Christmas Break…..WOW, already?

I can hardly believe we are already off for Christmas break. If you are not out yet, when do you get out? I love my little sweeties, but my goodness, a break is glorious!! My first year of teaching has taught me so much. I feel like I have grown so much as a person. It is truly amazing what little hearts can do to you! I just love these little darlings!

We enjoyed Polar Express Day by dressing in our comfy jammies, drinking hot chocolate, and watching the Polar Express. It was so fun! I love this time of year because I get to relive Christmas through the perspective of a 5 year old. J  We also had our Christmas party this day. So fun and such sweet memories.

Here is a little recap of our week:

The children played a word-building game. They drew a Christmas tree card and identified the picture on the card, then found the letters they needed to spell it. (From Deanna Jump and Julie Lee's Winter Math and Literacy Pack)

I printed off various sight words and put them into a cube. The children rolled the cube, identified the sight word and wrote it on the dry erase board. We always introduce a new set of sight words each week.

After reading Jesus, Me, and My Christmas tree, we made “Triangle Trees.” I have several star sticky note pads and so as you can see, that was our tree topper. I loved this art activity because it was incorporating math as well. The children had to figure out how to make the shape of a Christmas tree while using triangles of various sizes. These turned out adorable. (I have no idea why Blogger turns these sideways....drives me crazy!)

Rhyming Reindeer (Also from Mrs. Jump and Mrs. Lee) was a great activity to reinforce rhyming. The children placed the cards face down, then turned them over in search of pictures that rhymed. My kiddos are great at rhyming and so this was so fun for them. Some of the children then wrote their matches on a recording sheet. I am so proud of them!!

In the sensory tub we wrapped gifts. OHMYWORD…huge hit. I had no idea how much kids loved to wrap gifts! I had to pry little hands away when it was time to clean up. J

Snowman counting- We are really working on one to one correspondence and counting. Using snowman erasers and a snowman template, the children matched the hats and bodies with corresponding numbers. They then counted out the corresponding number of erasers. Let me tell you, erasers are a must have! They make excellent math manipulatives. Again, sorry they are sideways!

One more thing, do y’all use any of the Have Fun Teaching CD’s or DVD’s? Gosh....these are amazing. A while back, they had a HUGE sale going on that offered you 50% off of your entire order. So, of course I took advantage of that! HA! Y’all, there are fitness songs, science songs, counting songs, alphabet songs, character songs, etc. HUGE hit with my 5 year olds!! Every morning we listen/do  “Stretch it out Simon”, “Walk it Out Willie” and “Jumping Jack Flash.” It gets them completely engaged and moving in the classroom. What a perfect way to start the day! The kids LOVE it and request this every day. I highly recommend trying it out!  

I hope you all have a very blessed Christmas!! Thanks for reading this little ol’ blog! I hope it encourages you!

What have we been up to?!

Whew! What a busy, busy couple of weeks! My kids have been so sweet and obedient lately. What teacher wouldn't love that?! :) We have absolutely LOVED doing Christmas/Winter/Gingerbread activities. It really is the most wonderful time of the year! Here are some pictures of things we have been doing. Enjoy!!

We have been practicing Random Acts of Christmas Kindness (totally inspired by The First Grade Parade) and my kiddos have LOVED it!! Their little faces light up when we show love to others. The picture above is of quarters taped to candy canes that they attached to the vending machine. This made lots of people smile.

We practiced one to one correspondence using goldfish. We also practiced division (in Pre-K?! HA! The kids had no idea). Each child drew a number card and determined whether or not each penguin could get the same amount. My little sweeties are mathematicians! :) This came from Mrs. Jump's Penguin unit. ADORABLE!!

We started our week by discussing what Christmas is....today we talked about what Christmas is all about. I recorded their sweet answers.

One of our favorite activities was "How to make the grinch grin" and let me tell y'all, these little ones came up with some funny things!! And sweet things too. :) My favorite was "I would give him some chicken." HA!

Aren't they so CUTE?? :) Love this idea.

Moving right along......

This idea was inspired from Pinterest. Are y'all as addicted as I am?? OHMYGOSH...Every time I make something, my fiance says "Let me guess...Pinterest?" HA! He knows me too well. :)

I thought these little projects turned out TOO CUTE!! (Sorry one of those is sideways).

We played LOTS of games this week and I am just highlighting a few of the favorites. (This is a rhyming game from Mrs. Jump).

We also completed a Gingerbread Unit, which the kids LOVED!! Isn't our house pretty? They loved making the house. They ask everyday if we can make another one. :)  (Again, sorry it is sideways).

This is our sensory table. Let me tell you, my class LOVES the sensory table!! What kid doesn't though, I guess?! This week I added styrofoam "snow" and the kids measured it. It was neat to see them comparing the sides and determining how much more "snow" they needed to add or take away.

We are having a Polar Express Movie Watching party on Friday as well as our Christmas party. What a day it will be!! :) I can't wait! :)

Hope y'all are having a GREAT week!