The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola plus Advent Activities 16-19

ITTY BITTY BOOKWORM

This week we have been learning about Tomie dePaola and our focus book was THE ART LESSON.  Hannah has been all about coloring all day long for the past month so she was THRILLED to receive this  new box of 64 crayons WITH A BUILT-IN SHAPRPENER 9that is a BIG deal case ya didn't know!).  Caleb got his own pack too and even he has a renewed interest in coloring and has found a favorite color- sky blue.  I think his sky blue may be ready to meet the sharpener!  In case you are not familiar with the story- Tomie receives a new 64 pack of crayons for his birthday but the teacher will not allow him to use them at school-he must use "school" crayons, only eight colors.

 Another book we read this week has become a house favorite and I actually bought our own copy-most of the books we use for our ITTY BITTY BOOKWORM lessons come from the library unless we already own it.  I AIN'T GONNA PAINT NO MORE was very worthy of earning a permanent place in our home.  We read it everyday and still laugh just as much as the first time.  

Science experiment- did you know that if you put skittles in water the S will come off and float to the top?  I didn't know!

 One morning they put food coloring in water and painted bread then toasted it and ate it for a snack-FUN!

ADVENT ACTIVITIES

Day 16- 1John 4:9, John 3:16 and we read THE TALE OF THREE TREES

Day 17- We read books about Saint Nicholas and discussed how the tradition of Santa Claus began-yes, my children know Santa isn't real but I remind them often not to tell other kids.  It is funny to see how even though we have always told them Santa isn't real, Caleb still struggles to WANT to believe.  We also watched The Santa Clause 2- we love all three of the Santa Clause movies.

Day 18- We read THE PINE TREE PARABLE and made cute Christmas trees out of sugar cones, icing, and M&M's.  We also made cookies to share with several neighbors this day so it was a major sugar-high day!

 Day 19- We lit our 4th ADVENT candle and discussed that Jesus is God's gift to us.  We also made these cute handprint snowman ornaments.

Hedgie's Surprise/Advent Activities 11-15

Itty Bitty Bookworm Activities

This week we read Hedgie's Surprise by Jan Brett.  Our favorite activity this week was making Hedgie the hedgehog cookies.  While we were already into the rolling and cutting we made lots of Christmas cookies as well. 

 

 Caleb and Hannah aren't big nut fans so we only but the pecans on one just to see what it would look like.  I thought they turned out really cute.

 Hannah colored these sequencing pictures from the story and Caleb drew a picture of Hedgie. 

Other School News

We haven't been doing our regular schedule as we spend so much time right now on our Advent activities, but Caleb did finish book one of McRuffy Kindergarten phonics.  He has whizzed through this book with absolutely no problems, but I am still satisfied with the decision to begin at this level.  I think book two will introduce at least a few new skills.

On Friday we enjoyed our very last trip to the preschool gym class that the kids love.  Caleb is now too old to attend.  Unfortunately for Hannah that means she is finished too.  We will be exploring other options for exercise and social interaction in the new year.  Probably tee ball for Caleb and maybe gymnastics for Hannah.  

Advent Activities

Day 11- Luke 2:21-38, Luke 1:31-32

Day 12- We finished reading MARY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS and lit the third candle (JOY) on our Advent wreath.

Day 13- We read The Little Drummer Boy

Day 14- We enjoyed three books about snow at the library story time.

Day 15- Matthew 2:13-23, Luke 2:39-40

Advent Activities- Friday, December 10

We read The Legend of the Candy Cane and of course enjoyed a candy cane to eat!  We also enjoyed our annual outing to the Life of Christ Hayride which is wonderfully done by a local church.

Advent Activities- Thursday, December 9

Today we read Luke 2:8-20 and The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado.  We also made these adorable handprint lambs.  

Advent Activities- Wednesday, December 8

Today was a simple day.  We read Luke 2:6-7 and chapter 3 of MARY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS.

Advent Activities- Tuesday, December 7

You can read more details about today's activities at Hubbard's Cupboard day 7.  We read Luke 2:1-5 and discussed the long journey the Mary and Joseph had to make.  Then we read John 1:1-9 and John 8:12.  We turned out all the lights and had the kids walk to their bedrooms in the dark then we had them do it again with a flashlight.  We talked about how much easier it was with a light.  We related the activity to Jesus lighting the way to Heaven.  

We made NO BAKE COOKIES and added pretzels dipped in icing to look like candles.

These cookies were not a hit around here, but we still had fun making them.

Advent Activities- Monday, December 6

Today we read Matthew 1:18-24 and read the second chapter of MARY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS.  Caleb is loving this book and begs to finish it.

Advent Activities- Sunday, December 5

After church today we had time to make our gingerbread ornaments that we didn't get to last week.  These are so easy and the kids were able to help with every step.  

Mix 1 cup cinnamon and 3/4 cup applesause.

 Roll out to 1/4 inch thick

 Cut out shapes- we did stars, gingerbread boys, and angels

 Let dry on cooling rack for a couple of days turning occasionally

 Add string and hang

Today was the second Sunday in Advent so after enjoying the adult Christmas special at church tonight we lit our second candle, talked about love, and sang some Christmas song that can be printed here.

Advent Activities- Saturday, December 4

Today we read Luke 1:39-56 and chapter one of Mary's First Christmas by Walter Wangerin Jr.  The other thing that I had planned today was to take the kids to see Bob and Larry at our local Christian bookstore.  We went, but they refused to get anywhere close to Bob and Larry so no pictures.

Advent Activities- Friday, December 3

We read Luke 1:26-38 and made 

this adorable angel craft.

Advent Activities- Thursday, December 2

Today we read Luke 1:5-25.  We made these adorable footprint/handprint angel paintings.  I wish I had video of the kids laughing while I painted their feet!  We also had a family movie night and watched SANTA BUDDIES.  It was a fun day!

Advent Activities- Wednesday, December 1

No pictures for today, but I still wanted to share what we did.  We set our nativity, we use a kid friendly fisher price version.  We read Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7 and discussed people waiting the arrival of the king.  We sang "Jesus Loves Me".  We began this Christmas countdown activity from Hubbard's Cupboard.

ADVENT Activities- Sunday Nov. 28

Advent begins on the 4th Sunday before Christmas.  Daddy was out of town so he joined us by phone.  We read Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 and discussed ways we can prepare for Christmas.  The first Sunday in Advent reminds us to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Christ child.  We lit the first candle and sang a Christmas song together and asked God to help us make room in our hearts and our home for Jesus.

Don't they look so sweet looking up their Bible verses and following along!  HA!  This is one of those  moments where I could choose to allow my blog to misleading and allow you to think this was a sweet wonderful time.  I did cherish the time and attempt, but in short let's just say that a lit candle makes my kids go a little bit crazy!  Hoping next Sunday will go a little bit better!

THE GINGERBREAD BABY by Jan Brett

 Itty Bitty Bookworm

We LOVED this week of Itty Bitty Bookworm activities!  Our theme book this week was THE GINGERBREAD BABY by Jan Brett.  Not only is Jan Brett one of my FAVORITE author/illustrators, but there is SO MUCH fun to be had with a gingerbread theme!  

My requested copy of the book from our library system did not arrive in time so we watched this reading of the story on YouTube.  While at YouTube we also enjoyed this gingerbread song...a lot! 

 We made gingerbread playdough as suggested in the Itty Bitty Bookworm curriculum.  They always have fun helping in the kitchen.  We had lots of fun playing with this all week!

 We had to eat gingerbread cookies this week.  Wanted to make some, and will still try to soon, but I had to cut myself some slack this week and go for the store bought variety.  Do they look disappointed?  The whole bag was gone in TWO days and daddy was out of town so we can't blame him :).

 We also enjoyed making gingerbread men on Starfall.

Other fun this week....

We had our 4 and 5 year old Sonshine Choir/TeamKids "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS!" party this week which of course was LOTS of fun.  Caleb and Hannah have both always refused face painting.  At the last minute, Hannah decided to give it a try.  

 Caleb has retired the star glasses and replaced them with reindeer antlers.  Here he is doing a do-a-dot page for our letter of the week-Mm.  These wonderful pages can be found at Homeschool Creations.

Hannah continues to LOVE coloring.  On the left she is coloring a letter m practice sheet from ABC Twiggles.  On the right she is coloring the Bible verse coloring sheet from RRSP.

 We also spent time working puzzles this week.  

I had also planned on making gingerbread ornaments this week, but we just ran out of time.  Hoping the make them Sunday afternoon if time permits.

We also stayed very busy with ADVENT activities this week.  I plan on trying to post about those activities individually, but if you want to take a peek at what we are using as our guide you can find most of our activities at Hubbard's Cupboard.

You can check out what others have been learning this week at the Preschool Corner.

Thanksgiving Week

Itty Bitty Bookworm

Our Itty Bitty Bookworm book of the week was THE DAY LEO SAID I HATE YOU.  I wasn't thrilled with the book or the activities so we spent our week focusing on Thanksgiving activities.

Thanksgiving Crafts

C and H painted paper plates orange to make pumpkins and wrote on them things they are thankful for.

Hannah's is on the left-I wrote what she siad she is thankful for.  Caleb's is on the right, he wrote his own.

Every year we make turkey handprints.  Hannah's (left) Caleb's (right)

We continue with McRuffy Phonics and Math and occasionally science, but for now I am going to take a break from posting about that part of our week.  I hope to return to full posts in January.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving shared with Caleb and Hannah's granny.  The weather was also nice enough for a second annual bike ride at a local trail.  

all of Me by Molly Bang

Itty Bitty Bookworm

We painted on brown paper bags like our author/illustrator of the week, Molly Bang.

They painted self portraits.

Other Preschool Learning

Patterns

 Fun Turkey songs for Thanksgiving

 Dot Painting the letter K

 Preparing our Kisses Countdown to Christmas

We worked on color patterns, counting to 25, cutting, and tying.  We made a long chain of kisses by wrapping the kisses in saran wrap and tying a string between each kiss.  Beginning Dec 1 they will get to eat 1 kiss to count down to Christmas.

 Other Fun

Caleb and Hannah sang 4 songs at our Thanksgiving service at church with the 4 and 5 year old Sonshine Choir.

  

And as usual, we did MUCH more than this, but this is all I have time to post about at the moment.