Let’s sing together our song “Rise and Shine – Welcome to School Today” by Dr. Jean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyAD2OoFuoY and our greeting song “Hello to all the children of the world”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nYjGy_ZUG8
My favorite Closing Song sung on “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” tune with movement:
Twinkle, twinkle little stars! Time is over and we say goodbye. (Open and close hands)
We had fun with all our friends. Let’s come back and do it again! (Arm moved up and back)
Twinkle, twinkle, little stars! What a wonderful bunch you are! (Blow kisses)
For the writing/reading process, have your child trace or copy (advanced skill) daily his/her name on paper/dry eraser board/ mini blackboard (kindergarten handwriting page) starting at the top of each letter (you could draw 🙂) either in all uppercase letters or just first letter in capital/uppercase and the rest in lowercase. If your child is starting to write on paper, you can write your child’s name with a highlighter and your child can use a crayon to trace it.
I realize that you might have to survey other members of your family for the question of the day so that your child have enough tally marks to count or have your child put more than one tally mark.
Riddle: You can hold a small one in your hand; it makes a sound when you shake it and they are often on reindeer. What is it?
STICK / GLOVE / BELL / ANTLERS
First, your child started with Jumping Jim from Letterland and listened to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OUEtSROwE8 After listening to the song, your child traced a capital J and a lower case j starting at the top (song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJnZePnDo-U), go down and jump back up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzQCbX_7wDs
Let’s now listen in the Letterland Story: Jumping Jim is Just Jumping : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKwxK7KCJxg After listening to the story, help your child retell the story using lots of J words.
A whole week activity:
For the phonetic part, have a big yogurt container with a lid filled with small objects or pictures that start with the letter J (Jacquet, jam, January, jar, jaw, jelly, jigsaw, job, jog, joke, jolly, journey, joy, jug, juggle, juice, July, jump, jumper, June, jungle, just.) You might want to add a picture of an Snake, so that your child can say that Snake does not start with J! Here is a book of J word pictures: https://twistynoodle.com/j-minibook/ and https://www.first-school.ws/t.asp?t=http://www.first-school.ws/images/alpha/ap1/j.gif Also, you can add new objects/pictures starting with the letter J every day and let your child explore the container all through the week.
Science
with a handful of bells, your child can do science and math activities. For Magnetic Force Science Activities, you need (1) bells, (2) plastic magnetic wand or other magnets, (3) plastic water bootle, (4) plastic tub, and (5) water.
Directions:
1. Pour water and bells in plastic tub and move the plastic magnetic wand in the water. What happens to the bells? Put your hand between bells and wand and see what happens?
2. Pour water and bells in a plastic bottle and move the plastic magnetic wand around the plastic bottle. What happens to the bells?
On the tune of “Oh, my Darling Clementine”, we can sing: what’s the weather, what’s the weather, what’s the weather like today? Is it cloudy, is it rainy, is it sunny, is it cold? (You can also change the weather words).
Let your child check the weather and tell you about it. You might want to ask your child to do a weather drawing that you can label. Some activities will be repetitive to create a routine that brings comfort to your child.
Language Arts
Jingle Bells Literature:
1. Llama Llama Jingle Bells by Anna Dewdney https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXzaNeMHq-0 or Llama Llama Holiday Drama https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyngm8xfN-k
2. Jingle Bells by Iza Trapani https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv0IfQT0L3M
3. A Kiwi Jingle Bells by Yvonne Morrison and Deborah Hinde (advanced) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAwOvkT1CQs
4. There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bell by Lucille Colandro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FWkpL87plg
After viewing a book, help your child sequence the story: what happened first, next,… at the end. The major theme in all four books is Having Each Other. Brainstorm with your child how it is good to have each other: giving and receiving hugs, caring when one is sick, cheering when one is sad,……
“Jingle Bells Rock” Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA2ssje1o-k
Math
With a handful of colored bells, your child can:
1.sort bells by color and help transcribe the results on a bells chart using a template (advanced) https://images.template.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/20044448/Bar-Graph-Worksheet-Templates.pdf.
2. Make patterns with colored bells (ABAB, AABB, ABBA, ….).
3. one-to-one correspondence with numbers written on cards and amount of bells.
4. Build shapes with bells and pipe cleaners pieces, and count corners and sides. (Squares have 4 bells/corners and 4 pipe cleaners of same size/sides)
December is here now! The calendar is a daily activity to do with your child that develop number and pattern recognition. Here is the link to print a calendar to update daily with your child. The set has a weather component, if you like. https://www.themailbox.com/magazines/december-calendar-set/december-calendar-set-2
Daily counting of tally marks and show your child a number card or write the number down to show your child. The numbers of the tallies will be different every day. Extend the concept by comparing numbers: which has more? Which has fewer? Which are the same? How many more (count with fingers)?
Art
For Jingle Bell Abacus Art Project, you need (1) 4 jumbo popsicle sticks, (2) red paint and brush, (3) glue or hot glue (adult), (4) 16 bells, (5) 4 shiny pipe cleaners.
Directions:
1. Paint 4 jumbo popsicle sticks with red tempera paint and brush, and let dry.
2. Glue jumbo popsicle sticks to frame a square.
3. Put 1 bell on the first pipe cleaner, 3 bells on the second pipe cleaner, 5 bells on the third pipe cleaner, and 7 bells on the fourth pipe cleaner.
4. Attach pipe cleaners to the frame horizontally starting at the top with the 1 bell pipe cleaner, then 3 bells, then 5 bells, then 7 bells pipe cleaner,
5. Picture https://www.powerfulmothering.com/jingle-bell-abacus-christmas-busy-bags/
For Paper Plate Tambourine Art Project, you need (1) 2 small paper plates, (2) paint with brush, (3) 4 bells, (4) 4 small pieces of shiny pipe cleaner, (5) stickers or other decorations and glue, if needed.
1. Punch 4 holes in paper plates stacked together.
2. Paint or decorate both paper plates on the back. Be very creative!
3. Attach both paper plates with bells and pipe cleaners with decorated/painted sides out.
4. Picture https://www.firstpalette.com/craft/paper-plate-tambourine.html
with beads, bells, pipe cleaners or yarn, your child can create bracelets and necklaces to share with family members adding a math pattern component or not.
Small Motor Skills
Jingle Bells Coloring Page https://twistynoodle.com/jingle-bells-4-coloring-page/.
J is for…. Book https://twistynoodle.com/j-is-for-6-minibook/
Letter J Puzzle https://twistynoodle.com/letter-j-puzzle-coloring-page/
Gross Motor Skills
Outside time with climbing, jumping, bicycling, running, walking are great ways to develop the whole child.
Jingle Bells Dance with Easy Dance Moves (advanced) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiLF9YhSjIQ