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 does your child want to do during the holiday vacations?
READ / PLAY / BICYCLE / RUN
If you have My First School Book from Handwriting Without Tears methodology https://www.lwtears.com/hwt. Have your child complete page 46 and 47.
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 D (daddy, daffodil, daisy, dance, day, dinner, dish, doctor, dog, doll, donkey, door, down, draw, dress, dolphin, dinosaur, drink, drum, duck.) You might want to add a picture of a Jaguar, so that your child can say Jaguar that does not start with D! Here is a book of D word pictures: https://twistynoodle.com/letter-d-minibook/ and https://www.first-school.ws/t.asp?t=http://www.first-school.ws/images/alpha/ap1/d.gif Also, you can add new objects/pictures starting with the letter D every day and let your child explore the container all through the week.
Science
For the Magic Milk Science Experiment, you need (1) shallow bowl, (2) milk, (3) food coloring, (4) Q tips, (5) dish detergent, and (6) holiday cookie cutters.
Directions:
1. Pour milk in shallow bowl, about 1/2 inch.
2. Put cookie cutter in milk.
3. Put drops of color in the milk, inside and outside cookie cutter.
4. Dip Q tips in dish detergent and ask your child what happens when you dip the Q tip on the food coloring dots of colors in the milk?
5. Dip Q tips with dish detergent on the food coloring dots in the milk. What happens?
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
Santa Literature:
1. The Animals’ Santa by Jan Brett https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwrF7cc9m1s
2. The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWeVxG3iLoM
3. Dream Snow by Eric Carle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SodXkTEtal4
4. Santa Duck by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J93ZCqSY10&t=17s
After viewing a book, help your child sequence the story: what happened first, next,… at the end. The story of Santa is the major theme. Brainstorm with your child the differences and similarities between Christmas with Santa and your holiday tradition.
“We Wish You a Merry Christmas” Song
We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! (2x)
“I am a Little Santa” Song (“I am a Little Teapot” tune)
I’m a little Santa, short and glad,
Here are my reindeer and here is my sack.
On Christmas’ eve, I hop on my sleigh.
With a “ho, ho, ho”, I fly away!
”Five Little Stockings” Fingerplay
Five little stockings hanging by the fire.
The first one said, “I’m getting tired.”
The second one said, “Guess who is on his way?”
The third one said, “Let’s play, play, play!”
The fourth one said, “I am so excited!”
The fifth one said, “I am so delighted!”
Boink went the clock and out went the light,
And five little stockings are filled tonight!
Math
Independent Math Activities:
1. Christmas Counting https://twistynoodle.com/christmas-counting-9-coloring-page/
2. Christmas Big or small https://twistynoodle.com/christmas-big-or-small-coloring-page/
3. Stocking Pattern https://twistynoodle.com/stocking-patterns-coloring-page/
Use these cards to play a Christmas memory game with your child https://twistynoodle.com/christmas-memory-game-coloring-page/
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 the Santa Mask Art Project, you need (1) 1 big paper plate, (2) scissors, (3) red construction paper, (4) white cotton balls, (5) jumbo popsicle stick, (6) glue, and (7) stapler.
Directions:
1. Cut inside of paper plate, leaving a rim.
2. Cut a Santa’s hat out of red construction paper. (Template https://twistynoodle.com/santa-hat-coloring-page/).
3. Staple the jumbo popsicle stick at bottom of paper plate for your child to hold mask.
4. Glue the hat on the paper plate top, and white cotton balls on the tip of hat, on the hat rim, and on the bottom of paper plate for Santa’s beard.
For Stocking for Santa Art Project, you need (1) green and red construction paper, (2) scissors, (3) hole puncher, (4) white yarn, and (5) glitter glue.
Small Motor Skills
Christmas Dot Painting https://twistynoodle.com/christmas-dot-painting-3-coloring-page/
Christmas Card Book https://twistynoodle.com/christmas-card-6-minibook/
Christmas Tree Puzzle https://twistynoodle.com/christmas-tree-puzzle-coloring-page/
Gross Motor Skills
Outside time with climbing, jumping, bicycling, running, walking are great ways to develop the whole child.
Winter Wonderland – Super Yoga – Cosmic Yoga https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE1NEiVf2Gk