The Twelve Days of Preschool! {Part 2}

We're having so much fun with our Twelve Days of Preschool theme!  Monday, the fifth day, was wreathes.  The kids cut up strips of green paper and glued them onto a paper plate cut into a wreath shape.  After they had glued the green pieces on, they added red circles for the holly berries.  It was such a simple craft, but it really helps their cutting skills and I think they turned out super cute!

Day six was candy canes.  We worked on fine motor skills and patterning while making these beaded candy canes.  We gave each little cutie a bowl with 30 beads and a pipe cleaner with a bead looped onto the end.  I was so happy with how well they patterned the beads!

 Zoodles/Clocky is photo-bombing this picture!  See him hiding in the tree?

The seventh day was all about reindeer!  We gave each little darling a tongue depressor triangle that we had already glued together and had them wrap a pipe cleaner around it for the antlers.  Then they glued the eyes and nose on.  

For the eighth day, we focused on stockings.  Each of my little darlings picked out a construction paper stocking and then glued Poly-Fill onto the top.  Then we added paper snowflakes and to finish it, I wrote their name on it with glitter glue.  

In The Twelve Days of Preschool! {Part 1} I told you about the light bulbs we made last week.  We lined the doorway to our classroom with them.  

I used a silver Sharpie to write their names on the bottom of each light bulb.

 We also added some of their wreathes to the elf bulletin board.

In the last post I also told you that we played a letter/number discrimination game during playtime last week.  These little cuties asked if they could play it again and of course I said, "YES!" 

These two are playing a "Roll a Christmas Tree" game.  The number they roll tells them what ornament they get to add to the tree.  They asked to play it almost every day this week!

This cutie celebrated his fifth birthday on Tuesday!  He brought in Monsters Inc. cupcakes to help us celebrate!  

So, I have to brag a little!  Our receptionist asked if she could use four of my cuties for our school's Christmas card.  We sent this to the other schools in our district.  Of course I had to ask for a copy of it, too!  

Have a great weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!  

~Beth

The Twelve Days of Preschool! {Part 1}

When we were planning for December, we noticed that there were twelve days with students and we thought it would be fun to do "The Twelve Days of Preschool."  Each day we're focusing on a different aspect of the holiday season.  

On Monday, we started by making a Santa countdown.  I found the idea on Pinterest and made my own.  Here's a link to the original idea.  Each day the kids cut off a piece of Santa's beard until Christmas.  We cut off the first two days and then sent it home.  I attached a note explaining it to parents.  The afternoon class was so excited and a few of my sweeties told me the next day that they had cut off another piece of his beard!

Alright, let's get down to business!  Day one was Christmas trees.  We glued strips of paper in various sizes into a tree shape.  We worked on gluing them parallel to each other and in size order.

We received a special package from Santa on Monday!  Santa mailed us an Elf on the Shelf and the book!  Because it came straight from the North Pole, it was VERY cold!  {Shhh, he had been waiting in the freezer until Ms. Mary, our speech therapist, delivered him}

We were all so excited to learn more about our elf, so we immediately read the book Santa sent us.

Then we came up with ideas for his name and voted on them.  In this picture we're making a human graph.  We started with four possible names and then narrowed it down to the top two.  Then we voted on our top two choices.  The morning class named him Zoodles and the afternoon class named him Clocky.  

The second day was all about elves!  We made our own version of Elf on the Shelf.  We found the idea at The Cleaver Feather.  My little darlings started by cutting out the arms, legs, body, and hat.  Then, we talked about how to assemble the elf and they went to work gluing.  They finished by drawing his face.  I love how they turned out!

They were so adorable that we knew they needed to be on the bulletin board in the hallway!  Here's how it looks right now, but we'll continue to add our holiday art to it.

Day three was ornaments, but we had play group with our social worker and didn't have time to make an ornament!  We're going to squeeze it in sometime this week!

The fourth day was light bulbs.  We gave each little cutie an over-sized ornament shape and tissue paper squares.  They painted the paper with watered down glue and attached the tissue paper.  When they were finished, I coated the paper with more glue and added glitter.  We're going to hang them up around the door to our classroom and I'll post a picture of the finished project.  All of my friends have been teasing me because I try to avoid glitter at all costs, but I do make an exception at Christmas time!  :)

On Tuesday, Ms. Mary, our speech therapist, came in for a winter language group.  She hid a winter-themed object under a cup and then the kids tried to remember where she hid the object.  They had so much fun trying to find the objects!

During circle time, we worked on size order.  We had pictures of seven candy canes and my little darlings took turns putting them in order from biggest to smallest.  They're making great progress with this skill!

During the afternoon group's play time, a few of my cuties played a Christmas board game with me.  I had cards with either a letter or number on them.  When it was their turn, they told me if their card had a letter or number on it.  If they were right they moved their game piece forward. 

I put out reindeer headbands, Santa hats, and a few plush snowmen.  These cuties were pretending to be Santa and his reindeer.  Santa had to make a few phone calls and then they started "flying" around the room.  I had to keep reminding myself that it was okay that they were running around the room because they were being appropriate and doing lots of imaginative thinking!

Thursday night we had our school's semi-annual Parent's Night Out.  For a small donation to our Christmas Adopt-a-Family fund, parents can drop their kids off {students and their siblings} for the evening and do some kid-free shopping or go on a date.  The staff volunteers their time to take care of the kids.  Here are pictures of some of the cuties from my classroom who attended with their sibling.  

I hope you're all staying warm and enjoying the holiday season!  

Thanks for stopping by!

~Beth