Magic Christmas Tree

 One of my students gave me this Magic Tree for Christmas and I just couldn't wait to try it.

The first thing I had to do was put the tree together and decorate it.  I then had to pour the water mixture in the base.

After about an hour, I noticed the tips of the branches were white,

After a few hours there were crystals on the branches.

The next morning, this is what the tree looked like.  My own kids thought it was very cool.  It was very interesting to see the transformation.

Polar Express alphabet

We are getting close.  Only one week left before the holiday starts.  Are you in survival mode?  We have so many special events happening right now that I'm not sure how we are getting anything done.

We are managing to get in a few academic activities in-between the plays, singing and craft activities.

I still have a few students that are missing a few letters of the alphabet.  We keep practicing every day.

Putting letters in order is a little tougher.

 We are also working on beginning sounds.  Practice, practice, practice.

No Prep Polar Express Math

I love the Polar Express story.  Even before it was movie, I would read the book to my class.  For I few years we even put on the play for the parents.

For the past week we have been practicing some of our skills with a Polar Express theme.

We practiced counting and colouring.

Graphing was favorite.  For my students who colour in the boxes, we used bingo dabbers.  

I love these, because even if my students can't print well enough, I know if they can match and count.

This can be a little tricky but it's good practice to fill in the missing numbers. 

Patterns are part of the Kindergarten Ontario curriculum and the kids love this Polar Express pattern page.

 You can never have enough practice counting and matching numbers.

 I like to have the children practice putting numbers in order.

This one is a little tricky too.  There are several answers that go under each number.  I like to have the children practice cutting while they are working.  I love them working on more than one skill at a time.