In the classroom this week we started to work on Christmas. Although I try to keep the 1st week of Advent sacred, we do start Christmas early (along with the rest of the country … although we don’t start the Christmas season at St. Mary Monastery till a week or so before Christmas).

Since we are really not in school much during the church Christmas season, we celebrate early.

We have read a number of traditional and contemporary Christmas stories. My favorite is always ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (traditional). We also read a contemporary version of it, where a little boy is awake and knows he should be sound asleep. A Creature was Stirring: One Boy’s Night Before Christmas is delightful – loved by the kids and by their teacher. 🙂

Center Time includes a Christmas counting activity. We use candy canes for our counters, and stockings for the receptacles.

Other Christmas activities include 2 that I found online. Both use Do A Dot Markers.

I found two new activities on line this year. Both work with Do A dot markers. One is fun and colorful Christmas ABC Maze. The other is a fun Do A Dot Christmas Tree activity that also practices letter identification. Both are a great way to combine the excitement of Christmas with learning our letters!!

Next up: Christmas caroling at the monastery. Stay tuned!!