Tot School: Christmas

We have had a wonderful Tot School week. This week was the first time that John was tracing lines! And he didn’t throw his crayons or markers during coloring time! (This is real progress.) This was exciting because we got to use many of the Christmas-themed printables that I have printed and laminated.

We use this schedule – I love to add things as we go throughout the week, to prove to myself that we are learning through play! Homeschool Creations’ great Preschool Schedule. We also I have decided to have six tot trays out for the week and I try to be intentional with activities  that correlate with each of these four categories: Language, Sensory, Mathematics, Practical Life.  We also have a Craft of the Week every Friday!

Our Tot Schedule:

Trays:

Our Tot Trays are out on our shelf all week.  John can play with them at any time, but sometimes I’ll take one out intentionally for us to play together.  We played with a Dressing Joey, sorting and sizing Nativity printables, more pom pom magnets and Christmas pages, a Rainbow busy bag activity, separating red and green blocks, and a red sensory bin.

Our Activities:

Language

Our book for the week was Clifford’s First Christmas.  John loved watching Clifford the puppy help put up a Christmas tree and have a visit from Santa.  (I have Before Five in a Row, and have been working through it with the books we already own in our very extensive children’s home library.  During holidays and seasons, I like to choose my own books that I think he will enjoy reading five days in a row.)  We also make sure to stop and read at least three times a day.

John loves singing Christmas songs, and he felt extra special when reading from these printables. Also, we kept Animals with Baby Jesus from 1plus1plus1equals1 out for the  mini book of the week.  He loves this little book!  We are keeping this in a cute little red Christmas box that his friend brought over for him, the same as last week.

Here he is tracing pre-writing lines!  This is part of a wonderful Nativity pack. He also enjoyed working on a simple puzzle of Jesus in a manger. This was harder for him, but it was his first try!

And he loved coloring some nativity pages that I printed out, from various websites, too. (I had no idea he KNOWS brown, black, and pink, but he used the right names when asking for these crayons!)

Sensory

My mom gave Ezra the Little People Nativity set for his birthday.  He loved playing with this, even before this Christmas season.  And then she just out did herself, by bringing over another nativity set, this time a real-to-life version that I enjoyed when I was younger!  They are made of hard plastic, made in Italy, and are so real-life and beautifully made!  John loved them and lined them up in the stable.  Here he is with both of his nativities :)

Mathematics

These MegaBlocks were out all week.  He loves making bridges and “skid loaders” :)  And this week I saw him creating patterns with the colors and sizes!  This was all one his own; I couldn’t be more proud!

Practical Life

John loves to help out with making dinner.  He is usually “cooking” with me, right at the counter.  One night, he spooned the broccoli into the pot.  He loved this and felt so important!  I hope to find a practical activity like this for him to really be a helper every night.  (Though sometimes it tries my patience, when he is spilling food, etc.!  I have to remember that every moment is a teaching moment!)

Craft of the Week:

We made a tissue paper Christmas tree.

**I plan on beginning 1plus1plus1equals1’s Tot School ABC’s at the start of the new year.  My son already knows some of his capital letters and gets excited when he sees them in books, so I think he’ll be ready!  I’m going to couple this with Songs for Saplings cd and Carisa’s coordinating ABC Bible Verses.  We (okay, I) are [am] so excited!