Tot School- December 2015 (2 Year, 1 Months Old)

I've now updated this post with notes and photos! This month was so much fun! Being cooped up all day with a newborn actually means we're able to get most of our tot school activities done! We also did a lot of our advent tree activities, which was a lot of fun! Aly loved reading the advent Bible story over breakfast each morning and then opening up the day's tree! You can see a picture of the advent tree I made at the bottom!  

This month we will continue our normal tot school routine, but I also want to incorporate some Advent time with her.  We will be following this Jesus Storybook Bible reading plan this month and I also created an advent calendar with daily activities! Here is the link to the activities we will hopefully be doing! As always, some of the printouts/activities are my own, and some are from the web.  I have linked all printouts and borrowed materials for easy access!

December 2015 Schedule

Here is this month's calendar.  Print it out and follow along! 

Supplies needed:
Dot markers
Crayons
Paint
Markers
Construction paper
Pom poms
Buttons
Egg carton
Jingle bells
Jewels
Cotton Balls
Cookie Cutters
Shaving cream
Baking soda
Felt- green, brown, yellow, red, blue, purple, orange
Gingerbread house
Tinsel
Green playdoh

Verse: “For unto us a child is born.” -Luke 2:11

Color: White
Color: Blanco

Letter: J, K, L
Letra: J, K, L

Shape: Triangle
Forma: Triangulo

Number: 4
Numero: 4

Theme: Christmas trees, nativity

Library Book List:
The Legend of the Candy Cane
Happy Birthday Jesus
Clifford’s Christmas
Curious About Christmas
The Gingerbread Man
Clifford’s First Christmas
Christmas Around the World
One Night in Bethlehem
The Grinch’s Great Big Flap Book
That’s Not My Reindeer

I wish I would have written down all the books we actually ended up getting from the library, it was something like 20+ books haha.  The librarian said she had been curious who had put a hold on so many Christmas books!! Aly loves getting library books, and so we read and reread those books a ton! She especially loved Frosty the Snowman, and we watched the cartoon to go with it ;)

Music (circle time)

  • J-ES-U-S

    • There is a reason for Christmas and Jesus is his name-oh!
      J-E-S-U-S, J-E-S-U-S, J-E-S-U-S and Jesus is his name-oh!

  • Jingle Bells

  • We Wish You a Merry Christmas

  • Go Tell It On the Mountain

We pretty much just listened to Christmas music nonstop this month!


Fine Motor/Worksheets

  • J Dot Art

    • Use dots or stickers to decorate printout 

  • K Dot Art

    • Use dots or stickers to decorate printout 

  • L Dot Art

  • 4 Dot Art

    • Use dots or stickers to decorate printout 

  • J letter recognition

  • K Letter Recognition

  • L Letter Recognition

  • Triangle coloring sheet

    • Decorate with torn up green paper 

  • White coloring sheet

    • Use white crayon on black paper

  • Nativity coloring sheet

With the letter recognition sheets, Aly knows the letters, but really just likes to stamp all of them while naming the letters, rather than look for certain ones! And her obsession with coloring with the grey marker continues ;)

Math

  • J Sorting Mat    

    • Place the corresponding small colored jellyfish on the large jellyfish. 

  • K Sorting Mat

    • Place the corresponding small keys on the large keys.

  • L Sorting Mat

    • Place the corresponding small colored leaves on the large leaves. 

  • JKL Sorting Mat

    • Place the corresponding small letters on the large letters. 

  • Christmas Pom Pom Sort

    • Print file. Give the child a small bowl/cup full of pom poms full of red, green, blue and yellow pieces. Invite them to sort the item onto the correct present. Discuss the colors as you sort. 

  • Snowman Button Counting

    • Print file. Cut apart the hats on page 1. Ask the child to place a hat on the snowman and add the corresponding number of buttons onto his belly. "That is the number 3! Let's add 3 buttons to his belly! Good job! One, two, three! Now we can get a new hat for him!" 

  • Christmas Tree One-to-one Correspondence

    • Cut out egg carton to make a Christmas tree, (Row of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) Paint Green and then encourage child to place one pom pom ornament in each hole!

  • ***added with Fynn*** Christmas Tree Counting

    • Print file. Cut out Christmas trees and have child glue buttons or stickers onto the tree with each corresponding number on the star.

Aly can do the color and letter sorts no problem! She still really enjoys using the glue stick too.  She really enjoyed the Christmas pom pom sort. I showed her how to do it once, and she just wanted to do it over and over again! The snowman button counting was a little trickier, she can count the buttons just fine, but had a hard time stopping (if the hat said 2, she just wanted to keep going after 2 buttons!) The Christmas tree 1-1 activity was a huge hit.  She loved to help make it and then we practiced using tongs for added fine motor practice while she placed the pom poms into the holes. 

Art

  • J is for Jingle

    • Cut a “J” out of paper or foam. Decorate by gluing jingle bells onto the “J.”

  • K is for king

    • Cut a “K” out of paper or foam. Decorate by gluing jewels onto the “K.”

  • L is for Lamb

    • Cut a “L” out of paper or foam. Decorate by gluing cotton balls onto the “L.”

  • Manger Handprint

    • Paint your child's hand brown. Add straw (yarn or paper) and a baby Jesus for decoration. It looks like a cute little manger! Tell the story of Jesus' birth! Source

  • Triangle Christmas Tree

    • Make a Christmas tree out of three different sized construction paper triangles.  Decorate with markers or other craft supplies (glitter, buttons, pom-poms, sequins, etc.)

  • Cookie Cutter Painting

    • Dip cookie cutters into paint to stamp onto paper. 

  • Decorate Gingerbread Man

    • Cutout gingerbread man on brown construction paper.  Glue on buttons and draw or paint. 

We decided to make reindeer footprints for the grandparents instead of the manger handprints, they turned out super cute, especially since Fynn joined in too! (see collage pic at the bottom!) Aly enjoyed all of the painting and decorating.

Science/sensory

  • Christmas Tree Felt Play

    • Create a large Christmas tree with removable ornaments, star, and presents.

  • Pretend Snow

    • All you need is shaving cream and baking soda. Dump out baking soda into a big bowl or tub. Slowly add shaving cream and stir until it is a fluffy, moldable consistency.  It feels great! You can make snowmen and snowballs and all sorts of fun things. The coolest part is that if you add drops of vinegar near the end, it will bubble and "erupt!" Source

  • Decorate a gingerbread house

  • Christmas Sensory Bin

    • Fill with cotton balls, jingle bells, red and green pom poms, and tinsel.

  • Christmas Tree playdoh

    • Use green playdoh and a Christmas tree cookie cutter to cutout and decorate!

  • Nativity Block Set

    • Cut out this printable and attach to toilet paper rolls and use the set to tell the story of Jesus’ birth! 

      Aly enjoyed the felt tree, and she quickly learned all about ornaments, candy canes, and gingerbread men.  The pretend snow was a big hit. Aly loves things that are a bit messy (me not so much haha). At first I didn't think it turned out very well, but the longer we played in it, the more moldable it became, and we were able to make lots of snowballs and snowmen! The sensory bin was fun as well. We built a gingerbread house together as a family.  That was probably our favorite activity from the month! So fun! Aly also enjoyed the nativity scene and quickly became attached to baby Jesus.  She even pushed him around in her stroller haha.

Finally, here are some photos of all of her completed work and our advent tree!








Tot SchoolBrooke ArevaloTot SchoolComment