Christmas Advent pieces

Yesterday I shared that I used some advent pieces in a Christmas lesson at preschool. Here are all the pieces in the activity. This is totally based off an activity I saw on pinterest from How Sweet it is.   She has hers broken down into 25 boxes so that she can use it with her kids as an advent calendar each day in December until Christmas.  I was thinking more about having it work in the classroom and each child getting one bag.  I made our set have 18.

You could easily alter it too with the pieces you have available at home.  I only had to buy one piece and everything else I had on hand.  Granted, most people aren't the.... uhhh... collectors of things.... that I am.   I have $1 in this project.  It could easily be condensed to 12-15 as well.  Here they are:  The scriptures to go with each are listed at the end of the post.

#1 Mary and an angel

#2  Music note 

#3  Joseph

#4  Cross

#5  numbers

#6 donkey

#7  animals

#8  baby Jesus

#9  soft blanket

#10  peace sign

#11 shepard and sheep

#12  Stable and baby Jesus

#13  Mary and Joseph

#14 heart

 

#15 three kings

#16 crown

#17  star

#18 three gifts

I printed and laminated the scriptures and bound them on a binder ring so they would all stay nicely with the pieces in a bigger drawstring bag. 

All of the pieces went in little drawstring bags that I made up using muslin on hand and the leftover string from Lou's birthday. 

Here are the scriptures:

1.    Angel and Mary
Luke 1:26-28, 31 
“In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you… You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.’”

2.  Music notes
Luke 1:46-55 
“And Mary said:
     ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…

3.   Joseph

Matthew 1:20 
“…an angel of the Lord appeared to [Joseph] in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’

4.   Cross (Salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice)
Matthew 1:21 
“‘[Mary] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’”

5.   Numbers (Joseph’s lineage)
Luke 2:4 
“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to house and line of David.”

6.   Donkey or horse (Journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem)  
Luke 2:5 
“[Joseph] went [to Bethlehem] to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.”

7.  Cow

Luke 2:7

…There was no room for them in the inn…

8.  Baby (Baby Jesus)  
Luke 2:6-7 
“While they were [in Bethlehem], the time came for the baby to be born, and [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn, a son…”

9.   Piece of soft cloth (Swaddling blanket)
Luke 2:7 
“…[Mary] wrapped [Jesus] in cloths and placed him in a manger…”

10.  Peace sign (Jesus is Prince of Peace)
Isaiah 9:6 
“For to us a child is born,  to us a son is given,
     and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called
     Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

11.   Sheep and shepherds
Luke 2:8-11 
“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’”

12. Jesus and the stable

Luke 2:12 
“‘This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’”

13.  Mary and Joseph (to add to the stable with Jesus)

Luke 2:15-18 
“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.’ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”

14.  Heart (The emotions of Mary as Jesus' earthly mother)  
Luke 2:19-20, 33-35 
“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart… “The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about [Jesus].

15.  3 kings

Matthew 2:1 
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem.”

16.  Crown (Jesus is King of Kings)  
Matthew 2:1-2 
“…(they) asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.’”

17.  Star (Star that the Magi followed)  
Matthew 2:9-10 
“After [the Magi] had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.”

18.  Three gift boxes (Gifts from the Magi to Jesus)  
Matthew 2:11 
“On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”

J is for Jesus- preschool style

This week was Jj week. I had Jj math day.  We had already done some things the day before with candy canes and the letter Jj, so I just kept it Christmas related and I'm needing to keep things really easy with all the Christmas song practice.  Flexible and easy.

Here was the craft.  The kiddos used a wooden block to stamp red stripes on a J shaped candy cane piece of poster board.  Then they glued a star and baby Jesus in a little paper manger.  Jesus is a little wooden spoon (pre) wrapped in fabric. 

I read this book, The Christmas Star by Marcus Pfister.  It was a good book, but the wordage was a little advanced for the kids.  It's a 4.3 AR level.  I used it over other Christmas books because it used the words Lord or Lords and King of Kings and Prince of Peace, which are all words from one of the songs we are singing for our parents.

I printed and laminated these number cards which I printed from a mystery source.  I either didn't pin it or I accidental pinned it in a random category and don't see it.  I am sure I'll come across it again someday and will be sure to cite it.  Anyway, I velcroed them onto a poster board.   I showed the kids this poster and we counted with them, we talked about how 1 was at the top left and 20 at the bottom right.  I pointed out how, just like our calendar, when one line was done, we started the next row at the left again and counted to the right.

Then I took them all off and passed them out randomly. I told the kiddos I wanted to see if they could work together with as little help from me as possible. They came up and added their piece when it was their turn.  They did do it pretty much on their own, which was neat. They helped each other and called out the next number when someone didn't step right up.  We have had most of these kids for 2 years now so there is so much growth to be seen.

After we were all reassembled, we counted again to check our work.  Then we paid attention to the pattern.  I took some off and we decided what numbers were missing and what shape the piece was.

Later in the day I had them work with partners.  I passed out the number cards and asked them to make towers as tall as the number on their card with the unifex blocks.  When they had it right, I switched cards with them and they worked on another one. This was the end of the day, so several boys ended up using their blocks to make some type of 'shooter' -something we clearly discourage.  

We also retold the Christmas story using the advent pieces that I assembled.  I used it as a counting activity as well.  I kids did seem to like it and noticed that it was sort of like the resurrection eggs, but with the birth of Jesus.   I'll share this activity tomorrow. 

Ii icecream - preschool style

I'm skipping my Hh is for houses lesson, frankly it was a bust. pretty much.  Some days are like that.  Anyway, we did some fun work for Ii is for ice cream.  I read a big book that we had in the classroom about how ice cream is made.  It was a great non fiction with real photos (although the photos were a bit dated).    I'll have to try to remember to look for it and note the title.

Here are a few things I did with the kids.  I had all different ice cream 'flavors' cut out of random fabric and glued to poster board.  I had the kids name the flavors and stack it on the cones.

They made up names like fuzzy moss swamp and sparkly stars.  I think the black and white stripes was a zebra flavor.  I love using random scraps because I get to remember all the fun projects they came from.  The stripes, the cupcakes, the red mesh, the blue sparkle, the apples ...

Here's the craft the kiddos made.  There were other 'topping' but Lou chose none.

I passed out ice cream scoops and had the kids come up and sort them on to the right cone.  I, i, or other.  If they had an other, they needed to tell us what it was.  They are still (as a whole) struggling with b and d.   I'll have to work on some other activities for that.

I had these ice cream related activities setting out for before class started.  They are all from Our Little Monkeys.

We've been doing a lot of practicing for our Christmas program so all of my activities have been a little short or condensed lately.  I love to see the kids sing, but goodness, I'll be glad when it's all over.

Thanksgiving Story

This is a little 'old news' now, but at least it will be ready for next year. Two years ago, I had my kiddos work on Christmas story book while we were traveling for Thanksgiving. This year, I thought we make one for the Thanksgiving story. 

Here are Bee and Lou's books.  I printed each one of them up a book and had them bound at Office Max.  It cost more there than it has in the past at Staples.  But it was under $5 for both.   Here are what the pages read; feel free to use my text in a book for your little ones. (not in your for-purchase downloads though).  I don't use sell-able or share-able clipart, so I can't even really share the files, but if you want, I'd be happy to e-mail you it, so you can 'see it better.'

The Pilgrims wanted to worship God in the way they thought the Bible told them to, not the way the law made them.  (Kids color and write their favorite bible verse on the pages)  Hannah's favorite is 1 John 4:6.  Lou's favorite is Psalm 118:1.

102 set sail on the Mayflower with 32 crewmen.  It was cold and cramped for the Pilgrims below the deck.  Many were sick from the rocking waves. (we painted with watercolor paints, the rocking waves.)

They continued to pray and thank God for their safety.  ( I traced their hands 2 times on peachish paper and we glued them on like praying hands.)

They landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620.  It was winter and there were no houses.  They lived aboard the ship while some men built a few homes.  (They glued cut pieces of brown paper and thinner pieces of cut tan for the logs and thatching.  They also added some black squares from another page for the chimney.)

The first winter was rough on the Pilgrims.  Many were sick and half of them died.  (They cut out paper snowflakes -with glitter- and taped them in place.) 

An Indian named Squanto came to stay with the Pilgrims.  He taught them about local plants and animals.  (They colored a coloring sheet page here... Bee passed, Lou protested by painting a mess.)

He taught them about growing corn.  The Indians placed a fish in the hole with the corn seeds.  The corn grew tall and healthy. (the kids glued on paper fish and paper corn seeds in the first box.  In the second box, they colored and added big yellow corns to the healthy plants.)

The Pilgrims grew a hearty garden and had more than enough food for the next winter.  (they stamped circles using our paint lid for the orange pumpkins and used a marker lid to make yellow squash.  The squash plants were tomatoes, but them I remembers that they weren't eating tomatoes at the time.... so we have staked squash on our pages. )

In 1621 the remaining Pilgrims, half of them children, planned a harvest feast.  About 90 Indians joined them in the feast.  They played games, shared music, and shared food.  They ate deer, turkey, pheasant, fish, lobster, squash, onions, pumpkins, and corn.   There was no pie or potatoes. (I thought the kids would draw Pilgrim food on the plates, but they wanted to draw their own favorite foods.)

In 1863 Abe Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a holiday.  (The kids glued black paper squares mosaic style on an outline of abe's hat.)

 Today, we celebrate by getting to together with family, eating delicious food, and giving thanks to God for all of our blessings.  (Lou only has one family member in the portrait too.)

I think this would make a fun project for a class to work on in those random spare minutes during the day but was also a fun activity to pull out here and there when the kids needed to settle themselves... or the aunts and uncles needed a break from playing 'horse' with the kids.  Their poor backs. 

growing wheat- in the classroom

Here's something Bee brought home from school last week.  They are doing a science unit on plants.  This follows their unit on rocks, sand, and silt.I thought it was a clever way to start seeds in the classroom.  No more moldy bags taped to the windows. 

 This is wheat, there are few seeds that this would work well with, maybe other tall grasses.  I think wheat grows fast, so it makes a great one to use.  The teacher marked a line 1/3rd of the way up.  The kids rolled up paper towel and stuffed it in to the line.  Then they dropped a seed in the top end and stuck them in a vase of water.  From a teacher stand point, I liked that all of these projects were contained in one small area and are easily sent home when done. 

The roots grow out the bottom and the stem and leaves grow out the top.  The straw is clear so it's easy to see what's going on.  Bee's teacher didn't label them with the kids' names, but that could easily be done too.   Bee is suggesting we grow wheat in the garden next year.  If the raccoons won't mess with it, maybe we could. 

car trip -the yarn projects

Here' my other road trip work.   The paper piecing project goes on each trip and gets a few minutes of attention, but I can't get settled into again. 

A girl I teach with asked me to make up two little baby girl hats for her to gift this Christmas. 

I used this pattern from Aesthetic Nest which I've used several times before and enjoy.  I used yarn on hand so I don't know what it was.  Even if you are new to crocheting or it's been awhile, this is pretty easy, just two basic stitches.  Two stitches is my kind of project for one you have to count with.

The little one is 0-3 and even fits Lou's Boy.  The other is the 3-6 size.  These work up in an hours and a half or so. 

I also used the same pattern to make the 'girls' size hat, which for my gauge, actually fits an adult woman.  I had another co-worker ask for one of those.   I've made this hat several times  too and think it's pretty cute. 

Then I tried a new kind of rose shaped flower.  It turned out huge!  It's a little big and heavy for a hat, but I'm sure I'll find a use some day.  I used this pattern.

Yeah, so this didn't work out how I thought. I saw this pattern and thought, I love it, surely I can find something similar for free.  I've already pulled the stitches out and will be using this help from Slugs on the Refrigerator for better sizing.

I used this pattern (ravelry link and pinterest link) and am not sure if it was my gauge or I just don't care for the fullness of the hat...  The stitching in the picture looks tighter.

I wanted slightly newsboys fullness... just slightly.  I did wear it black Friday shopping since I brought no other hat.  I've pulled the stitches and when things in the shop slowdown (Oh my goodness!) I'll work on it again. 

I also started a knitted chevron scarf, but I've lost my momentum. It can wait for another time.   Luckily winter comes each year.