With Turkey Day already a distant memory, Christmas fun has already taken over. We have jumped in head first this week and got down to HOLIDAY biz-nass!
First, I had been kicking around the idea of a Christmas fact family craft. And . . . what fits better with fact families than houses?? Well . . . let’s take this a step further and add a holiday theme. Slam it all together and you get gingerbread fact family houses. BOOM!!! My kids ate this one up this week.
This activity proved to be a great follow up to our fact family introduction and they look so stinkin’ cute up on the walls. It is a GREAT listening/following directions project as well . . . very telling 🙂 If you are interested in this one, I just listed in my TPT Shop.
We also went to town in the compound word department . . . with a fun holiday spin. We took the notion of peppermints to a whole new level with this fun and oh so festive compound word craft. They couldn’t stop pretending to eat them 😛
You can check out this fun holiday collection of peppermint-themed compound word goodies, HERE. It’s a perfect standards-based addition to any holiday themed week.
We also made a CLASSROOM Christmas tree. This is one of my favorite projects all year. I got this idea from my rockin’ auntie (a kinder teacher for more than 25 years). I used this ditty my very first year of teaching and I have been rollin’ with it ever since. The thing that is so special about this one is that each child makes their own individual tree out of a basic triangle. These trees are then assembled to make one BIG classroom family tree. It is a heart warmer for sure! Oh and the kids love that the glitter comes out . . . yup . . . you read me right . . . GLITTER 🙂
If you want to roll with this here are the down and dirty steps . . .
- All you need is to create an equilateral triangle template on card stock (I like using 8″ or 9″ triangles).
- Use this template to TRACE a class set of triangles on green construction paper.
- I suggest that YOU CUT these out. However, I have had savvy classes do it in the past. You just need those cuts as straight as possible so your tree fits together neatly.
- Let the kids go to town in the decorating department (I like to have them use scraps of construction paper to make their designs as marker work can turn out jankey).
- Add a final touch and break out the glitter . . . if you dare!
- When the glue has dried, hang these together by lining them up in an alternating fashion (point up, then point down – see photo above). Any trees that don’t fit in the class collection get their own tree trunk and line the bottom of the bulletin board. I typically hang some sort of Christmas-themed write around the tree.
Alright friends, back to business I go. Thanks so much for taking the time to visit me today. Until next time . . .
Hello. I am #436 Ms.Laurie E. and won the Naughty or Nice packet. I'm thrilled! Now, how do I claim it? lol! Thanks again! It looks adorable and is quite unique to what I already have for Christmas activities, so I'm excited about using it!