Letter J for Jesus

Focus on Jesus is perfect for the month of December.  I want to make sure we are talking about the miracle and love of Christ during the magic of Santa and Christmas.

Our house is full of imagination and magic during the Christmas season. Even though we do pretend Santa is real and leaves presents for good boys and girls we take more time talking about the reason we celebrate Christmas-that is Christ.

The whole month of December our we will be learning about the letter J, candy canes, and the birth of Jesus.  Of course we are going to take a couple weeks off for the holidays to just enjoy the magic.

Heads up a was a bad picture taker this week.  I didn't take my camera out as often as I usually do.

Bible
To introduce the story of Jesus I used the YouVersion Bible app for kids.   We listened to The First Christmas Gift.  It was awesome!  My kids loved it and I loved it.  It was very interactive and colorful.  The story was also short enough that the kids did not get bored listening to it.
After the story I put the magnets for the nativity scene on the bored.  I had the kids play with it while I prepared lunch.  They were able to touch, move, and explore all of the pieces.

On Tuesday I set up the magnetic nativity scene again.  We talked about each character as we set them up and then we played a game.

I had Little Dragon cover his eyes and I removed 1pc of the scene.  When he opened his eyes he had to guess what was missing.  Then I took a turn covering my eyes while Little Dragon took pieces off.

















It was a lot of fun and really helped Little Dragon learn all of the people.




Wednesday we looked at the bible app again and listened to Away in a Manger.  We listened to this song everyday this week and Little Dragon really likes it.  We also shared a nativity snack.

The chocolate pudding was the manger.
Orange or yellow sprinkles for the hay.
Marshmallows for baby Jesus.











This was part of our advent calendar activities.







Using the white board magnetic pieces again we played out the story together.  Getting each person to the stables.

Friday Little Dragon told me the story of Jesus's birth using the magnets.  Then we played the same game we played earlier in the week.  I changed it up a little by swapping some characters places instead of removing them.  This was a little more difficult but after so much practice he was able to complete it.



Crafts
Candy Cane Shepard's
Materials

• Mini Candy Canes
• Peppermints
• Construction Paper
• Pen

Candy canes look just like the letter j so I wanted to do a craft with the candy canes.  I didn't think painting would work very well.  I thought that would get really sticky.  This was fairly simple.  Little Dragon taped the candy canes on the paper to look like the letter j.  He made three and wanted to move on to something else.  Because our focus is on the story of Jesus's birth Little Dragon wanted to also make some shepherds.  He used candy canes for their shepherds hook.   

Little Dragon drew bodies with a pen and he used green mints for heads.  He drew the faces on the mints with a sharpie. 

Alphabet/Numbers

Monday we made letter j pencil toppers.  We also learned the new motion.  We make a letter j with our hand and say 'j-j-jay'.  While saying it our j's jump up and down.  

Little Dragon and Doll Dragon did some activities in this weeks folder.  There was some handwriting practice for both and sentence practice for Doll Dragon. 

Each of the dragons had a letter j poem in their folders.  They had to circle all of the j's then draw a picture about the poem.  Little Dragon drew jelly beans, Doll Dragon drew a jester. 

For our snack the kids counted out eight animal crackers and helped cut their bananas into eight slices.  They did get more animal crackers after they finished their first batch. 

Little Dragon cut up red and white scrap paper then glued it around the number 8. 

Little Dragon and I played Candy Cane Bingo.  We used candy canes because they look like the letter j.  I would call out a letter and Little Dragon would cover the letter with a candy cane. 

Sensory

I have been waiting to set up this bath for weeks.  I was waiting for a good snow and for both kids to be home.  Finally this week it happened!  

Winter Wonderland Bath

I found most of the supplies for this bath at the dollar store or in the dollar section at Target.  

The snow flakes came in a pack of 10 for $1, the foam balls came in packs of 4 for $1.  The Lego's we already had and the whales I also found at the dollar store.  I used baking soda mixed with glitter, water, and peppermint extract.  This worked out nicely for Little Dragons congestion. 

I spread out blue pebbles along the bottom of the tub (also found at the dollar store) and sprinkled glitter in there too.  

They splashed the whale and dolphin around together for a while

Then they tried making snowmen with the pretend snow.  

Then, of course, there was a snowball fight.

Christmas Stuff

Monday our advent calendar activity was to bake Christmas cookies.  I wanted to make them from scratch but don't have any cookie cutters, we also had a lot planned for preschool and not a long time for the extra activity.  Therefore, I bought the pre made Pillsbury cookie dough and the kids tore the dough apart and placed them on the cookie sheet.   

Tuesday the activity was a nativity snack. Pictures above under Bible.

Wednesday our advent calendar activity was to decorate every door inside the house.  This took some time.  Little Dragon and I had fun with it though :)

Thursday we went to visit Santa Claus and drop off the dragons' letters at Macy's. 

Friday we read a Christmas book.  The kids found a wrapped book from the North Pole delivered by their very own special elf, Fizban. 

Saturday was a Christmas book read-a-thon.  

Sunday we played Christmas Charades. 

Other

All the excitement for the holidays has given the kids extra energy.  This week we took time each week for music.  I took out the shaker eggs and found an awesome shaker egg song on YouTube.  

The dragons really liked Miss Nina and we have watched her videos everyday this week.  She is our new friend. 

Using candy canes, because they look like the letter j, we did some patterns and sorting.  Little Dragon sorted by size and color.  We tried smelling them but with the wrappers on it was hard to catch the different scents. 

Little Dragon is a character.  I ask him to smile and he gives me silly faces.  He doesn't sit for a photo much. 

I liked this activity because it was a fun way to practice small, medium, and large.  

There were some activities we did not complete this week that were on the lesson plan.  I allowed for more play and we had a lot of fun decorating the house for the holidays.  We have also been getting visits from the elf Fizban.  There is a lot to do during the holiday season as you all probably know.  I only have 2 weeks planned for December so I think a little leeway is going to work out nicely.