Christmas Tree Preschool Unit

12.19.2011

This week I am giving myself more work to do by doing daily themes; today's learning was with Christmas Trees!

T put together Christmas Tree sight word puzzles:

 After completing all the puzzles, Thomas chugged through the Sight Word forest : )

I made a Christmas Tree #6 Math Fact Sheet-- I put a star on each tree with the number six on it and at the bottom of the tree, I wrote part of the addition fact.  T was to add stickers to the tree (to equal six) and find the missing number.  He enjoyed this activity!


I found this cute idea for teaching Symmetry here, but instead of paper dots, we used paint.  I had T liberally apply paint, using q-tips, to one side of the tree and then we folded it together.  T had to go over some of the dots as he just starting "dotting" and the paint was running low!


After reading, "The Christmas Tree Ship," which is based on a true story of a fisherman sailing down Lake Michigan from Manistique, Michigan to Chicago to deliver Christmas trees, we found Lake Michigan and traced the route on a map. 

Sidenote: in 1912, the ship was lost at sea during a storm, but the captain's widow and daughters carried on the tradition for twenty-two more years!  While trying to find a map of the Great Lakes, to my liking, I stumbled upon a website for The Christmas Tree Ship and next year, 2012 will be the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Rouse Simmons. 

Read and drew the Life Cycle of a Pine Tree:  I found this printable and more ideas to go-along with "Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree" here....

For a craft go-along for "Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree," we made a Paper Stacking Tree using paper plates:

After the paint dried, I hot glued the pieces together..  T thought the stackable tree was pretty cool!

And after a full morning, T is no longer still in his pj's (though, I still am! Lol.)  And he is taking a much needed nap!  My plan for tomorrow is a Reindeer Theme!  Stay tuned!