Along with the Rudolph Children, we made Christmas Trees and Snowman Ornaments to decorate our classroom.
We reviewed our shapes while putting together these Christmas trees.
To make these ornaments, I had a parent paint each child's hand white and then wrap their hand around a blue ornament. Once they were dry, the children got to decorate each finger/thumb into a snowman. I used a paperclip to put little dots of snow around the snowmen, and then hung the finished products on our class tree. The class loved them! They kept asking when they could finally take them home. On the day of our Christmas celebration, I sent the ornaments home with this poem:
These aren't just five snowmen
As anyone can see.
I made them with my hand
Which is a part of me.
Now each year when you trim the tree
You'll look back and recall
Christmas of 2010
When my hand was just this small!
One of my teacher friends told me about this adorable activity, so I can't take all the credit this time! :)
Now on to our Christmas Party! I tried to have a normal morning of reading, language arts, spelling, etc. BUT the children (and I) were just too excited! So we started our party early. The kids were allowed to wear their pajamas and we had a Polar Express Party! We watched the movie, ate candy canes, donuts, drank hot chocolate, sang Christmas songs, and did Christmas rotations. In the afternoon, parents came and helped run four different centers.
Reindeer Ornaments
Reindeer Hats
Decorating Christmas Cookies/Making Christmas Cards
Christmas Patterning
After the rotations, we got cleaned up, read some Christmas books, and went home for a nice, LONG Christmas break. I've had a fantastic time in Canada with my family, but am looking forward to getting back to school. I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas! :)