Running Head: Christmas Tale
Santa is Coming to Town!
Jennifer McDaniel
Early Childhood Curriculum Planning
Kaplan University
Kerri Mann
[Running Head: Christmas Tale]
Activity 1
Activity name: Reading Christmas Tale book
Age group: 5
Objective(s): Students will utilize their communication skills to remember the book
contents. Children will be able to understand what Santa does the day of Christmas.
They will also be able to express their feelings about the book to the teacher (Child
Care Training Grant, 2011).
Developmental domain addressed:
Communication Domain
Having the teacher read the Christmas Tale book to the children will focus on their
communication domain because children will learn the words and meaning while the
teacher is talking to them. Children learn words from their peers. When the teacher
reads the book the children will express their feelings about the book through oral
communication. Children will also tell you how they feel with their reactions to what
happens in the book.
Environmental arrangement: Students will be seated on our circle rug in the classroom
for story time. The children will sit facing the wooden chair and the teacher will read the
book and display all pages to the students.
List of materials:
Book Christmas Tale
Sequence of events (be very specific!):
1.
2.
3.
4.
Teacher will tell students we are having story time.
Children will take their seats on the circle rug in the middle of the classroom.
Teacher will sit in her wooden chair facing the students.
Teacher will read the book to the children. Front page to last page including the title
of the book and author.
5. Students will interact with teacher with oooos and ahhhhs during reading.
6. Teacher will dismiss students back their tables.
Quick ideas for follow-up activities:
[Running Head: Christmas Tale]
Once children take their seats the teacher can ask what they learned from the book.
Children will then discuss what they liked about the book and what they learned. We
could have the children be involved in an art project or have them sing a Christmas
song. After the art activity children could hand their pictures on the wall and discuss with
other students. These follow up activities will get their mind thinking about the book and
what it meant. The teacher could also ask the students the next day what they thought
of the book, maybe they have a different reaction after a good nights sleep.
Activity 2
Activity name: Santa Art
Age group: 5
Objective(s): Children should use their creativity to create a Santa face. The children
have previously been read the book Christmas Tale and children got to see Santas face
from the pictures provided in the book. They will be more familiar with Santas face.
Students will use fine motor skills to create a Santa face.
Developmental domain addressed:
Physical domain
Students will use their fine motor skills to craft a Santa face. Children will tear tissue
paper and place cotton balls on their picture. Children will use their fine motor skills to
carefully place glue on their cotton balls before placing them on their Santa art. They will
then use their gross motor skills to place their art on the hanging clothes line to dry.
Environmental arrangement: Students will be seated at their tables, materials will be in
basket located in the middle of the table.
List of materials:
25 Stencil picture of Santa
25 Red tissue paper
25 Elmers School Glue
25 Pale tissue paper
5 bags 100 Cotton balls
5 baskets for materials
Sequence of events (be very specific!):
1. Teacher prints out Santa faces on 81/2 x 11 paper (prior to class starting)
2. Teacher puts in 1 bag of 100 count cotton balls (makes 20 cotton balls for 5
students), 5 pieces of red tissue paper, 5 pieces of pale tissue paper, 5 tubes of
Elmers school glue (4 oz. each), 5 pictures of Santa per table all of this will be in a
basket in the middle of the table. (prior to class starting)
3. Read to students (in activity 1)
4. Have students sit at their tables (in activity 1)
[Running Head: Christmas Tale]
5. Teacher discusses the materials to the students and what they will be used for, red
tissue is for his nose and hat, pale tissue is used for his face, cotton balls are used
for his beard and bottom half of his hat, Elmers glue is used for placing on these
items on the stencil picture of Santa. This is creativity, use your imagination she
would say to her students.
6. Students use their creativity to make Santa out of the materials
7. When completed children will pick up all extra materials and put them in the basket.
8. Children will then hang their Santa art on the drying clothes line with clothes pins to
let them dry. Once hung students go back to their seats.
9. Project completed.
Quick ideas for follow-up activities: After students have finished the project and it has
finished drying students could talk about their Santas in front of the classroom. They will
be able to tell us a story about their Santa. They will introduce themselves, speak in
clear and full sentences and be able to describe why they made their Santa that way
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). I could encourage the students to
take their pictures home and show them to their parents. As a family at home they could
hang their Santas around the Christmas tree. Teachers still need to be mindful with the
cultures at home and be respectful if students cannot take their Santas home (Hawley,
W., Irvine, J. J., & Landa, M., n.d.).
Activity 3
Activity name: Sing Jingle Bells
Age group: 5
Objective(s): Students will utilize social and emotional skills to sing along with other
students in the class. Students will build relationships with other students and express
their feelings through the song of Jingle Bells (Child Care Training Grant, 2001). The
children will be able to recognize the song of Jingle Bells and be able to sing it at home
with family as well during the holidays.
Developmental domain addressed:
Social-emotional
This activity focuses on this chosen domain because the children are learning to
express their feelings through the song. At times there voice will be happy and high
pitch other it I will be happy and low pitch. But overall they will be happy when they sing
the song and engaged with other students. The students will work together as a team to
sing the song and build connections with the song and fellow students (Child Care
Training Grant, 2001).
Environmental arrangement:
Students will be seated on the circle rug of the classroom. The teacher will be seated in
her chair facing the students. Teacher will hand students the song lyrics printed on a
4
[Running Head: Christmas Tale]
piece of paper. The students will work together to hand out the lyrics page to each
student. The teacher will also have the song lyrics in her hands as well as a cd player
next to her.
List of materials:
26 copies of Jingle Bells printed on a sheet of paper
CD player
Christmas for Children CD track 1
Sequence of events (be very specific!):
1. Teacher will have students gather on the circle rug in the middle of the classroom
2. Teacher will hand out 25 copies of the song lyrics to the students
3. Students will work together to hand the rest of the lyrics to other students
4. Teacher will read the song to the class (this is to make sure students are comfortable
with the words)
5. Teacher will ask students about questions of the song before they get started
6. Students will answer
7. If questions teacher will answer if not teacher will begin the lesson
8. The class and teacher will start singing the chorus, then sing 1 st verse, sing chorus 2
times, sing 2nd verse, sing chorus 2 times. End of song.
9. Repeat step 8 two times
10. Teacher will turn on CD player and put on track 1 and students will sing the song
with the music
11. Teacher will repeat song a second time and students will sing the song with the
music one last time
12. Students laugh and cheer as a class
13. Teacher releases student back to their seats
Quick ideas for follow-up activities: Students can sing this in the school Christmas
parade. They could also sing this song at the annual Christmas concert for the entire
school. This song is an ultimate classic song for Christmas. They could eventually take
this song all the way up to high school where I know there is a Christmas concert for
choir. They could also teach this song to other students in the school and build on their
social and emotional skills with those students. This concert could have parents and
community members in the audience (TeachinMomma, 2006).
[Running Head: Christmas Tale]
White beard
Comes out on
Christmas Day
Eats Cookies
and drinks
milk
Reindeer
Sant
a
Mrs. Claus
Red Suit
North Pole
Presents
Sleigh
References
Rudolph
[Running Head: Christmas Tale]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014, March 27). Important Milestones:
Your Child at Five Years. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved August
9, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-5yr.html
Child Care Training Grant. (2011). Six Developmental Domains. Department of Children
and Family Services. Retrieved August 8, 2014, from
http://cms.lsuagcenter.net/mcms/relatedfiles/%7B029D0F60-C060-4012-9DDA41627C301471%7D/Regs-6-RS-Six-Domains.pdf
Hawley, W., Irvine, J. J., & Landa, M. (n.d.). Culture in the Classroom.Teaching
Tolerance. Retrieved August 9, 2014, from http://www.tolerance.org/culture-classroom
TeachinMomma. (2006). Christmas Concert Ideas - ProTeacher Community.Christmas
Concert Ideas - ProTeacher Community. Retrieved August 9, 2014, from
http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=26815
