Five for Friday December 9

Five for Friday is taking a break this week, but I wrote my five anyway!

       

We had a Teddy Bear Tt Party Day this week.  We're almost done with our letters.  I work on all the letters all the time (like we all do) but then focus on two a week to reinforce letter ID, sound, and correct formation.  So- we were on letter Tt and we needed a Tt Party!

The children had so much fun.  I never want to get so busy with curriculums and programs that I can't have these fun days.  These are the days the kids will remember. 

We did lots of math with our bears! The children sorted them by color and size. They also came up with other ways to sort-  some with clothes on, some holding something, black noses and brown noses...  We had fun.

Then, they had to line up their bears from biggest to smallest- without making a sound!  OOOH that was hard!  

During math centers, we added and subtracted with teddy grahams.  



We used paper bowls for bear caves for our subtraction. (I just cut out an "entrance to the cave."  The children had 5 teddy grahams.  I would put all five in the cave.  Then, I would take some out and they had to tell me how many more were in the cave.  They  thought they were magic.  I told them math is even BETTER than magic!

Here's a picture with teddy bear counters.  I worked with a couple of my children during free choice time to review using counters.

Reading was oh-so-much better with bears!

The children wrote  about their bears.  They each wrote 3 details about their bear- usually his/her name, whether it was big or small,  and what they liked to do with their bear. Then they drew a picture of their bear.  I told them to pretend it was a photograph so it looked JUST like their real bear.  They had fun.

I had some bear paperdolls for the children to cut out and play with at free choice if they wanted. 

We had flavored iced tea to drink, Teddy Grahams, and fruit snacks for our party. So simple but special.  I used very special napkins because it was a "fancy party."  You could also serve Swedish fish, berries, and honey, because bears love that, too!

We fit in all three Bear Hunt songs by the end of the day.  

I hope they made some happy memories.

What do you do when you get a new pillow and it's got too much stuffing in it?  Take a bunch of it out, sew the pillow back up, and use the stuffing for Santa beards!  And snow for upcoming projects...  

I posted some of my favorite candy cane ideas at PreK and K Sharing this week!

And...

There is a link to a little recording sheet if you want your students to write the sight words, too. 

This time of year, there are some books that we all  probably use for some holiday character education lessons.

Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer is a good lesson about being yourself and how your differences make you special. You are made exactly the way you are supposed to be to do wonderful things.

Last year, I posted LOTS and LOTS of reindeer freebies and fun if you want to check those out! I updated the links to be sure they still work and are free. 

The Grinch is all about learning to be kind, be kind, be kind.  It makes you feel better inside!

Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree has always been one of my favorite stories to share with my class. 

It's great for so many things. The children love to retell it and remember each character who was able to have a new Christmas tree. It's also good for teaching that you don't have to be BIG to make a big difference in the world!  I LOVE this poster from Peppermint Plum.

Miss DeCarbo shared a sweet bulletin board idea and freebie at her TPT store to encourage Christmas Kindness that would go really well with Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree.  I love activities that encourage children to see and appreciate the good in others.

We lost power last week in the middle of the night. It was supposed to come back on at 7:30 AM, but didn't get fixed until after 9AM.  Meanwhile, I got dressed and put on my make up with a flashlight.  So pretty... as you can imagine.  And I just quickly "fixed" my hair from the day before.  

The whole time I was struggling with everything in the dark, not used to it- trying the light switch, forgetting every time that it wouldn't work,  I kept thinking of verses about God being our Light and how we need to focus on Him.  I love analogies, and knew this was meant for me.  If I keep God as my focus and look to Him, my Light, every single thing I need to do during the day goes so much better and so much more smoothly.   When I try to make my way alone, I struggle in the dark with things that could be so much easier if the Light were turned on.  Oh how I appreciated that light after trying to do everything in the dark.  I also noticed how much I take the Light for granted and need to remember to be thankful for it all the time.

1 John 1:5

Have a wonderful weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Five for Friday December 11

Happy Friday!  I'm linking up with Kacey for her wonderful Five for Friday Linky to share some favorite holiday fun from this week. Thank you, Kacey!  

Here are my playdough "Flavors of the Month."  

My new favorite recipe for playdough is this one using Bisquick:

Bisquick Playdough
2 cups Bisquick
1 cup salt
2 cups water
1 Tbsp cream of tartar
1 Tbsp oil

Mix all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave for 3 minutes.  Scrape and stir the bowl. Microwave for another 3 minutes. If it is not quite ready,  microwave for another minute.
(I made a double batch and put it back in my microwave for one more minute, which worked perfectly.)

I like this playdough because it really lasts well.   A double batch actually made 6 of these sized balls.  Last year, I was experimenting with Christmas ideas and ruined one...  I had these big, shiny confetti shapes like these that I thought would be fun: 

NOT. 

They didn't mix in and were too much. Lesson learned and only five playdough balls left. 

I made Snowball (white with colored glitter), Christmas Tree (green coloring with cut up red and green tinsel pieces and some little gold stars),  Cocoa (all I did was add LOTS of cocoa powder, and it smells awesome!), Gingerbread (cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg ), and Candy Cane (red coloring and mint extract). 

I was thinking I could make Peppermint Patty playdough and have the brown cocoa playdough and some white with mint extract.  Yum. 

I also looked for some pine scented essential oil in the store, but I couldn't find any. I was thinking that may work well in the Christmas Tree playdough.  I COULD tell you that I put it in there, couldn't I?  I forgot that you can't smell through the computer.  Well, I am honest- and I didn't put it in. The ones that smell don't have any "extras."  The ones that don't smell, have some bling in them.  The kids loved them.

Here are some cute Christmas Tree Playdough Mats from Jennifer Brown's TPT store. My kids would love rolling out the bulbs for the Christmas trees.

She also shared some wonderful Snowman Playdough Mats! Thank you, Jennifer!



  

 Here are some other cute Winter Wonderland Mats from OkinawanGirl's TPT store.

We made these wreaths for the parents this week.  I had each child work with me one at a time to guide those little paint-covered hands.  They love it each time I paint the palm of their hands, because it tickles.  Every single child laughed this year.  For some reason, that just made me happy.

Some years I attach a poem, (My hand made the wreath. My thumb made the berry. I hope that you have a Christmas that's merry!)  but this year, I didn't.  I just went with the wreath.  

I got the bows last year after Christmas at Walmart for 70% off.  I'll be back there again this year!

The children love making these presents.  It's a quick activity that gets them thinking about what they might give to someone else, not what they want to get. 

They colored the present, cut it out, and put a real bow on it.  I did this in small groups, so we could talk about what each child was going to write, but it was a very independent activity.  I made a couple different presents the children could use. If you would like a copy, just click on the picture below! I didn't have them color the bow, because I used a real bow. (I used the picture with the smaller bow so I could cover it with a real bow.)

                              

I posted all about Christmas lights and TPT Christmas light freebies HERE!

Each year, I use this fabulous Christmas Lights Pattern by Meredith Fitzhenry that she shared at her TPT store.  Thank you, Meredith!

 I enlarge it 200 times and print it on 11x17 paper.

I write secret sight words on each paper with a white crayon.  There are some on the paper above and you didn't even know it! The children  watercolor however they want.  It's always a favorite for all of us!

After the children discover their secret words and read them to me, they write them on their paper.

I also enlarged Meredith's paper not quite so big and made some number papers for my little ones who still need some number recognition practice.

We followed this activity up by closing the shades and reading this sweet book that lights up.

Here are a couple of my favorite candy cane ideas- with a little literacy sprinkled in!

 

I cut out candy cane shapes, outlined them, and wrote red sight words in every other space.  I wrote white crayon sight words in the white spaces.  The children had to read the red word, then paint the white section with red watercolor.  This was actually a really good activity for following directions, too.  The kids did great!

 They turned out really cute!  

We also made our other sight word candy canes this week!

The children could choose a  white candy cane with red words- or a red candy cane with white words. That was maybe the hardest part.  They chose ten different word stripes to add to their candy cane.  After they make their candy cane, they read their words to a friend at their table. Then, they write their words on a recording sheet.  They will also read the words to me.

(I have each child put a scrap piece of paper under the candy cane cut-out so the glue doesn't go all over the table when they glue on the strips.)

After they glue on the strips, I turn the candy cane over and help the children trim the edges.

When they finish this center, they get a mini candy cane to take home and eat as they read their candy cane words to a grown up.

Here is a copy of the sight word sheet I used and the recording sheet.  Just click on the picture if you would like a copy.

Here is a fun video of Santa making candy canes!



Thank you for stopping by!  It's going to be 63 degrees on Sunday. That is unheard of in Upstate NY in December!  I'm thinking there will not be a white Christmas this year.  I'm okay with that- except then I don't want a white winter at all afterward.  The only time I really love snow is before Christmas- then winter just drags on for months after that...   Have a WONDERFUL weekend!