On the first day of Christmas: H is for House Lesson Plan #2 with a Christmas twist...

In my rotating preschool, I was in charge of H is for House, but it landed in the holiday season.  A perfect chance for me to fancy it up with Christmas fun.

Music Time: We sang some fun Christmas songs and some house songs listed below as well

We learned about all kinds of houses and their opposites by learning the song,
 Houses, Houses Everywhere!
(Tune: Twinkle, Twinkle)
Houses can be made of bricks.
Houses can be made of sticks.
Houses can be big or small.
Houses can be short or tall.
Houses here and houses there;
Houses, houses everywhere!

Houses can be very new.
Houses can be older, too.
Houses can be low or high.
Houses! Houses! My, oh my!
Houses here and houses there;
Houses, houses everywhere!

Build a House(tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat)

Build, build, build a house
With doors and windows, too
Add a roof to keep it dry.
A home for me and you!
Home (tune: BINGO)

There is a place that I call home
And house is it's name-o
H-O-U-S-E
H-O-U-S-E
H-O-U-S-E
That's what I call home!
{They loved taking out one letter each time by clapping!}

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Science/Social Studies: Learned about houses of other cultures and animals and played a matching game.  In the matching game, the kids had to match up an animal to it's "house" (bird to a nest, fish to an aquarium, child to a house, etc).


Storytime:

•  How a House Is Built by Gail Gibbons

•  The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton 

• Hansel and Gretel by Rika Lesser

Craft Time: We made our own holiday shape houses and counted up how many of each shape was on it.




Math: We learned about patterns by drawing Christmas lights on various houses in specific patterns (AB, AAB, ABB, etc). Then we made our own "christmas light" patterns with fruit loop necklaces using only red and green fruit loops for Christmas. On the Holiday house above, the kids also had to fill out a paper that said how many circles, hearts, squares, rectangles, etc.  The kids had to count their shapes.
 

Snack: Along with healthy treats including reindeer carrots, clementine oranges and red and green food (tomatoes, celery, grapes, strawberries), the kids made homemade gingerbread houses to take home

I have found a bunch of GREAT and healthy snacks for preschool, Christmas parties, after school snacks or just for fun.  You can see them on our pinterest board here: http://pinterest.com/mommylessons101/healthy-christmas-snacks/