December’s Special Days

December has been a busy month in Kindergarten! We enjoyed the Winter Concert at the beautiful Music Academy of the West.

Then, we had our Elves Workshop. The Kindergarten Elves were busy on this day!

The grand finale to our Gingerbread Literacy Unit was a Candy Land-themed party, complete with five fun learning centers!

Once we completed each activity, students earned a cookie lollipop!

And now, it’s off to Winter Break! Here are some great ideas if you are looking for ways to keep your child learning during our two weeks off!

It’s Winter Break….Now What?

 

 

 

 

Busy Little Elves

In lieu of Friday Fun, students were surprised with the annual kindergarten Elf Workshop! When they walked into the classroom in the morning, each student had a special elf hat on their table..accessories always make learning more fun! Ms. Barker and I got into the theme as well!

After a quick tour of the workshop, we had no choice but to get right to work!

I organized the activities once again using our Smart Board.

And the busy elves were off to complete five activities!

At “Deck the Halls,” students had to match CVC words to pictures.

The “Gift Wrapping Station” had students wrapping homemade holiday gifts for their loved ones. This sweet gesture also is a great fine motor builder, so parents, let your children help wrap gifts at home! The folding of the paper, the manipulation of the sticky tape, the physical pressure the fingers use to complete these tasks help strengthen those little finger muscles!

 

“I Spy an Elf” was a reading activity, where students used a magnifying glass to read CVC words that were written in teeny tiny print, that even with the glasses and the magnifying glass, I still couldn’t make out!

The fourth rotation included puzzle building, where students assembled puzzles of mystery holiday toys/gifts and then recorded their findings.

Lastly, students met with Ms. Barker where they used unifix cubes to measure actual presents! (not really…I just happened to have a lot of boxes from Black Friday purchases that I wrapped and decorated.) But, what fun the children had guessing what was inside each box!

We ended our Elf Workshop with a well-deserved rest by the fire…..

 

while I get the classroom ready for the next event…Candy Land Day!

Elf Workshop

We had our Winter Concert last night. It was a beautiful event that was held outdoors in the crisp winter air. I knew the students would be tired this morning, so I planned a fun and engaging day: Elf Workshop! When the students arrived, they each had an elf hat on their desk. I had them come into my warm and cozy living room for a photo!

I had five rotations all set for my little elves to complete. Here is the overview:

At the Gift Wrapping station, students wrapped their holiday gift. I showed them how to fold the paper. It was a fun fine motor activity that included cutting and using the tape.

Another activity was “I Spy an Elf.” Student used magnifying glasses to find CVC words on their page. Then, then recorded the words they found.

Next, students put together puzzles of many different types of toys. They illustrated their puzzle and recorded the type of toy.

For the fourth activity, students had to use unifix cubes to measure the width of gifts.

The final activity was called “Deck the Halls”. Students read the words on the stockings that were hanging by the fireplace. They then found the coordinating picture on a recoding sheet and wrote the word.

You can see the stockings for “Deck the Halls” and the boxes that were measured in the background.

We wrapped up this fun day with a gingerbread cookie five senses activity. The students loved tasting the gingerbread cookies! Next week, we will complete our Gingerbread Literacy Unit with a gingerbread themed party!

 

 

Busy Little Elves!

The kindergarten students had a big surprise when they arrived at school today….our classroom had transformed into an Elves Workshop!

Each student had an elf hat on their desk. (Would you believe I glued the ears all on UPSIDE DOWN?! Yikes! We all got a good laugh about that!)

I had four activities planned for the students.

Students wrapped the gifts that they made for their parents. This was great fine motor work!

After wrapping their gifts, students chose ribbon to add flair and created a personalized gift tag.

Another activity was a hidden word activity where students used magnifying glasses to find CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words hidden in the picture of an elf.

Students also used unifix cubes to measure gifts.

The final activity had students searching the classroom for stockings. They read each CVC word, found the matching picture on the recording sheet, and then wrote the word.

I absolutely adored hearing the students’ excitement and responses to the activities. After we had completed the workshop stations, I gave students a few minutes to decorate their desks. This was perhaps the best gift yet:

Have I mentioned just how much I LOVE my job?!