It's Christmastime!

We have been busy in the month of December!  We started the month with a sleigh ride and have enjoyed all of the fun Christmas centered activities we have been engaging in.

The students really enjoyed the Christmas tree decorating center this month.  After everyone had a chance to decorate and un-decorate our little Christmas tree, we moved the tree and ornaments over to our Christmas inspired sensory bin which contains red and green pasta, cotton balls (snow), and toy candy canes.

Christmas tree math

The students used their fine motor skills to place the correct amount of pom-poms on each Christmas tree using tweezers.

Another fun Christmas tree activity we completed was ordering strips of colored paper from shortest to longest to create a Christmas tree.  It took a couple of tries to make sure all pieces were indeed ordered from shortest to longest, but the end result was super cute!

Christmas tree ornaments

For our ornaments the students painted craft sticks green.  Once they were glued together, they had fun decorating their tree with pom-poms and sequins. 

 

Another activity the students enjoyed was painting with a Christmas tree branch.  They dipped their branches in red and green paint and painted away creating some unique paintings.

 

 

Christmas present dot-dot picture.  The students had to gently dot each circle on the picture.

Christmas present wrapping

The students had fun wrapping and then unwrapping boxes with Christmas wrapping paper.  They did a great job!

We glued cotton balls on our Santa hats.

We also practiced our lacing and sewing skills to make stockings.

Reviewing our color words by coloring the Christmas light the correct color in our Christmas light book.

Using hand-eye coordination to toss bean bag presents into a chimney.

More fun activities

show and tell

practicing writing the number 10

Counting down the days until Christmas. 

 Every day the line leader puts an ornament on our Christmas countdown tree on the door and then writes the number of days left until Christmas!

Leaves and the letter Ll

Last week was all about the letter Ll and leaves!  Some of our activities included decorating the letter Ll with leaf stickers, a leaf counting activity, and watercolor leaf paintings.  We have also introduced color sight words and a morning message (which the students help read) to our morning routine! 

Letter Ll leaf decorating

Leaf tree math:

The students placed leaves on trees that corresponded with the number on the top of the card.

Watercolor leaf painting:

This was a fun activity that consisted of several steps.  First the students traced leaf patters onto their paper (not an easy feat, but they did fabulous!).  

Next, they traced their pencil lines with a mixture of black paint and glue, which achieved a cool raised, glossy effect once dry.

Finally, it was time to paint!  First, the students painted the leaves using fall colors such as red, yellow, and orange.  Then they painted the background blue.  They were very careful to stay within the boundaries of the leaves and the background when painting!  

The result: beautifully painted fall leaves!

Last week we also started taking the 'share bags' home.  Two friends each day take the share bag home and bring back the next day with a special item from home to share with the class.  We have really enjoyed seeing all of the special items the students bring in.  Stay tuned for this week's round of 'share bag' friends.

Our fabulous list of Ll words the students came up with.

Other fun activities:

 Fruit sorting

nocturnal animal patterning

 November placemats

Building with Lego's!

Color by number leaves

Alphabet train puzzle