out and asked the kids how we could sort them in similar groups.  Gus was great at this.  We sorted by size, worth, and color.
    
Game.  I Love All My Neighbors.

Journal.  My Christmas plans are to...

Science Experiment.  We put Ivory soap in the microwave and let it explode.  It looked like snow (the only kind we can get in CA).  We did it twice and then went outside to let them play with them.
  

Madelyn is so good to play with the kiddos after school while I clean up.