Review and Christmas Activities

This week we mostly focused on reviewing the letters we have learned about.  There has also been a lot of reading practice for Doll Dragon from our favorite Bob Books. Although I have not been reading enough to Little Dragon.  I always forget about reading to him.  It makes me feel bad writing that but it is the truth.  Sometimes it is easy to forget because I have my focus on the things he needs to learn.  I started flash cards with him, so we have been reading the same 3 words all week.

I need to pick up a book and read it.

Our Bible activities are the same as last week. I did not add anything new because of the review.  I don't want to overwhelm the dragons.  

Bible Verse is "For unto us a child is born" Isaiah 9:6 which both the kids have memorized now.


Alphabet
We have been really busy this week with outside the home activities and haven't had a lot of time in our 'classroom'  I did reviews of the letters we have learned, not so much the numbers.  We do our counting everyday on the calendar.  We did number activities a couple weeks ago and have only learned 4 letters so far.  We will review those next week hopefully.


The main focus is still on the letter j and Jesus.  The kids painted their letter j's to look like candy canes.  The boy's didn't get the objective so much as Doll Dragon, they  just enjoyed painting.

Little Dragon asked to play with play dough late in the week last week and we just didn't have time.  This week I made sure to set it out for an activity.

 He loves play dough.  He really loves making letters out of play dough.

Little Dragon practiced handwriting with this dry erase w.s.  He also used the magnets to for letter matching. 

He is not catching on the review as much as I had hoped.  He is barley three and I think my expectations are high.  

He seems to be catching on to the Bible lessons well but the letters he can not seem to remember.  Trying to finish matching the letters was like pulling teeth.  I think I need to change my approach but am unsure how to teach him.  He is not a visual learner.  He remembers the letter actions and can memorize our Bible verses.  

I think next week I will try more repetition.  Going over it many times all day.  It is really boring for me, I am more of a visual learner/teacher.  I need to find a good balance. 

Doll Dragon is doing awesome with her letter sounds and handwriting.  She has been writing notes a lot this week sounding the words out herself.  

Crafts

Christmas Flower

Materials

• paper
• green and red paint
• paint brush

I like to have themed art work hanging by the stairs.  I have two frames, 1 for Doll Dragon, 1 for Little Dragon so they each can have their art displayed.  I still had halloween art displayed the 2nd week of December and needed to get it down quick.  While we had the paint out I asked Doll Dragon if she would paint a Christmas picture for me.  

She painted a lovely Christmas flower that is now hanging up by the stairs.  

Snowflake Ornaments

Materials

• Foam snowflakes
• glitter
• glitter glue
• glue
• sequins
• markers 
• stickers
• hole punch
• string
• pom poms

After using these for the themed winter tub I needed something else for them.  I have a lot of family out of town who ask for the kids' art.  I figured this would be a great Christmas art craft that we could send to out of town family.  A craft they could hang on their tree. 

Each dragon created 4 ornaments.  I created 1 and Jerry created 1.  This was a really enjoyable family project.  

With all of the supplies in the table we just let the dragons choose and create freely.  There were a couple suggestions which they took or dismissed.  Mostly the only help we adults gave was with the glue. 

We punched a hole in the top of the snowflake using a three hole punch then tied a string together through the hole.











Fizban, the elf on the shelf, hung up all of the snowflakes that night as we were sleeping.

I think all of the snowflakes came out darling!  I can not wait to send them out to family! 

Office Dot Christmas Tree (Advent Calendar day 9)

Materials

• office dots/rectangles
• construction paper
• pen

This was a great craft/activity to keep Little Dragon busy while I was making dinner. 

I also love the way it turned out.  

I drew two trees with a pen and asked Little Dragon to cover the trees with the stickers.  

He called one tree the mamma and the other the baby. I figured he would do this and that is one reason I drew two.  

This is can also be done with office dots and without the outline.  Little Dragon is still a big young to piece together a tree without some help.  I needed an activity to keep him busy while I prepped food so the outlines worked perfect.   I am planning on framing this as well.  I have not decided if I want him to paint over it and take of the stickers or hang it as it is. 

S more's Packs (Advent calendar day 10)

Materials

• Graham crackers
• Marshmallows
• Hershey's chocolate
• Ziploc bags
• Labels

This craft was part of our advent calendar.  To show appreciation to those who volunteer or help you out.  We made S more's packs because I already had most of the ingredients. 

You put 1 marshmallow, 1 Hershey's bar, and 1 graham cracker split in half inside a Ziploc bag.  

Create labels. Print out labels.  Cut them out. 

Glue them to construction paper and cut them out.  The finished label should fold over the top of the Ziploc bag so you can write a Bible verse to share with the one you appreciate on the back. 

We made 10.  We are going to give a few out to volunteers at work and bring some to our neighbors just because we love our neighbors and it is Christmas time.  (We actually don't know our neighbors but this is the perfect reason/time to get to know them.)

When we finished we put them in a bag.  They are ready to go! 

I found all of the advent calendar ideas here. 

Sensory Bin

Christmas Sensory

I have been waiting to put together a Christmas sensory bin since black Friday.  I don't have much Christmas stuff to put in the bin though.  I bought some bulbs at the dollar store last month but that was all I had.  I did not make time to dye rice or buy some sort of red or green sensory item.  

After perhaps 10 minutes of thinking about what kind if item I wanted to use I decided on sugar.  

Why not?  It looks like snow.  

I decided to make the bin a small world play area.  I added graham crackers for house, a candy cane forest, and big giant marshmallow snowmen.  The bulbs fit in here nicely.  I thought it looked nice anyway. 

 Doll Dragon enjoyed playing with the sugar.  Running it through her fingers.











Little Dragon liked playing with the giants.  I sat down and played with them for a bit too.  The giants went sledding on the graham crackers.











That's all for now.  A bit of a slow week for us in preschool.  We have plenty to do to keep us busy though for the next two weeks before Christmas!

What sensory material would you use for a Christmas sensory bin?