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.
What do you prefer?
GUM DROP / CANDY CANE / GINGERBREAD / CHOCOLATE
Make Letter J Shape:
- 1 big line, 1 little line and 1 little curve for capital J/2 little lines and 1 little curve for Lowercase j. Your child use a finger to trace the letter starting at the top, going down and jump back up. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzQCbX_7wDs) In order to start learning letters, your child will need a set of big curves, little curves, big lines and little lines in wood. You can purchase them at https://www.lwtears.com or make them your self. Here is a picture: http://cdn.lwtears.com/images/uploads/1_787_large.png)
- Wet-Dry-Try on small chalkboard (Handwriting Without Tears) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6p4LUEGbwM
- Play dough with small chalkboard (recipe: https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/playdough-recipe/) or you can purchase the Roll-A-Dough Set from Handwriting without Tears https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spjVLDXDixI
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.
Kitchen Science
For the Gingerbread House Building, you need (1) piece of cardboard, (2) aluminium foil, (3) jumbo popsicle stick, (4) box of graham crackers, (5) white frosting, (6) 1 pint empty whipping cream container, (7) candy (colorful gumdrops, smarties, M&Ms, peppermint candy canes, ….).
Directions:
1. Cover cardboard with aluminium foil.
2. spread some white frosting with jumbo popsicle stick on it.
3. Put the empty pint container on white frosting to fix the base of your house.
4. Cover pint container with white frosting and build walls and roof of your house with graham crackers pieces.
5. Once your house is built, cover with white frosting and decorate with candy, as well as the space around your house.
Science
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
Gingerbread Literature:
1. The Gingerbread Man retold by Louise Martin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Jq7S1fMGw.
2. The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sysG48Ia7Eo.
3. The Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRjm91Z7eDk
4. The Gingerbread Mouse by Katy Bratun (advanced) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mjlyS__x3g
After viewing a book, help your child sequence the story: what happened first, next,… at the end. All four books are based on a folktale. Brainstorm with your child how the end of stories can be changed: the fox helped the gingerbread man to cross the river and went on an adventure around the world or the gingerbread baby decide to make a friend in the kitchen,…….
Acting up the Gingerbread Man Story with your family is a great way to boost your child’s confidence and expand vocabulary. Each member of your family can be a character in the book and dress up. What a great theatrical performance for all to see! (Grandparents would enjoy through zoom or other platforms.)
Five Little Gingerbread Men Rhyme
Five little gingerbread men lying on a tray.
One jumped up and ran away,
Shouting, “Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m the gingerbread man!”
Four little gingerbread men lying on a tray……….
“Do You Know the Gingerbread Man” Song (“The Muffin Man” tune).
Do you know the gingerbread man, the gingerbread man, the gingerbread man?
Do you know the gingerbread man, who likes to run with me?
Yes, I know the gingerbread man, the gingerbread man, the gingerbread man.
Yes, I know the gingerbread man, the gingerbread man, the gingerbread man who likes to run with you!
Other verses: who likes to sing with me, who likes to dance with me,………..
Five Little Gingerbread Men Fingerplay
Five little gingerbread men laying on a tray.
The first one said, “We all smell so great!”
The second one said, “There is a chill in the air!”
The third one said, “I see children everywhere!”
The fourth one said, “I think we better run!”
The fifth one said, “It’s definitely more fun!”
The gingerbread men were nowhere to be found!
Math
For Roll and Cover Numbers in Gingerbread Man Game, you need the gingerbread man template (see below), (2) marker, (3) a die or 2 dice, and (4) 1 dot painting stick. Print the template and write with marker many times numbers from 1-6 (or 1-12 with 2 dice) inside the paper gingerbread man. Have your child roll the die/dice and dot paint the numbers on the paper gingerbread man corresponding to the number of dots on the die/dice. Repeat until there are no numbers to cover.
Your child can built a gingerbread house with many different shapes out of colorful construction paper and decorate it as well. As a game, you can begin with a white sheet of paper and by calling out a shape like a square or a color like yellow. Your child has to find among other shapes or colors and use in his/her construction. Have fun!
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 Paper Gingerbread Man Lacing Art Project, you need (1) brown construction paper, (2) gingerbread template, (3) scissors, (4) decorations (pompoms, buttons, googly eyes, paper shapes, ribbon and yarn pieces, tissue paper pieces,…), (5) hole puncher, (6) tape, (7) white yarn, and (8) glue.
Directions:
1. Cut gingerbread man out of brown construction paper. (https://www.bestcoloringpagesforkids.com/gingerbread-man-coloring-pages.html)
2. Punch about 20 holes along the rim.
3. Cut long piece of white yarn, attach one end to paper gingerbread man and tape the other end to make it stiff.
4. Lace in and out along the rim of gingerbread man.
5. Glue and decorate gingerbread man.
6. Picture https://www.creativelittleexplorers.com/gingerbread-man-lacing-craft/
For Painting with Cookie Cutter Art Project, you need (1) gingerbread man cookie cutters and others too, (2) tempera paint on small paper plates, and (3) white paper.
Directions:
1. Take a white paper sheet.
2. Dip the cookie cutters in various paint.
3. Print on white paper and let dry.
4. Your child can color in/decorate with crayons or markers or paint in with a brush, if wanted.
Small Motor Skills
Gingerbread House Coloring Page https://twistynoodle.com/gingerbread-house-3-coloring-page/
Trace and Color the Gingerbread Man https://twistynoodle.com/trace-and-color-the-gingerbread-man-coloring-page/
J Jellyfish Practice Sheet https://www.first-school.ws/t.asp?t=http://www.first-school.ws/images/alpha/ap4_zb_tracers/j3_nzb.gif
Gross Motor Skills
Outside time with climbing, jumping, bicycling, running, walking are great ways to develop the whole child.
Clap it! Kids Yoga with Bari Koran https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCNS-Lpubaw