This week we wrapped up our Christmas preparations by exploring the role of the star in the Nativity story, creating a Christmas tree ornament, and making a nativity scene. We also explored the relationship between good and services along with reviewing wants and needs. Thursday was our big Christmas concert. There was a lot of excitement right before the program began. Everyone did a great job singing. It was an enjoyable night for all. On Friday, we celebrated Christmas in our classroom. We started by "undecorated" our tree and packed up all of our ornaments to take home and share with our family. We had to be very careful not to break anything. Some of our ornaments are very fragile. Then we decorated the tree with Ms. Torborg’s ornaments. We also read the Christmas story out of the bible. We moved our creche pieces into our stable as we read the nativity story. We were finally able to add baby Jesus to our manger. We also got to open gifts from Ms. Torborg, our Advent Angel, and our 5th grade Buddy. It was a fun and exciting week.
Monday:
Happy Third Week of Advent! For Advent today, we heard Brother Francis tell us about Christmas the decree that was sent out by Caesar Augustus. Mary and Joseph had a long hard journey to make. God asked all of us to do hard things, but he is always there to help us. As part of our Advent Action, we talked about times when God was with us when we encouraged somethings hard to do. Maci unwrapped our story today, The Friendly Beast.
In reading, we were introduced to a new letter sound and letter, Hh. We sang our letter song and created a list words that began with the /h/. We found out that when the letter h is at the end of the word, it usually makes a new sound with a partner (th, ch or sh). After reviewing all of our letter sounds and letters, we completed our letter h sorting worksheet. In small groups, we worked on sorting words by their word families.
During theme we reviewed the difference between wants and needs from last week. This time of year we can all thinks of many, many things we want. Today we were introduced to goods and services. We learned that goods are things people make or use and services are jobs people do for others. Together on the SMARTboard we did a couple of classifying activities. Then we did a worksheet on our own in which we had to sort pictures into good or services.
We also worked on our KC posters. The Knights of Columbus sponsor a poster contest each year with the theme, Keep Christ in Christmas. Today we talked about different things we could draw to represent the theme. Then we took some time drawing. We will continue to work on them throughout the week.
Tuesday:
For Advent today, we heard Brother Francis tell us about traditions. He told us about some different Christmas traditions around the world. As part of our Advent Action, we talked about our favorite Christmas tradition with our family. Logan, unwrapped our story today, This is the Star.
In reading, we listened to our story, This is the Star. We noticed that the story adds just a few new lines on each page that then repeats what was on the previous pages. This is called a cumulative story. We also noticed that it is full of rhyming words. At the end of the story, we tried to recall all of the different details from the story. Many of them are things we remember from hearing the story of the birth of Jesus. After reviewing our sight words, we were introduced to three new sight words, what, do & me. The we used our new sight words to read our new emergent reader, What Do You See? After reading it together, we read it with a partner. In small group, we worked with a partner to play Mitten Match Memory. We had to match the CVC word to its picture while we played memory. Ms. Torborg also checked if we could break words into syllables and identify how many syllables were in words. We ended with a letter H video and our letter h worksheet.
In math, we were introduced to the attribute blocks. Attribute blocks are blocks with 4 different features, shape, color, size and thickness. After talking about the different attributes, we used our attribute blocks to build a matrix together. First, we had to figure out what our rows and columns would look like. We decided our rows would be the same shape and our column would be the same size and color. Then we took turns placing the pieces in the rows and columns. Once we had it done, we took it apart and build a completely different matrix. Finally, we played steal a piece with a partner. We needed to start with our pieces in a matrix. Then one person would steal a piece from the matrix while the other person isn’t looking. The second person tries to figure out what piece was stolen by looking at the matrix. They needed to state the attributes of the piece to get it right.
In the afternoon, we talked about the important role the star plays in Jesus’s birth. It helped guide Mary and Joseph on their journey. It was also shining bright when the angels told the shepherd. Plus, a star leads the wise men on their journey to find the new born king, Jesus. Then we worked on two different projects. We each met with Ms. Torborg to make a star out of popsicle sticks. She helped us glue our popsicle sticks together. We also made a popsicle stick manger scene. We started by cutting out all of the pieces. Then we glued it together, putting the baby Jesus in the manger and using the popsicle sticks as the manger’s legs. We glued a star on the top explaining the story of Jesus’ birth.
Wednesday:
For Advent today, we heard Brother Francis tell us about Mary and Joseph’s long journey and he asked us to pray for those who are making a long journey. Freya unwrapped our story today, My Little Christmas Story.
After listening to our story, we spent some time working at our reading stations, partner reading books out of our reading bin, and playing sight word bingo on the SMARTboard.
In math, we reviewed the our shapes. Then we worked on identifying them without looking at them. Ms. Torborg created a feely box. In it she put different shapes with different atttributes. The first time around we had to pick out a shape (but not take it out) and describe it to the class. We had to use enough adjectives that they could guess the shape. The second time around, Ms. Torborg put a shape in the box and we had to try to name the shape and some of its attributes without looking at it. Our theme for the day was the Christmas Tree. We started by watching the video of the story Kristoph and the 1st Christmas Tree and the Legend of the Christmas Tree. Then we read the story, Christmas Tree! about different decorated Christmas Trees titled Christmas Tree! After talking about our favorite way to decorate a Christmas tree, we made Christmas tree ornaments. First, we cut out a a tree pattern on a piece of green foam. Then we glued a glittery star to the top and a brown stump on the bottom. Finally, we added some buttons as decorations. When it was dry, Ms. Torborg added a string so we could hang it on the Christmas Tree.
In the afternoon, we headed over to the church to practice our Christmas program one last time. We practiced getting on and off the “stage”, singing our songs, and being a good audience.
Thursday:
For Advent today, we heard Brother Francis tell us about being with our family forever in heaven and he asked us to tell the person next to us something we like about them. Emma unwrapped our story today, Silent Night.
We started our day by reviewing wants and needs and completing worksheet. Then we spent some time reading the books in our reading bin as Ms. Torborg checked our ball word progress. Next we completed calendar. Since we are spending a little extra time at church tomorrow, we won’t have time to complete our calendar, so filled our calendar sheets in for today and tomorrow.
During theme, we read the story, A Time for Miracles. We followed Mary, Joseph, and Jesus’ journey from when the angel announce to Mary she was having a baby to when they fled to Egypt. As we read the story, we defined many of the unusual words like stable (barn), manger (animal feed basket), and swaddling clothes (tight blanket). Then we created a Nativity scene. We each got a sheet of stickers with all of the pieces. We could put them together in any design we wanted. Then we watched a Brother Francis movie about Jesus’ birth.
After that we started "undecorating" our tree and packing all of the ornaments we made to take home and share with our family. We had to be very careful not to break anything. Some of our ornaments are very fragile.
After recess and lunch, it was time to get ready for our Christmas program. At 1:10, we headed over to church on the blue bus for our 1:30 concert. Everyone did a great job. It was just a wonderful concert.
Friday:
Merry Christmas! We enjoyed a day full of Christmas cheer.
We started our day off with Mass at St. Philip’s. After that we spent some time singing Christmas songs before the Dragonaires came. They sang several Christmas carols before we joined them. It was fun to sing with such a big group of people.
When we came back, we spent some time decorating our Christmas tree. Ms. Torborg let us put up all of the different ornaments she has received as gifts over the years. It was fun to see all of the different decorations Ms. Torborg had.
Finally it was time to open gifts. First, we opened our gifts from Ms. Torborg. Along with our santa hat, we got two new books, a Christmas science kit, and an ornament with our name. Then we got to find out who was doing kind deeds for us. We each got to open a gift from our Advent Angel. We all had fun opening our gifts.
After lunch, we listened to Brother Francis tell us about how Mary and Joseph had baby Jesus in a place where animals were kept instead of a nice warm home. He asked us to put up a nativity scene and make room for Jesus in your heart. We also opened our last book, No Room at the Inn . As we read it, we created the scene using our creche pieces. Mary and Joseph have been on the journey since Advent started. They have slowly moved across the room on their journey. Today they were placed in the stable along with the baby Jesus. The shepherds were also moved to the stable. The Wise Men are now on their journey to see the baby.
We also shared our Christmas cheer with our 5th grade buddies. First, we exchanged gifts. Then we spent some time playing with them.
I just want to say “Thank You” to everyone for the wonderful Christmas gifts. Your thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated!