We were so excited to row this book during the Christmas season, even though we didn’t finish until after our Christmas break.

BIBLE:

We chose to memorize Proverbs 17:17 for this row since this was a charming story about true friendship.

I created a Bible verse printable pack to go along with this row.  You can purchase this pack from our TPT store.

There’s even a FREEbie tracer in the preview!

The boys worked on their tracers and added them to their lapbooks.

Parker also worked on the Bible verse puzzle.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Geography:

Since it was Christmas time, we focused on Christmas traditions in Russia.

I printed Christmas in Russia (education.com) and Little Red’s Christmas Holidays Around the World printable.

The kids worked on coloring, cutting and pasting their worksheets while I read about the Christmas and new year’s traditions in Russia.

We also read Moscow and thumbed through Russia Enchantment of the World.

I also added a Russia box to our Learning Lane.

The kids took turns building the Russian flag and playing with the 7 Pieces 7″ (H) Large Semenov Wooden Russian Nesting Dolls Matryoshka Wood Nested Stacking DollsMatryoshka doll.

Hospitality:

Max showed great hospitality when he invited Boris in, set the Samovar to boil, and offered him toast and jam.  We talked about showing hospitality when someone comes to our house.

The boys though this was the PERFECT time for a skit.  Jordan was Max and Parker was Boris.  Boris knocked on the door and Max invited him in.

We said it’s polite to offer the person a drink or a snack when they come to visit.  Jordan set the samovar on to boil (set the kettle on in the kitchen) and prepared Parker a snack with our play food.

The kids did enjoy a snack of Russian bread with strawberry jam and hot tea at a later time.

Occupations:

There were a few people in our neighborhood we wanted to thank for all they do throughout the year.  We talked about their occupation and how thankful we are for them.

We wrapped up some freshly baked cookies to delivery.

We loaded up our Red Wagon and set off around the neighborhood.

The best way to teach gratefulness and hospitality is by doing it!  This was such a fun activity and everyone was so happy to receive their sweet package!

LANGUAGE ARTS:

We continued working through our Sonlight Language Arts programs and added a few seasonal activities in between.

Phonics:

I brought out our CVC Christmas Gifts cards and matching letters.

Parker continued to spell his CVC words at various times during the week.

I brought out our Christmas Penguins Alphabet picture cards and magnets.  I instructed Parker to sound out each word and match the ending sound.

Angelic Antonyms:

I created a Christmas Symbols Antonym & Synonym Grammar Pack  for Jordan since he was reviewing antonyms this week in grammar.

Both Jordan and Parker worked through the Angel word cards and colored the matching candle antonyms with dot paints.

Star Synonyms:

At a later time, we reviewed synonyms and antonyms.  I brought out our Christmas Symbols Synonym and Antonym Cards and worksheet (from the Christmas Symbols Antonym & Synonym Grammar Pack ).

Both boys worked on the worksheets using their dot paints.

Twas the Night Before Christmas:

I created a Twas the Night Before Christmas tracer booklet for Jordan to work on.

You can download this FREEbie at our TPT store.

Jordan and I read The%20Night Before Christmas (Little Golden Book)Twas the Night Before Christmas together every day.

Afterwards he completed a tracer page in his booklet.  He’s working on memorizing as much of this poem as he can.

MATH:

We continued with our Horizon K and Horizon 2 math programs with a few seasonal activities mixed in between.

Seven Days in a Week:

I created a Christmas themed Days of the Week worksheet for the boys to work on.

You can download this FREEbie at our TPT store.

The boys completed their worksheets.

They colored the pictures, marked the days Boris gave Max dancing lessons, and added them to their lapbooks.

Gingerbread Clock:

I created a Decorate the Gingerbread Clock worksheet for the boys to work on.

You can download this FREEbie at our TPT store.

The boys color coded the gumdrops by even and odd numbers and glued them around the clock.

Christmas Cookie Survey:

For our last math activity before our Christmas break, I thought it would be fun to do a Christmas cookie survey.

The kids helped color our Christmas Cookie Survey poster.

The kids sent a video survey to all their buddies asking for their favorite Christmas cookie (sugar, chocolate chip, oatmeal, peanut butter, gingerbread, or other).

They tallied their results on a cookie graph (A Teacher Down the Hall) and figured out the winner.

Then they sent a message informing their buddies the winner was chocolate chip!

After their hard work, they went to the kitchen for tea & cookies while Mommy read Babushka and Old Russian Folktale and Baba Yaga & The Little Girl.

SCIENCE:

ARTS & OTHER FUN ACTIVITIES:

Russian Black Bread:

I ordered ingredients to make a special loaf of Russian Black bread in our bread maker.

I printed our recipe and gathered our ingredients.

Jordan measured the ingredients with minimal help.

We baked the bread and it turned out a perfect brown, the color of Boris himself ;).

Russian White Bread:

We finished rowing this book after the Christmas break.  We needed a new loaf of bread to have with our tea, so Jordan and I made a Russian white bread.

I printed our recipe (www.valentinascorner.com), gathered our ingredients, and Jordan did the work with a little help from Mommy.

The bread turned out beautiful AND delicious!

Onion Domes Art:

Haley and Jordan decided to sketch the onion domes.  I printed an art tutorial for Jordan to follow, but Haley wanted to sketch something from her imagination.

We brought out our chalk pastels and oil pastels to color their masterpieces.

They turned out beautiful!

The Nutcracker Ballet:

Daddy bought tickets to the theater for our family.  There were NO dancing bears, but a fabulous children’s rendition of the Nutcracker Ballet.

We got dressed in our Sunday best and headed to the Theater.

Afterwards we went to a fancy dinner and had such a wonderful time together!

Etchings:

We talked about the etched illustrations in the book and watched a short video on our Another Celebrated Bear Christmas playlist.

I ripped out a page, from one of our Melissa & Doug Scratch Art Doodle Pad With 16 Scratch-Art Boards and Wooden StylusMelissa and Doug scratch pads, cut out some squares, and handed one to each kid with a wooden stylus for making their etchings.

Parker added it to his lapbook.  All three kids LOVED this simple but fun activity!

Bear Ornaments:

I brought out some paintable wooden bear ornaments and our paint pens.

The kids had fun painting their ornaments.

Each time we see their bear ornaments we’ll remember Max and Boris and our time rowing this book!

Christmas Cookies:

We were meeting our family for dinner.  The kids helped decorate some cookies to take along for dessert!

They put their whole heart into turning each of these sugar cookies into sweet masterpieces!

This was another great way for the kids to think of others, be hospitable, and share!

We had a great night.  On the way home we looked at Christmas lights!

Bears:

We couldn’t row a book about bears without having a few BEARy fun moments together.

We made AND ate gingerBEAR cookies this Christmas!

We read many cute books about bears, teddy bears, and Christmas bears!

We watched several bear videos and songs from our Another Celebrated Bear playlist and added some brown bear inserts into our lapbooks.

Movie, Bear Cookies, & Cocoa:

We ended our row with a family movie night featuring AnastasiaAnastasia.  This was the PERFECT movie choice to accompany this book!

We had an intermission with bear cookies and hot cocoa!  We had such fun rowing this book…looking forward to Stopping%20by Woods on a Snowy EveningStopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.