BIBLE:

Memory Verse:

We continued to memorize Psalm 12. I printed verses 9-10 from our Psalm 12 printable pack.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.

Christmas Bible Lessons:

Joy:

Are we looking for joy in all the wrong places? I prepared a sweet treasure hunt the night before. I made “joy” goggles for the kids and hid Kinder Joy eggs in the Living room.

We sat around the table for our Bible lesson. We talked about how much fun we have at Christmas, but we also discussed how true joy comes from the Lord.

Afterwards, I sent the kids searching for some sweet treasure.

I added goggles on our Advent wreath.

Communication:

Over the weekend, we bought two types of holiday kisses. We talked about how our words can be warm like cocoa or cold like a snowball in the face.

Since we were reading about Christmas in Mexico, I decided to make Mexican hot chocolate to accompany our Bible lesson.

They sipped on hot cocoa and sampled the chocolate kisses while answering Bible questions.

Forgiveness:

We read about the servant who was forgiven a large debt and wouldn’t forgive someone who owed him a smaller debt.

We discussed this subject for a while. If God forgives us every time we come to Him, we have no right to withhold forgiveness from others. No matter how provoked I am with repeated bad behavior, I always tell my kids, “I will always forgive you, because God always forgives me”.

We concluded this Bible lesson with hard, chocolate-covered pretzels. Let’s be sweet, like our pretzels, and forgive each other.

Grinch-tzels:

Since we were reading The Grinch, I felt inspired to create a Grinch-inspired soft pretzel.

Jordan and I made green-tinted dough. We left it for the bread-maker to mix.

I put the dough in a bowl and covered it with Saran Wrap. I actually left it overnight to rest and rise.

I added more green food coloring to the dough. Then we rolled, stretched, and shaped our pretzels.

After they sat for a while, we put them in the baking soda bath and baked them in the oven.

They smelled SO good. They were puffy, golden, and tasty treats.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Grammar:

I created a Sugar and Spice themed printable pack for this week’s language arts activities.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

Spelling:

I printed Parker’s spelling cards, letter tiles and spelling mat (in GGB).

First, Parker built a word using the letter tiles and mat.

Next, he used his spelling cards to put his words in alphabetical order.

Afterward, Parker wrote his spelling words in alphabetical order.

The following day, Parker used his spelling cards to complete his spelling sentences.

Prepositions:

For our grammar lesson on prepositions, we brought out Big Fat Bear, Parker’s favorite stuffed animal, and a little gift package.

As I said a prepositional phrase, Parker positioned BFB and the gift to match. You can see the photos represent “The gift is next to BFB”, “the gift is above BFB”, “”the gift is on BFB”, and “the gift is under BFB’s arm”.

Creating Words:

I set out our Sugar & Spice Creating Words (in GGB) activity on Learning Lane.

Parker grabbed a root word card, moved it across the suffix mats to see what words could be formed, and recorded them on the worksheet.

Grammar Ace:

This week, I created a Christmas tree themed two-page layout to display the oodles and oodles of prepositions.

I set out all the elements for Parker to glue on his notebook.

First, we added the sticker title at the bottom of the page.

Next, we added our “star statements”, matched the “in a nutshell” term presents to the matching definitions, and trimmed the tree with many, colorful preposition ornaments.

This was our most intricate layout so far. It turned out quite festive!

Reading:

Our reading shelf was updated with Christmas books. It was beginning to look alot like Christmas in our classroom!

We read a few Christmas books this week, but we plan to continue reading from our holiday picks until the end of the year!

Creative Writing:

The Ferris Wheel:

Jordan felt inspired as we neared the end of The Great Wheel. He brought out his Engino building set and began his quest creating a Ferris wheel.

I love watching Jordan create things, because he’s so patient with the process. He’ll build something, see a flaw, tear it down, and rebuild it with the modifications needed.

When we opened his copy-work about inventions, it tied in perfectly with his side project. While he was jotting down his notes, he thought of another modification and went back to work.

Character Essay:

This Christmas, we’re studying Cranberry Christmas. One of our topics was to complete a Venn Diagram comparison between Cyrus Grape, the villain of the story, and the Grinch.

We already read Cranberry Christmas several times, so we turned our focus on one mean Mr. Grinch. Parker and I sat together on the couch and read this timeless classic.

I presented our Venn Diagram worksheet (FIAR Cranberry Christmas worksheet), both books, and a special glass of Grinchie-ade.

Parks recorded all the individual and shared characteristics of the Grinch and Cyrus Grape. Afterwards, he used his notes to type his character essay.

SCIENCE:

TOPs:

The boys shared the same electromagnet since Parker and I set it up; however, Jordan was able to get it yo really make noise.

At first it was faint, but with a few adjustments, it was quite impressive.

Holiday Science:

We added some holiday-themed science activities to spice things up!

Cranberries:

We read See It Grow Cranberry on our Epic appqA and we read Time for Cranberries, a family favorite.

Jordan also read Cranberries on his own.

The boys completed the “Growing Cranberries” worksheet from our Cranberry Thanksgiving Story Review.

We dissected fresh cranberries and identified all the parts of the fruit.

I brought out our Parts of the Cranberry cards and and lapbook insert from our Cranberry Fruit Science pack. As I read each definition, the boys color-coded the parts of the fruit.

JUST FOR FUN:

Trimming the Tree:

We bought a new Christmas tree for the classroom. We started trimming it this week. More decorating to come!