On Our Shelves - December

Our theme for December is, of course, Christmas. I just love this time of year and I really enjoy bringing the feel of the season into our classroom. There's red and green everywhere you look! :)

Practical Life

Christmas Tree Decorating. We did this last year, too, and it was a big hit.

Tweezing Mini Bows. These little bows were a part of the amazing box of goodies I received last year.

Sorting Erasers. Another favorite from last year.

Tonging Porcupine Poms. I chose yellow poms because I thought they looked sort of like stars against the trees. :)

Open & Close Basket. Each container has a fun, chunky Christmas eraser in it.

Button Tree. This is the tree I made last year and even though James has the buttoning thing down pat, he's still loving this little tree.

Lacing Jingle Bells.

Spooning Sparkly Poms. As I've mentioned before, James has little interest in spooning, but I couldn't resist trying this variation with a melon baller. The idea comes from My Montessori Journey. I think he'll enjoy this.

Using A Dropper. James will transfer the green water from the glass by way of the dropper and then release the water in small amounts into each individual suction cup. The washcloth is provided so he can wipe up any spills. We've done this in the past and James just loves it.

Stringing Pony Beads. I saw this idea ages ago on Itty Bitty Love. The pipe cleaners (aka chenille sticks) are pushed into the holes on the top of a small shaker. Fun and simple!

Sensorial

Christmas Nesting Blocks. Sort of a pink tower minus the pink. :)

Sound Boxes. I purchased these from here, but you can easily create your own. Click here to read more about how to use the sound boxes.

Knobless Cylinders w/ Extensions.

Christmas Sensory Tub.

Christmas Playdough.

Language
Blue Series Materials. James is definitely in a sensitive period for language and I have to admit, I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be. He's just moving through everything so quickly, I can't keep up! I think he'll be finished with the blue series by the end of the month since this particular work was easy-peasy for him. The thing is, he's kind of all over the place with what he knows and I feel compelled to push through everything in the right order regardless in an effort to seal up any gaps in his knowledge. For those unfamiliar with the blue series, you can read more about it here. The materials were purchased through Montessori For Everyone (love her materials!).

Christmas Memory Game. To make these I printed duplicates of two different bingo cards from abcteach.

Various Tracing Pages. Some of these came from KidsSoup and others from the wonderful Nativity Preschool Pack from 1+1+1=1. The Santa pencil provides an added point of interest.

Poetry Basket.

Books. Throughout the month we'll be reading a new Christmas book each day, thanks to our 25 Books of Christmas.

Math
Christmas Tree Lights Game. James loves adding and subtracting and he really enjoyed using these little bulbs as well as the jumbo dice. The bulbs are real and were cut from a strand of lights that was no longer working.

Measuring Ribbon. James selected this shiny silver ribbon and I cut several pieces in varying lengths. James will measure them against the ruler and then we'll record our findings.

Math Sheet. This is a page from the 1+1+1=1 Nativity Pack.

Hundreds Board. We just received this and used it for the first time today. James L-O-V-E-D it!

It took him a long time to complete it (and he did get a bit distracted toward the middle, complaining with a sigh that this was hard work and that his back hurt! LOL), but he finished it entirely by himself and was oh so proud!

Cards & Counters. I made these cards myself and chose red buttons (think berries :D) for the counters.

Culture & Science
North America Continent Bag. I decided to pull out various pieces from the bag and place them on trays instead of just plopping the entire bag on the shelf. I think this will work better for us because it'll allow us to focus on just a few of the items at a time.

Poinsettia Three Part Cards. I found these beautiful cards on abcteach and I purchased a real Poinsettia plant so James could have a living visual guide as well.

Discovery Tray.

Living & Non-Living Cards. My three part card envelopes didn't work for these cards, so I stitched up a little pouch out of felt. Very easy to make and I find the appearance to be much nicer than plastic.

Art & Music
Composer of the month. This month we're focusing on Tchaikovsky. I timed this to coincide with his well known Nutcracker Suite which, I feel, so beautifully represents this time of year.

We're also singing LOTS of fun Christmas songs, a compilation of which can be found here.

Stamping. I found this little kit at the dollar store.

Build A Santa & Christmas Tree. These are our "Felt Friends" from last year. Instead of separating the two as I did last year, I put all the pieces together for an added challenge.

Scissor Practice. Like last month, I cut strips of paper and then placed Christmas stickers on them which James will use as a guide to cut in between.

Color By Letter. This page is from KidsSoup.

I have quite a few other Christmas-y crafts in mind for us to do and I'll try to post about as we complete them. Just not enough hours in the day!

Click here, here and here to see some of the activities we did last year when James was 2.5 years old.

I'm linking this post up to The Preschool Corner and Montessori Monday.

~Thank you for your comments!~