Holiday Happenings

Before we forget, we wanted to write a quick post about our holiday celebration.  Each of the five school days before Christmas had its own theme.  Math, reading and writing activities all operated on the theme of the day.  This really helped us get into the spirit of the season.  We wanted to have a fun week with our kids before the break, and I think we both did!

Monday was "Christmas Tree Day".  We read stories about Christmas trees including The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston.  Our big project of the day was making Christmas ornaments for our families.  Tuesday was "Elf Day".  This was a fun one.  The kids filled out elf applications and made fun paper elves.

Wednesday was "Grinch Day".  As a school we participated in a special Grinch activity.  We always keep track of acts of kindness with paper chains - a part of Rachel's Challenge.  But in addition to the paper chains, we wanted to make the Grinch's heart grow.  With every act of kindness, students put a heart sticker on the Grinch in our cafeteria.  As you can see, the Grinch's heart was practically bursting by the end of December.

We also wrote Grinch similes.  The Grinch's heart is as small as ___.  And the Grinch is as mean as ___.  And finally, the students wrote about different ways they could make the Grinch grin.

 

The Grinch left the students candy canes.  Of course, he had licked them all and turned them green!  Yuck!  But the kids loved them!

Thursday was "Santa Day".  We read some of my favorite Christmas stories that day.  With Santa, the World's Number One Toy Expert by Marla Frazee, we reviewed story elements.  Then the students gave "priceless presents" - presents that don't cost a think like hugs, kindness, time playing games with family members.  I loved seeing what they students came up with as they really had to think about how they could give without buying or really even making anything.

We also read A New Improved Santa by Patricia Rae Wolff and made a class book.  The students wrote and illustrated pages about new, improved rock star Santa, doctor Santa, football player Santa, etc.  Another favorite was Who Will Guide My Sleigh Tonight? by Jerry Pallotta.  The students wrote about why various animals would not make good sleigh guides.

We closed out the week with "Reindeer Day".  We did reindeer antler math.  And for our holiday party, we made Rudolph snacks.  We dipped pretzel rods in frosting for antlers then covered a vanilla wafer in frosting and red sprinkles for Rudolph's red nose.  It was such a fun week, but we weren't terribly sad to see it end.  Two weeks off for winter break awaited us, and they were lovely!  Happy holidays!