Holiday Reads: ABC's of Christmas

 Inspired by Robert Sabuda's Christmas Alphabet, the kids wrote an acrostic poem using the word "Christmas."

The kids used books and our Holiday word wall to generate words that began with the specific letters in Christmas.   I loved how they worked together and helped each other find words on the word wall.  

 Another kindergarten teacher turned her poem into an accordion book where the kids illustrated their words - pretty cute!

Other other activity of the day dealt with alphabetic order.  The kids wrote the letters that come before and after a given letter.  It was a little tricky - alphabet cards came in handy.

Books to Read:
Christmas Alphabet by Robert Sabuda
B is for Bethlehem by Isabel Wilner

Song to Listen to:
Christmas Alphabet by Spike Jones (this whole album is really great - one of my favorites!)

Other Ideas:
*Make a Christmas pop-up card
*Put Christmas words in ABC order

Holiday Reads: Christmas Mice

Have you ever noticed how many mouse Christmas stories there are?  I didn't realize how important a part mice play in holiday tales until we started looking.  From "not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" to "a crumb not big enough for a mouse" to mentions of mice among the hay in the Nativity, mice are everywhere!

We made felt Christmas mice for our Third Grade Reading Buddies.  That little candy cane tail is just too cute!  Step-by-step directions in the pocket chart helped to keep everyone on track.  The kids enjoyed knowing what step they were on and were encouraged to look at the chart before asking for teacher help.

 

The care they took to make these sweet ornaments for their special buddies.  I know they will be enjoyed for years to come.

"The big hungry bear gave him a really, really big piece of cheese."

The other activity of the day was to write and illustrate an ending for the book "Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear!"

If you aren't familiar with the story, the mouse hears a story about a big, hungry bear that never gets anything for Christmas because he's so mean.  The mouse feels sorry for the bear, so he goes to deliver the bear a present.  The mouse is very nervous about this, but follows through.  When he gets to the bear's den, the bear isn't there, but has left the mouse a HUGE, wrapped present.  Then the story ends.  We have no clue what's inside the big box.  The kids had fun trying to figure out what might possibly be in the box.  A big piece of cheese?  Maybe it's the bear himself?  A Christmas tree?  Who knows??!!!  What's your guess?

"In the present was a bear."

Books to Read:
Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear! by Don Wood
Tale of the Christmas Mouse by Judith Frinquello
Santa Mouse by Michael Brown
Mortimer's Christmas Manger by Karma Wilson

Holiday Reads: Elf on the Shelf

One of my favorite things about Christmas is elves.  I do love them!  In our classroom, we have an elf, Ralph, that visits every year.  He's a good elf, not one of those that pulls all sorts of tricks on us.  He just watches and reports to Santa.  

Pretending to be an elf is good fun.  We always sew elf hats in our class. 

This was the first time the kids traced a pattern and cut out the fleece themselves.  They did a great job.  A block helps to keep the fleece in place.  We pre-cut the fabric a little larger than the pattern so it was easier to manage sewing with a large group.

Sewing fleece can be a little harder than felt, but everyone was successful!  Most made their hats from start to finish in 20 minutes.  I sewed little bells on the top for the kids.  From experience, I know that they can be hard to sew on tightly.  A lost bell is sad!

"I would make toys."

 For a writing activity, the kids drew elf self-portraits (we draw self-portraits each month and then will be their December portrait).  They also wrote about how they would help Santa if they were an elf.  Instead of draw illustrations, we added a photo wearing the elf hat they sewed up.  These works will be displayed in the hallway for all to enjoy!

"I would hide under the couch."

 Elves gone wild!

Book read:
Elf on the Shelf by Carol V. Aebersold

Holiday Reads: The Grinch

I am in love with these How the Grinch Stole Christmas inspired pictures! After reading the book and having a great discussion about the Grinch and why Christmas can't be stolen (we used our knowledge of the Nativity from yesterday), we closely examined the illustrations.  How did Dr. Suess illustate the book?  What colors did he use?  Are there different shades of red?  What is an "accent"?

Jill did a great demonstration of how she would draw a Grinch inspired picture of a Christmas tree and then the kids got to work.

 First, the kids drew with a black a Fair pen.

 Then, they went back and colored in certain parts of their drawing with red.  I had fixed baskets of red - red markers, red crayons, red colored pencils - to chose from.

 I couldn't chose just one to show you, so I here are several. 

The kids really got it and those that usually rush through their work, really took their time and produced lovely drawings.

 To round out the lesson and get in some writing, we made a simple flip-up gift book.  The idea was to draw and label gifts that you were giving to others.  The kids "gave" gifts to their parents, brothers and sisters, and grandparents.  They were very sweet and really thought about the recipients. 

During rest time, we watched the animated version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Afterwards, there was a lively discussion comparing and contrasting the book and movie versions. 

Books read:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
Movie watched:
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Holiday Reads: Nativity

On our first day of Holiday Reads, we read several Nativity books and worked in small groups to make a giant Nativity in the hallway.  Working at an Episcopal school, we are able to talk about the Nativity openly.  I have to say, the kids exceeded our expectations and were so thoughtful in their work.  I have noticed so many kids from other grades stopping in the hallway today to read and admire our work.

We divided the class into 8 groups of 2, each group was given a specific part of the nativity scene:  Mary, Joesph, baby Jesus, shepherds, and the kings (3 of these), and an angel/.  First, they wrote a sentence about their part on sentence strip then they painted it.  If the group got finished early, they helped to make other needed things like animals and a star.

 The next morning, we cut out the paintings and put them up on the wall.

Jill and I made a large stable out of brown paper in the hallway.  The kids had fun placing the various parts of the nativity and then retelling the story.

To round out the Nativity theme, everyone wrote about what gift they would bring baby Jesus.  We listened to the song "Little Drummer Boy" and talked about our talents and how we could give of ourselves.  The kids were so thoughtful and sweet.  These "presents" are hanging on our classroom wall.

"I will play with baby Jesus."

"I will dance for baby Jesus."

There are so many good Nativity books out there.  Here are the books we read:

Original Nativity Story from the Adventure Bible

A Baby Born in Bethlehem by Martha Whitmore Hickman

Tonight You are my Baby:  Mary's Christmas Gift by Jeannie Q. Norris

Holiday Reads

It's the same every holiday season.  I fill the classroom library with wonderful holiday books.  We read all about Santa, reindeer, giving to others, snow, baby Jesus, Hanukkah, elves, the Grinch, and gingerbread men.  Usually, I sprinkle the books in throughout the season.  Sometimes the books match up with the activities we are doing in the classroom, other times they don't.  This year, I was inspired by Cassi's wonderful Book Advent that I have been referring to for years.  I thought, what if I read a different holiday book or two each day and theme our learning and art activities around the book?  I bounced the idea off of a few fellow teachers and they eagerly jumped on board and we came up with a game plan for the month of December.

I'm calling this month "Holiday Reads" and hope that you will join my classroom and I as we learn and explore using holiday-themed books as our bouncing board.  I will admit that it was hard to narrow the books and activities down.  We ended up with 11 language arts lessons plus a few math ones thrown in too.  In the spirit of documenting my teaching and sharing ideas, I'll be posting about each day.  Hope you enjoy them!  Don't worry, we have lots of crafts going on this month!

So, what's your favorite holiday book?