Christmas Bible Study - Jesse Tree

Every year for the Advent Season, we work through a bible study. Last year, we learned about the Twelve Days of Christmas. This year, our bible study is The Jesse Tree. J had so much fun sewing the ornaments for last year that she wanted something to make this year as well.

Our spine is Our Family's Jesse Tree by Jen Frost. I bought it as a downloadable PDF. I love this. It came complete with a bible study as well as full sized patterns to create each ornament. There are also several options on how to create the ornaments as well. They can be made with plain paper for coloring, foam for gluing, and felt for sewing.

We are also reading through The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean. We read the corresponding part with each day. I am looking forward to giving J her ornaments that she sewed when she gets older. Here are a few of the ornaments that they have already finished. Each ornament represents different bible stories leading up to the birth of Christ.

I love how these turned out. They will be a great heirloom for my J when she gets older. This is turning out to be a pretty good advent study. Have an awesome day.

Advent Study - God's Names

Last year, I gave J a choice of advent bible studies. I asked her if she wanted to learn about the Genealogy of Jesus, God's Names, or a simple Christmas devotional. She chose God's names.  Because of computer issues, I wasn't able to share what we did during the holiday season but I wanted to post this in case your family would like to learn about God's Names during the next advent season or any other time. It is not just for advent!

The first reading of the book talks about just how many names God has. It is amazing how many  names he has. The book suggested that J discover how many names she has - she came up with 11.

For every  name of God, we tried to come up with an ornament. Since this was the first lesson on how many names J had, she made a crystal J (borax experiment). This was easy to do with great results. It just takes a few days to dry.

Also, she colored each name for her poster and a mini ornament for the window display.

Here is her ornament for Elhohim. She made a coffee filter world and placed it in her hand.

Here is her Yahweh ornament - burning bush and her name for the poster.

The beginning of her poster. Each day, she added each name she learned. It was full by the time we finished.

Another ornament. Many times, I would ask her what she would like to make for the tree to represent the name and she would come up with some great ones. Here's a fish.

A magnifying glass ornament.

Our window display - God's names. She colored a new one each day. I love how this turned out. Our tree was also a success. I wish I would have taken a picture of it. We learned so much from this book - it definitely doesn't have to be an advent study. Have a great day.

Ten on a Sled

We have put Before Five in a Row on hold and are working on some book units for the holiday season. This week's book unit was Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman. It is a super cute book about animals that go for a sled ride and keep "falling" off. We also read the companion book - If You are Cold and You Know It by the same author.

Kaleb worked on "friends of ten" - all the addends the add up to ten. We used Christmas erasers and a sled ten frame. I placed the red candies on the ten frame and he had to find the other friend of ten. He then wrote the problem on his min whiteboard.

The Science for this book was to learn about caribou. He labeled the caribou diagram and he insisted on writing the labels himself. Yay!

I found some animals that matched the characters of the book and a sled from a Playmobil set. Kaleb set the animals in the sled and as I read the story, he pulled each animal from the sled.

This is the carnage of animals that were removed from the sled. I loved watching Kaleb "explode" the animals from the sled.

Another day of exploding animals - looks pretty gruesome, doesn't it? He had fun though:)

I found some pattern cards for snowflakes. I gave him the shapes and he recreated the picture.

We worked on "ed" and "en" words with word tiles. After he was done practicing with the word tiles, he stamped the words with alphabet stamps.

Kaleb worked on filling out a learning chart on caribous which he wrote himself. We read all about caribous and wrote down some facts. We definitely had fun with this book. Hope you have an awesome day.

Links

Real Life at Home - has a cute idea for a walrus craft.

Creativity Takes Flight - has the walrus craft instructions.

Reading Confetti - has a cute idea using plastic eggs.

Snippets by Sarah - has a cute craft using your student's picture, free download.

The Recovering Traditionalist - has free printable ten frames.

Tidbits Cami - has a popsicle sled craft.

Tales of a Teacherista - has a few ideas for learning about caribou.

Learn Create Love - has a free printable caribou template.

I Heart Crafty Things - has a cute reindeer sponge painting activity.

Jingle Returns

Our elf on a shelf has returned from the North Pole and he is up to his old tricks again. I just thought I would share a few photos of his week.

He raided our left over Halloween candy and wrote that he's back with Skittles.

The next night, he raided my ribbon and decorated my tree. Kaleb thought it was an improvement and has asked me to keep up the ribbon.

He decided to take a bath in my laundry room. He brought some rubber ducks for the kids' baths.

This is my favorite, so far. He decided to try to be Evil Knievel and jump some cars on a motorcycle. Kaleb loved this crazy one. He went in to check on Jingle multiple times and thought it was great.

Well, after his antics of trying to jump the cars, it looks like he was somewhat unsuccessful. He ended  up in bed with casts on his arm and his leg as well as a bandage on his head. Maybe he will take it easy:) Enjoy your day.

Just wanted to share my five dollar wreath:) I think it turned out pretty cute. I found all items except the Christmas scarf at the Dollar Store. The scarf came from a thrift store. I spray painted the wreaths with white sparkle paint, added the joy ornament and the Santa hat. Not too bad for a quick decoration for my door.

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Enjoy the time with your family and friends. I know I will - this will be an awesome Christmas where we will have many (but not all) of our family to celebrate with. Enjoy!

graphic from:

Jingle's Pranks

We have been enjoying Jingle's pranks and activities. J will be sad when he is gone but she is hoping that he will return next year. Here are a few more of his hijinks.

Jingle slid down a yarn rope using a candy cane in the bathroom. I was glad he stayed on his candy cane, I could just imagine what would happen if he fell in the toilet!

He then went on a S'More date with Cinderella. They roasted marshmallows over a campfire, complete with bubble trees.

Jingle then had a 2nd date playing tic-tac-toe with Cinderella. He was not being a gentleman - he won all most every game!

Jingle went fishing in the kitchen. He fashioned a fishing pole from a stick and even hooked a big one - a Swedish candy fish!

This was a total surprise and because of this prank, we have 25 balloons floating around the house. Jingle filled the tub with balloons!

The balloons did not go to waste though. The next day, J and Keke drew sheep on them and played farm. J and Kaleb practiced herding sheep all day.

Jingle then brought us a puzzle and placed the pieces into small Christmas stockings. He hid the stockings around the house. The kids had to find the stockings with the puzzle pieces and put the puzzle together. J loved this - she felt like the puzzle pieces were clues to where he was hiding. But he was actually hanging over her head by a plant. Jingle keeps us on our toes, I wonder what he will do next.

More Jingle

Who knew the Elf on the Shelf was this much work? Every day we see his new antics and then we must clean up what mess he made from the day before. Our elf is still moving along, we never know where we are going to find him each day.

After two good days of solid rain, J found Jingle with his own Santa Cafe. He was serving hot chocolate, cookies, and cupcakes to his new friends/customers - Santa and Snowman.

The prices weren't that bad either! He will probably have customers all day. J made me move Jingle with tongs (you aren't allowed to touch him or he loses his magic) so she and Kaleb could play Christmas Cafe. Thanks, Jingle, this may keep their minds off the tons of rain and the fact that they can't go outside and play.

The next day, Jingle was somewhat naughty. He covered the tree in red paper and accidentally caught himself.

Jingle decided to be nice after that. He brought the kids aprons, chef hats, and set out all of the ingredients to bake a special treat. He gave them two choices - s'more cupcakes or gingerbread men. The kids decided to bake gingerbread men with the cookie cutters. Doesn't Jingle look cute with his paper towel chef hat and apron? What a crafty elf!

Jingle decided to make a tree from plastic cups. This was a tricky one, however, as right in the morning my dad opened the door and the breeze knocked them down (several times, luckily before the kids got up). So, the tree tower was moved to my bedroom where there would be less traffic and less chance of getting knocked over. I am so glad he ran out of cups because it would have been a lot harder to pick up this mess....perhaps he should have taped the cups together.

Then Jingle decided to take a joy ride from the ceiling fan. He was enjoying the ride until Kaleb noticed that he was riding in his McQueen underwear and Kaleb started crying to get them back! He has been busy. J looks for him every day after she wakes. What fun (but definitely a lot of work).

Christmas is About Jesus

We are enjoying our daily advent reading from the book Christmas is About Jesus by Mukkove Johnson. Each day a new item from the holidays is discussed and how it can be applied to our lives as believers. Because we are also doing a Christmas Around the World unit study, I am trying to keep our activities simple (ha,ha). The key here is NOT to get stressed. We have a small Christmas tree where we are schooling and each day, the kids make an ornament with a bible verse for it.

Day 1 - snowflakes

Snowflakes are unique just like we are.

The kids made glitter popsicle snowflakes as their first ornament for the tree. Super simple and what kid doesn't like glitter?

J then made a picture for Grandma using a snowflake punch.

They also took turns creating a snowfall jar. We added 2 bottles of clear school glue, water, glitter, and a tons of snowflakes. When you shake it, you can watch it "snow."

Day 2 - snow

Jesus' blood washed me white as snow.

They made snowmen ornaments from a kit that I found. Kaleb's snowman was fashioned after Picasso.

They also decorated the windows of the school room with clings.

Day 3 - ornaments

Show people Jesus.

They made cross ornaments for the tree. These are also from a kit that I found.

We read a neat book that I found in a thrift store - Trim the Tree for Christmas! by William Boniface. The book includes small ornaments that fit into slots in the book. The kids had fun finding where each one went.

Day 4 - candy canes

Jesus is the Rock.

With some beads and pipe cleaners, the kids made simple candy canes to hang on the tree. We attached the bible verse for the day as well.

Day 6 - Hats

Jesus is the King of Kings

I found some foam crown shapes at the Dollar Store and gave the kids a variety of items to glue to them to make crown ornaments for our school tree. They glued buttons, sequins, snowflakes, and stars.

Day 7 - Christmas Trees

Jesus is The Life.

Kaleb made a simple Christmas tree ornament from foam and glue.

J made a tree ornament from a pine cone that we found in our travels. She painted it green, sprayed it with glitter, and added sequins for decorations.