Hibernation Day:
We read some fun books about a hibernating bear and then talked about what it means to hibernate and different animals that do hibernate.
Then we made little caves with animals that hibernate hiding inside them.
We also made a snack for ourselves (trail mix) and gobbled it all up like the bears and animals do before hibernation. Then we practiced our hibernation skills and found little caves in our class to sleep for the winter. I would turn out the light and say winter time, when I turned on the light and said, "Spring Time" then they could all wake up. This was a really fun for the kids.
Our Elf "Skippy Dimbledot"
We had an elf come visit our class! He checked to make sure we were being good and let us write notes back and forth to him. He loves lots of different foods, his favorite monster truck is one that looks like a shark, and he couldn't tell us how he moves around our class each night because it would give away his magic and Santa wouldn't be happy about that. :) He did leave us a little prize in our stockings each night if we were good though. We sure had a TON of fun looking for him each day and loved all the cool presents he left us.
K is for Kangaroos:
We made these Kangaroos for letter K day and put the baby joeys in the momma's pocket. The kids also had to practice writing their letter k's on the paper. For cooking this day we made Pita Pockets. Just added some ham and cheese inside the pocket. They were super yummy!
"The Mitten" by Jan Brett
We had so much fun reading this book. I gave each child a cut out of one of the animals in the book. They loved the clues Jan Brett gives to what animal was coming next. When it was their animal's turn we would put it inside our own mitten. (Just a mitten I use for the oven) At the very end of the book the bear sneezes. I threw the mitten up in the air. They really liked that part. Afterwards we cut out strips of paper and glued it to our own mitten. For PE this day we got out our parachute and I told each child what animal they were. When their animal was called they got to run underneath the parachute and we would try and catch them.
Polar Express Day and Reindeer:
I feel so bad I don't have the cute pictures from this day. For Polar Express Day they got to wear their pajamas to school. We started the day out by reading the book and then making little trains. We had hot chocolate for snack time this day and then they got to watch part of the movie. I showed them the parts that were similar to the book and we compared and contrasted what was different and the same. Afterwards, we voted on which one we like more, the book or the movie. The movie was the winner. They were actually upset that they didn't get to watch the whole thing. :) After the movie I gave each child a bell necklace.
We also made these reindeer out of their hands for the antlers. And sang the song Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.
Candy Cane Day:
We painted stripes on our candy canes.
Then played with homemade play dough that I had added mint extract to make it smell super yummy. They made their own candy canes out of the dough and then got to take it home.
Here is the recipe: I put my glitter and extract and food coloring in at the beginning with the oil and water.
Play Dough Recipe
For cooking we made candy cane snacks made from raspberries and bananas. SO yummy!
Some of the things we did for our Christmas party this year:
1- Played pin the nose on Frosty
2- Played the christmas version of Duck, Duck, Goose (Santa, Santa, Elf)
3- Made christmas trees out of Sugar cones, green frosting, and mini m &m's for the ornaments.
4- Played Don't Eat Santa (similar to Don't eat Jack)
And of course we had our yearly tradition of opening gifts from each other. (a new book) :)
Thank you so much to those of you that were able to help out. I hope you are all having a great winter break. I have been sick with a yucky sinus infection and hope to be feeling lots better now that I am on an antibiotic. See you next week on Wednesday.
