2017 Week 15 Letter Pp, star word "to", REINDEER, ELVES, CHRISTMAS!

Here's a couple of our recent Instagram posts:
My dad passed away on December 26 last year after a brief battle with brain cancer.  My loving step mom had these mittens made for me from one of his favorite sweaters.  
Oh, the feels!

My kids and I were very busy last weekend:

Molasses cookies....

bees wax inspired gifts...

and (my favorite!) lefse!

Whew, glad Monday came so we could relax!

On Monday we wrapped up the gingerbread unit with these adorable necklaces!

We also brought out one of my favorite stem challenges, making structures with packing foam!

We wrote about our gingerbread people before sending them home.  We are working on adjectives.

Here's a few more gingerbread family projects!

We began our reindeer unit.

We learned many fun facts about these large Arctic animals.

(their hooves are hollow like a snow shovel!)

And we created these beauts!

Yay!  Another 100 Club Kiddo!

Tuesday's centers included:

Brain Break

Gingerbread Pokey Pin and/or gingerbread playdo...

Reading (yes REALLY reading!) CVC words!

That's a 3 letter word...consonant-vowel-consonant

comparing numbers...

star word work...

Tuesday's new morning challenges were:

Santa ABC-abc matching...

Counting backwards from 20...

and Holiday words spelling...

On Wednesday with perfect snack bringer brought PPPPPPudding for the class!

In library this week and next week the kids are participating in MAKER SPACES.

They will rotate through 4 stations, much like centers.

These kiddos are enjoying gingerbread playdo...

This station in the puppet theater...

Ms. Manly had a bridge building exercise...

and Ms. Kay helped kiddos create a gingerbread mosaic!

With the onset of winter apparel, 

we've begun my favorite time....

BONUS BOOK TIME!

THe kids cozy up with a buddy and book after they've taken care of their winter clothes.  We share books for about 10 minutes as everyone finishes up with their task of organizing winter clothing.

On Wednesday we created our count down to Christmas chains!  We've also been making chains to go around the room.  What fun!

As part of implementing more science and engineering, I've added a Christmas light station.

It includes stripped down sections of Christmas lights and 9 volt batteries...that's all!

The kids are really loving making the lights turn on!

We've also noticed the more lights on a strip, the less bright they are!

It's been a few years since I've opened the Christmas Card Shop!

The kids this year are excellent cleaners and organizers so it was an easy decision to reopen it after a five year hiatus!

We've also begun our first 100 piece puzzle.  

This is a hard one but we are getting there!

Thursday's centers included:

comparing numbers with Mrs. Pulley....

Reindeer beginning sounds

(and more sounds if they could!)

 

Christmas decorations plus 10!

and NEEDS vs WANTS...

Here's our whole group activity on NEEDS vs WANTS...

This is our star word reindeer game...fun!

We also put numbers in order with reindeer.

It was tough...here's one sequence:

45, 56, 77, 84, 99

WOW!

Here's a sneak peek at next week...

Good reads...

Your kiddo should be able to read these 8 words quickly.

Have them do it for you now...

Yep, call them over and ask them to read these!

Oh, the anticipation is delicious!

I'll send these home next Wednesday.

You decide if they open them then or wait.

Enjoy!

This smartie counted to 100 on Friday!

We are at 9 out of 18 kids in the 100s club!  

And now for the week of December 18-21...
Reading: star word review, letter review, ~ap family
Math: finish comparing numbers and Christmas Math
Theme: Santa and Christmas
BIG NEWS: 
No school December 22-January 1
School resumes, Tuesday, January 2

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