Holiday Books - Christmas & Hannukah

Christmas Books

My Favorites:

Santa Mouse by Michael Brown

This is a favorite from my childhood.  This book sat near the fireplace  at my grandmother's house and every year I would read sit on her blue velvet couch and read this book.  This book brings me back to some of my fondest memories.

 I opened up my box of Christmas books this year, and this book was missing.  I plan on a thorough search of all my boxes, and if I can't find it, I'll have to find a copy.

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsberg

This is a great book.  Every child would love to ride the Polar Express.  I'm sure my children listen just as intently for this train's whistle as they do for Santa's sleigh bells.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

Classic! Every year I start to become a little Grinch-like as I think of all the unimportant To-Do's that surround the holiday, so this is a good book to remind me that Christmas doesn't come in a box, but is felt in the love we share.

Olive, the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Seibold

I love Olive. Please do not confuse this cute book with the awful Christmas special. Olive is a dog who believes in herself and makes things happen.

Berenstain Bears Meet Santa Bear by Stan & Jan Berenstain

Berenstain Bears do a great job of explaining things, including a visit to Santa Bear.

This is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten

Beautiful poem that explains in simple language the role of each person that First Christmas.

The Stable Where Jesus Was Born by Rhonda Gowler Greene

I love this book about the Nativity, too.  A poem that builds on itself.  Beautiful illustrations, beautiful poem, beautiful book.

Who is Coming to Our House by Joseph Slate

The animals in the stable prepare for Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus.

Christmas in the Manger by Nola Buck

Very simple, sweet explanation of the Nativity.  I love Felicia Bond's sweet, simple drawings.

More Christmas Books

The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore

The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Scarry

The Christmas Magic by Lauren Thompson

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Felicia Bond

The Gift of the Traveler by Wendy Matthews

Snowmen at Christmas by Carolyn and Mark Buehner

That First Night by B.G. Hennessey

Little Porcupine's Christmas by Joseph Slate

A Merry Little Christmas by Mary Engelbreit

Come and See: A Christmas Story by Monica Mayper

When Jesus Was Born in Bethlehem by Joseph Brickey

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey by

Christmas Treasury  Compiled by Dalmatian Press

Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parrish 

Mooseltoe! by Margie Palatini

Santa and the Three Bears by Dominic Catalano

The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever by Steven Kroll

Christmas Mice by Bethany Roberts

Jingle Bell Mice Illustrated by Lisa McCue

The Littlest Christmas Tree by Janie Jasin

My Favorite Hanukkah Books

Yes, I have a few Hanukkah books, too. I kept these after I"retired from teaching" (became a stay at home mom) because they are great books! My kids love them and they are as much a part of our "Christmas Books" as How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric A. Kimmel My #1 favorite

The Chanukah Guest by Eric A. Kimmel I really love this book

The Magic Dreidels by Eric A. Kimmel

These are my favorite Chritmas books, what are yours? I'd love to hear about your favorite Christmas books, and Christmas memories.

Daily Four

I realized as I have written my blogs that I have written my specific lesson plans for preschool, but have omitted the very important things to do each day.  I'll call them "The Daily Four."  These are important to do everyday to help your child learn.They are:
1.  Review letters of alphabet, both upper and lower.  This may include flashcards, or an Alphabet poster.
2.  Counting to 100 with a poster of numbers to 100.  Point to each number as you say the number.  Have child point to number, too.
3.  Reading easy-reader books.  I make a lot of these as part of my preschool teaching.  Just hold on to them and have your child read them.  I also love BOB books.  I've seen BOB books at Costco for a great price.or you can go to amazon, eBay or your local teacher supply or bookstore.
4.  You read to your child at least FIVE books a day.  Read short books, poetry, holiday books (see my posts for favorite Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas books)

So those are my Daily Four. Make sure you do these in addition to posted lesson plans.  Good luck!
And remember, if you have any questions please leave a comment!

Thanksgiving - Day 3

Phonics
Preparation

Write word indian and cut up into individual letters
Materials
"indian"
Teaching
1.  Tell your child you have a secret word of the day.  Have them create the word in the following way:
in, din, an, dan, and, ad, then tell them how to spell "indian" and sound it out for child.

Writing

Preparation

Create on large dotted line paper:

Capital "I" on first line, with dotted out line of "I'

lower case "i" with dotted outline "i"

On the paper space in front of each group of letters room for "i" write k_ck, d_d, w_g, h_ll, f_n, S-nk, t_p, k_t

 Materials

Paper

Marker

Teaching

1.  Teach your child proper writing of letter "I" (See my video here)

2.  Teach your child proper handwriting of lower case "i" (my video for teaching is here)

3.  Read each set of letters to your child (for instance "k_ck") have your child write a "i" between the letters and sound out the new word.

4.  Repeat for new word.

Math

Preparation

Stamp various patterns on a piece of a paper
I did:
ABAB, AABB, AAB, ABB (or in other words: Pumpkin turkey, pumpkin turkey ABAB; Pumpkin, pumpkin, turkey, turkey AABB; pumpkin, pumpkin, turkey AAB, and pumpking, turkey, turkey ABB)
Leave extra lines for your child to create their own patterns

Materials

Paper
2 Thanksgiving Stamps (I did pumpkin and turkey)
Teaching
1.  Read each pattern. Have your child complete pattern to end of line. It is important that your child doesn't just add the next stamp, but actually iterates the complete pattern. ** The blue squiggles on picture below indicate where my pattern stopped and my son's began**

2. Have your child create patterns for you to finish.   

Reading

Preparation

Get a copy of book on First Thanksgiving for young children.  I couldn't find any that I liked, so I wrote my own. For a copy you can e-mail me.
Materials

Book

Teaching

1.  Read the book to your child

Art

Preparation

none

Materials

Brown, yellow, red, blackconstruction paper

Marker

Scissors

Glue or stapler

Teaching

1.  Using construction paper have your child cut out two thin rectangles to create a band for their head and decorate with markers.  You staple bands together to form head piece.  Draw feather shape on colored paper, have child cut out feathers.
2.  Make a pilgrim hat using a large black rectangle stapled on to head band of construction paper.

Exploration

Preparation

Reading Thanksgiving book 

Materials
Pilgrim and indian headbands made in art
Teaching
1.  Act out the first Thanksgiving with your child.  Make it VERY simple. 
2.  Have child wear pilgrim hat.  say something like, "The pilgrims left England because they wanted to worship God in their own way, not the king's way." Then have child say "We are going to a new land to worship." Say, "The pilgrims came to America" Have child say, "I see land!" Say, "The winter was hard and many pilgrims got sick." Have child act sick.  Say, "Many died."
3.  Have child wear indian headband, and you put on pilgrim headband. Say, "In spring the Native Americans (or Indians) came to help the pilgrims plant.  Have child say "PUt some fish with your seeds.  It helps them grow."  The seeds grew and grew and soon there was pleny of food.  The pilgrims wanted to hold a feast and invited the Native Americans to join them.  Thy feasted for three days. We celebrate Thanksgiving, just like the Pilgrims did, to Thank God for all He has given us."

 

Thanksgiving - Day 2

Phonics
Preparation

Write word pilgrim and cut up into individual letters
Materials
"pilgrim"
Teaching
1.  Tell your child you have a secret word of the day.  Have them create the word in the following way:
pig, rig, rim, rip, lip, then tell them how to spell "pilgrim" and sound it out for child.

Writing

Preparation

Create on large dotted line paper:

Capital "P" on first line, with dotted out line of "P'

lower case "p" with dotted outline "p"

On the paper space in front of each group of letters room for "P"

ack, ad, an, at, en, est, et,ick, ig, ill, in, ink, it, op, ot, ut

Materials

Paper

Marker

Teaching

1.  Teach your child proper writing of letter "P" (See my video here)

2.  Teach your child proper handwriting of lower case "p" (my video for teaching is here)

3.  Read each set of letters to your child (for instance "ack") have your child write a "p" before the letters and sound out the new word.

4.  Repeat for each group of letters creating new words starting with letter "P."

Reading

Preparation

Get a copy of book I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson

Draw an old lady on a piece of cardboard

Draw a pie, cider, roll, squash, salad,turkey, pot, cake, bread

Materials

Old Lady and food

Teaching

1.  Read the book to your child

2.  Read again, but this time as the old lady eats each food have your child feed the old lady the food.

My son wants to play this game again and again!

 **This activity comes from The Mailbox Preschool Edition Oct./Nov. 2006 p.56 and 58**

Math

Preparation

Draw, cut out and label the following shapes: square, rectangle, triangle, oval, circle

Materials

Shapes

Tape

Teaching

1.  Go over what makes each shape unique with your child (square= 4 sides, all same length, 4 angles, all the same, etc)

2.  Have your child go around the house and find objects that are the same shape as each paper shape. Tape the shapes to the found shapes around the house.

3.  You can do this several times.

Here are some of our examples:

Exploration

Preparation

Let your child help you make one of the Thanksgiving dishes. 

Materials

It depends on what you make!

Teaching

We made allergy free apple pie.  Recipe:

Allergy Free Apple Pie

Streusal Topping

1/2 cup oat flour

1/2 cp Oats

3/4 tsp Cinnamon

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp Crisco

2 TBSP Coconut Oil

1.  Mix together all ingredients

Apple Filling

1-2 granny smith apples skinned, cored, sliced

1/4-1/2 cp Brown Sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)

1 tsp lemon juice

3/4 tsp Cinnamon

1. Mix all these together

For Pie:

1. Pour apple filling into small dish (we used a 7x5 inch Pyrex)

2.  Layer and pat down Streusal topping on to apple filling.

3.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, or until apples are soft and topping is browned

Art

Preparation

none

Materials

Brown, yellow, red construction paper

Marker

Scissors

Glue

Teaching

1.  Trace your child's foot and two hands on to a piece of paper.

2.  Have your child cut out their foot while you cut out their hands.

3.  Cut out a yellow beak and a red wattle.  Have child glue them on to turkey

4.  Have child decorate fingers of hands with markers or crayons.  Glue hands to back of turkey, fingers sticking out.

Thanksgiving - Day 1

Phonics

Preparation

Write the word "Thanks," then cut word into the individual letters.

Materials

Word "Thanks" cut up into individual letters

Teaching

1.  Set letters in front of child in random order.

2.  Ask child to create words with letters in following order (see video of my teaching this here):

Say:

"Make the word 'at.'

Add a letter to make the word 'sat'

Change a letter and make the word 'hat'

Take off a letter and make the word 'at'

Change a letter to make the word 'as'

Add a letter to make the word 'has'

Change it to make the word 'an'

Add a letter to make 'ant'

Move the 't' and make the word 'tan'

Write the word 't-h-a-n-k"

This is "thank"

Add the 's' and you have thank...(let them add the 's' sound for thanks.

When do we say 'thanks' to someone? This week we'll learn about Thanksgiving."

Let your child struggle a little.  Sound out the word slowly to help them find the correct letter. Use plenty of praise. 

Writing

Preparation

 Using dotted line paper (for a copy of dotted line paper I've made email me @ amyiswrite@gmail.com) write a capital "T" on the top line, a lower case 't' on second line, then creating a space foe the letter "t" write the following on the remainder of page: ack, ag, an, ap, ed, ell, en, est, ick, ill, in, ip, op, ot, ub, ug

Materials

"T" page created above

Marker

Teaching

1. Teach your child how to form upper and lower case letter "T." For how I teach this watch video for upper case "T" here and lower case "t" here.

2. Read "ack." Have your child add the "t" and sound out the word "tack."

3.  Repeat for each group of letters creating the words tag, tan, tap, etc.

Reading

Preparation

Borrow or buy the book Over the River and Through the Woods. There are several versions as this is based on a poem over 100 years old.  I used the book illustrated by Christopher Manson.

Write our a poster using at least the first verse of the poem.

Create a "jail" by drawing gray bars on a piece of paper and labeling it "Jail"

Materials

Poem

Book

Marker (or sparkly glitter glue which is what my child wanted to use)

Small stips of paper or 3x5 cards or sticky notes

Teaching

1.  Read the book to your child

2.  Read the poster to your child, using a pointer to point out the words.

4.  Write the rhyming words on small strips of paper (or 3x5 cards, etc)

5.  Have your child look at the endings of the words.   If the endings do not have the same spelling ("match") they pair go to jail, or in the event of go-snow-blow, just go goes to jail.

Math

Preparation

Divide a piece of paper into 6 sections.  Label the sections 10-15. Stamp, draw, or place ten turkeys in each section.

Materials

Divided paper

turkey stamp & stamp pad (or stickers, or pictures)

Teaching

1.  Have your child count the turkeys in the section labeled "10."  Show that there are ten turkeys in each section. 

2.  Have your child read the numbr in the next section (11). Have your child add the number of turkeys to the ten already in teh section to create 11.  Ask, "How many turkeys are there now?"  Your child will do one of two things a) say "11" without thinking or b) Start counting every turkey. 

3.  Repeat for each number through 15.

To watch the video of me teaching this go here.

Exploration

Preparation

Put together several pictures of your family celebrating Thanksgiving over the years

Materials

Pictures

Teaching

1.  Show pictures of your family celebrating Thanksgiving over the years. Point out the people, talk about who they are and why you are Thankful for them. 

2. Share with your child some of your family's Thanksgiving traditions, and things you are grateful for.

My Family Thanksgiving:

Art

Preparation

Make a book of the first verse of Over the River and Through the Wood. 

Materials

Book

Markers or crayons

Teaching

1.  Have your child illustrate the book. 

Holiday Books - Thanksgiving

Like Halloween, I collect books for the holiday of Thanksgiving, too. Here are our Thanksgiving books:

• Over the River and Through the Wood by Lydia Marie Child Illustrated by Christopher Manson - I love the woodcut illustrations!

• Thanksgiving Wish by Michael Rosen - This book makes me cry every time. If you've lost someone near to you, keep a tissue handy when reading!

• It's Thanksgiving Day! by Mary Packard - An easy reader about relatives coming over to celebrate

• Clifford: Giving Thanks by Sarah Fisch - My kids love Clifford (and so do I)
• A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving by Charles Schulz - I loved watching the holiday special every year so I couldn't resist the book

• An Outlaw Thanksgiving  by Emily Arnold McCully - What if you spent Thanksgiving with a notorious outlaw? Find out what it was like for Clara (fiction)

• I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie -  Alison Jackson - Family Favorite
• A Plump and Perky Turkey - By Teresa Bateman - a fun simple turkey story
• Three Young Pilgrims  By, Cheryl Hanes - Picture book for older children on life as pilgrim
• Samuel Eaton's Day: Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters - for older children
• The Berenstain Bears Give Thanks By Stan and Jan Berenstain - Love those Berenstain Bears
• The Extra-Thankful Thanksgiving By Kim Watson A book based on the Nickelodeon series by Bill Cosby
• Turkey Saves the Day By Shelah Canning - My kids like this book

My Gift to You

In this season of thanks and sharing I'd like to share with you! I have spent a long time creating my printables for my son.  I have dotted line paper, etc, but I can't post them on here as PDF files, which is unfortunate.  It would be such easier if you could just print what I've already done. So, my gift to you is that you can e-mail me and request a printable.  If I have it on my computer  (sometimes they are created with a marker) I'll e-mail it to you.  I check my e-mail often, so hopefully my response will be lickety-split.
My email is: amyiswrite@gmail.com
Enjoy!

Robert McCloskey - Day Three Journey Cake, Ho

Reading
Preparation
Make 2 mini books and attach together on cover write "Journey Cake" and on each page write "Journey Cake went by_____."
Materials
Mini book
Journey Cake By Ruth Sawyer (Illustrated by Robert McCloskey)
Markers or Crayons
pictures of donkey, sheep, chicken, pig, goose, cow
pointer
Teaching
1.  Read Journey Cake, Ho!
2.  Read mini book Journey Cake to your child having them fill in blanks with animal, and gluing corresponding animal on page, then drawing a "journey cake."
3.  Have child read mini book to you, a stuffed animal, etc. Our video of reading this book is here.

Phonics
Preparation
Make a barnyard scene on a large piece of paper (I used 1/4 sheet of poster board)
pictures of donkey, sheep, chicken, pig, goose, cow cut out
Materials
barnyard scene
animals
Teaching

1. Say a rhyme for each animal, then have your child find the animal and have it chase "Journey Cake."
2. Examples:

"Journey cake doesn't wear a wig, what's chasing it?  It must be..." (Then your child finds the pig)
"Who is chasing journey cake now.  Look at that.  It must be _____. "(Then child finds cow, and puts it on board)
"Journey cake sings on key. Who's chasing it now?  It must be _______." (Donkey - hard one to rhyme!)
Journey cake will never sleep.  Who's chasing it now. It must be ______." (sheep)
Journey cake is on the loose.  Who's chasing it now? It must be ____."(goose)
Journey cake looks good for lickin'. Who's chasing it now?  It must be ____." (chicken, another tough rhyme).

To watch how we do it watch the video here.

Math
Preparation:
Use the same barn scene and animals from phonics lesson

Teaching
1.  Place 8 animals on barn scene.  Say, "Three animals ran away.  How many are left on the farm?
2.  Use different number combinations to create addition and subtraction problems. 
Examples:
"(5 animals on board) fox took away 5 animals.  How many are left?
"Journey cake brought back 2 geese and 2 cows.  How many animals are on the farm now?"
One cow ran away and two sheep followed journey cake back to the farm.  How many animals are there now?

Art
Preparation
Materials
Play dough or clay
Teaching
1.  Have child make animals from play dough.

Robert McCloskey - Day 2 Blueberries for Sal

Book Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

**This week we are doing books by Robert McCloskey so we will always begin with Reading instead of Phonics/Writing**

Reading

Preparation:
Materials

Blueberries for Sal  by Robert McCloskey

Teaching:

1.  Read Blueberries for Sal.
2.  Explain what characters are. Discuss which two characters are alike (mom and mother bear, Sal and little bear). How are they alike?  How are they different?

Phonics/Writing
Preparation:
Make rhyming words cards with words from the book - print words with picture, cut out and glue on to 3X5 cards

(Sal, Pal, Bear, chair, eat, feet, hill, mill, whale, pail, clue, blue)

 Materials

Rhyming Cards

Teaching:

1.  Play a matching game with your child matching the rhymes.
2.  Separate the cards into piles of "Endings look alike," and "Endings that look different."  We like to          send the endings that are spelled differently to "jail."
3.  Point to the words and talk about the different ways we spell the same sound (bear/chair, whale/pail)

**Writing - have your child practice writing the letter "B", both capital and lower case.**

Math

Preparation:

Create 2 large pictures of pails.  Draw 8 cirlces on each bucket.
Cut several circles out of blue paper that match the size of the circles on pails

Materials

Pails
Blue circles
Spinner

Teaching:

1.      You'll be playing the game "Sal's Blueberry Bucket."
2.  Take turns spinning and adding blueberries to your bucket.  WHoever fills in their 8 circles first, wins.
3.  As you play ask questions such as, "How many more blueberries do you need to win?"

Exploration

Preparation:

Materials

2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 TBSP corn starch
1/4 cup water

Teaching:

1.   Place blueberries (I used frozen) in a medium saucepan.  Add sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch and toss blueberries.  Add water.  Let child help add ingredients.
2.  Have adult cook blueberries.  When cool, eat your "canned blueberries" like Sal and her mother.

Art

Preparation

Materials

paper
blue paint
white paint
black paint
paintbrush

Teaching:

1.      Show your child the Robert McCloskey books for hte week.  POInt out that McCloskey uses only 1-2 colors to draw his pictures.
2.  Have your child paint a picture using blue paint.  He can mix black or white paint into the blue to vary the shades of blue.