CHRISTMAS PARTY!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We had such a great Christmas party today!

We did cottonball painting, played Santa Says and Freeze Dancing, had a present exchange, read a Christmas story, sang LOTS of Christmas songs and . . . had a special visit from the big man himself!!!

A special thanks to all of you for sending the gifts and especially to Santa and his helper :). You made the day!!

COTTONBALL PAINTING AND SANTA SAYS:

CRAZY CHRISTMAS FREEZE DANCING!

GIFT EXCHANGE:

READING OUR NEW CHRISTMAS BOOKS TOGETHER: (They all felt so big turning the pages by themselves and holding thier own books. Help them learn reading independence at home by letting them figure out when it is time to turn the page.) Also! After everyone left, I found one more book--If you are missing one, let me know!!

SURPRISE!! (A few kids did not want to sit on Santa's lap, so I don't have any pics of them).

Hanukah Party

Happy Haunkah!

We had so much fun learning about Hanukah on Tuesday.

Sadly, I did not bring my camera (grrr!).

We split into 3 groups. One group read a story about Haunkah with Miss Monique, another group got to light the Menorah and learn the Dreidel song with Miss Jodi, and the last group got to acutally play the dridel game with me. You kids should have a dreidel, some stones, and an instruction sheet in their backpacks. :).

The rules of Dreidel:

נ (Nun), ג (Gimel), ה (Hei), ש (Shin)

The code (based on a Yiddish version of the game) is as follows:
Nun - nisht - "nothing" - nothing happens and the next player spins
Gimel - gants - "all" - the player takes the entire pot
Hey - halb - "half" - the player takes half of the pot, rounding up if there is an odd number
Shin - shtel ayn - "put in" - the player puts one marker in the pot

If your kids are anything like mine, you've probably been hearing some form of the

Dreidel song at your house over and over and over . . . I'll add the lyrics just in case:

I Have a Little Dreidel

Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel

I made it out of clay

And when it's dry and ready

Then dreidel I shall play!

It has a lovely body

With legs so short and thin

And when my dreidel's tired

It drops and then I win!

(Chorus)

My dreidel's always playful

It loves to dance and spin

A happy game of dreidel

Come play now, let's begin!

(Chorus)

Your children also got to help make Latkas (fried potatos with onion). We dipped them in applesauce or sour cream. Yum!

Here's a recipe:

Latkas
3/4 cup bread crumbs (dry)
2 1/2 cups potatoes (grated, and squeezed dry)
1 small onion (grated)
1 egg (beaten)

1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sage
1 tsp. baking powder
dash of pepper
Instructions: Mix all ingredients until well blended. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls onto hot, greased skillet. Spread the batter and brown pancakes on both sides. Serve hot

Lots of Thanks to Miss Jodi for offering to come teach us about Haunkah--especially for coming 2 different days!! (2day and 3day classes).

Gingerbread Day!

We had so much fun yesterday making gingerbread houses :). Thank you so much for sending all the candy! As you can see in the pictures we had plenty (and then some). This was a great activity for the kids to use their imagination and develop small motor skills.

Other things we learned today:

• Squares: This one is a hard concept, even for some of our 4 year olds. The difference between a square and rectangle can be a little confusing. We went on a square hunt through the classroom. We spent a lot of time discussing which items were really squares and which were actually rectangles. Talk this over with your child, and emphasize the short-long-short-long concept of a rectangle as compared to a square, which has four sides of the same length :).
• Number 8: Also difficult! The kids were troopers for this one :). This is by far the hardest number a preschooler will learn to write. We practiced writing them together on the white board before I passed out their tracing pages. You can work on this at home as well. I told them to do a "loopdee-doopdee-woo." (We encourage writing the figure 8 style number instead of one circle on top of another).
• Up on the Housetop: We learned the first verse of this fun song today. We talked all about the different names that we can call Santa Clause (St. Nick, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, etc). Other words we learned about were 'pause,' 'joys,' and 'chimney.' The kids learned actions as well, which turned out so cute. Ask your child to help you sing it at home so you can get a peek of what they learned.
  

REMINDER:
Our Christmas gift exchange is on Thursday the 18th. Remember to send a $5 present for your child to EXCHANGE WITH SOMEONE! This can be rough for some of the little ones, so if you could prep them at home by emphasizing that the gift they're bringing will go home with someone else, it will help them be prepared to see the beloved toy go to a friend :). Don't forget to tell them that they will get a DIFFERENT new surprise present to bring home. They will also be getting a special surprise from Miss Penny this day.

Christmas ornaments and presents

We've been having so much fun preparing the kids' presents for their parents! I haven't taken any pictures for a few days so that we won't spoil the surprise (but mostly because I my camera has been dead :)). I've already had several parents tell me that they've been taunted about their presents at home.





Here's a quick review of some of the things we've learned:

1. Letter K--ask about Kicky Kangaroo
2. Number 7
3. "The Night Before Christmas" and lots of practice with rhyming.
4. "How Santa Got His Job" book by Stephen Krensky was a BIG HIT!
5. More Christmas songs: "Jingle Bells," "Christmas is Coming," and "We Wish you a Merry Christmas."
6. We did NOT get to squares. We'll make that one up on Thursday.
7. We made a really fun Santa Clause craft using shapes. I'll take a picture to post online, but I'll be keeping them to add to the graduation scrap books. Don't worry, though! More christmas crafts are coming :).
8. Tomorrow is our Gingerbread House day. Remember to send a bag of candy.
9. Our Hanukah party is on Tuesday the 16th. We're really excited to have Jodi Feldman coming to teach us all about it.
10. Our Christmas gift exchange is on Thursday the 18th. Remember to send a $5 present for your child to EXCHANGE WITH SOMEONE! This can be rough for some of the little ones, so if you could prep them at home by emphasizing that the gift they're bringing will go home with someone else, it will help them be prepared to see the beloved toy go to a friend :). Don't forget to tell them that they will get a DIFFERENT new surprise present to bring home. They will also be getting a special surprise from Miss Penny this day.

I just wanted to let you know that we're still here! And I'm sorry I haven't been updating very well lately. December is such a crazy month, not only for preschool, but also for home!

Christmas Starts!

We had a lot of fun today! Here are some of the things we did:

• Spanish Christmas songs: I was surprised how quickly the kids picked these up! Here are the words and pronounciations to help you make sense of what they've probably been singing all day :).

To the tune of "Farmer in the dell"

Feliz Navidad (fey-lees nah-vee-dahd),

Feliz Navidad.

Merry Christmas everyone,

Feliz Navidad.

To the tune of "Jingle Bells"

Cascabella, cascabellas (kah-skah bay-lahs) [Jingle Bells]

tra la la la la

Que alegria (kay alay-gree-uh) [what fun]

todo el dia (tow doe el dee-uh) [all day long]

Que felicidad (kay fay-lees-ee-dahd) [what joy]

AYE! (Eye!)

• Christmas ornaments: We made gingerbread ornaments for our class tree, which we will decorate next time. They smelled so delicious! Here's the recipe, for anyone who's interested:

Fragrant Ornaments
3/4 cup ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon ground allspice

2 Tablespoon. ground cloves

1 Tablespoon. ground nutmeg

Mix above 4 ingredients. Stir in one cup of applesauce. Roll out 1/4" thick cut with cookie cutter. Poke hole with big needle. Let dry 4 to 5 days (on wire rack works well) or bake at 300 degrees for 30-45 minutes. When completely dry, thread ribbon through.

• Number 6: We had a little mix-up and learned about the letter J on the day we were supposed to do number 6, so today we caught ourselves up! (Sign language for 6 is to hold pinkie and thumb down--like you would to do the number 3).

• Birdfeeders: Finally, we were able to make our birdfeeders! We talked about why we feed birds in the winter as well. For your birdfeeders: remove the tape and push the triangle pieces in until they bend a little bit.

Thanksgiving Feast

Cornucopia treats

Our Delicious feast. Notice the placemats!

Thanksgiving Feast

First of all, THANK YOU all so much for sending in your part for our feast! Yum!

We started our day with a Thanksgiving Story, which we followed with a game. Ask your kids about cornucopias and blessings :). We finished our pilgrim craft and spent the rest of the day getting ready for our feast.

The kids set their own places, which they hopefully offered to do for you at home! (I'd like to know how many of them actually did if you have time to comment :)).

We talked about manners as well, today. Each child got to choose whether to say "Yes, please" or "No, thank you" for each of the foods they were offered. It took a little getting-used-to, but I think they've got it down.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we'll see you next Tuesday! Get ready for lots of Christmas posts :).

Happy "Birthday" Avery!

Happy Birthday Leader Day, Avery!!

(Did you ever start doing something and then realize that you wish you never had? That's how I feel about these birthday pictures with teacher! I wish I could stop, but the kids get SO excited for their turn. Sigh.)

Thanks for the yummy Pilgrim and Native Americans treats! We had pilgrim hat cookies and indian corn rice crispie treats. "This isn't even real corn. It tastes way gooder." --just one of the rave reviews.

We had a fun day learning about Native Americans and Pilgrims. We did a lot of pretending today! "What would it be like if someone told you that you had to go to their church and you couldn't go to yours?" (you should have seen the outrage on their little faces!!) or "What would it feel like to be on a big boat on the water?" (lots of swaying). We talked all about what it would be like to ride on a ship for 2 months without a fridge or a store. We also learned about life for the pilgrims when they arrived. We had fun talking about Native Americans in a teepee and how they introduced corn and other veggies to the Pilgrims. The craft we made is a finger puppet, but can also double as a place holder for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Also today:

Letter J. Ask about Jill and Jasper the Jaguar.

Charades: The kids loved this. They were all so supportive of each other when it was their turn. I wish adults could always be like that! This was a great activity to build problem-solving skills.

"Technical Difficulties"

I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating lately! I'd like to say that it was due to tecnhnical difficulties on the part of my internet, but really it is my fault. After a very frantic week and a half, I believe I'll be able to get back on schedule. Please excuse my tardiness :).

Starting in January, I will not be posting after each class. Look for something more like twice a month. This wonderful "part time" job has morphed into an "overtime" job and I'd rather focus my time and energy on preparation and your children while still retaining my sanity:).

Okay, here's what we've missed:

Tuesday the 11th:
Brown Day--We had lots of fun finding brown things in our clasroom, reading books about brown things, and cooking brownies, of course! Each child got a turn to add something to the pan and help stir. They were very proud of themselves. The only problem we had was trying to get anything done while they cooked because they smelled so very delicious!!
During story time, we had each child "read" a page of Brown Bear, Brown Bear. The kids were so excited that they were "reading" themselves. Any book that a child can memorize to "read" themselves is a great confidence booster and prepares children for early reading.

Thursday the 13th:
Recycling, Triangles and Number 5

We had lots of fun learning about triangles and recycling on this day! I had a bunch of different objects to be sorted in to recyclable or unrecyclable piles (which was a great way to develop pre-math skills). Each child got a turn to pick something out of the bag and then we discussed it.


After we did that, we talked about triangles. We learned a fun song about this shape, but it will take a few reviews for the kids to be able to sing it alone. We took turns looking for the recycling (triangle) symbol on a number of plastic items in the classroom. The kids were so exicted to find them on THEIR VERY OWN PENCIL BOXES! They felt like celebrities :). Each child got to color their own name tag and personalize it with their name and picture to show that they can recycle. They felt empowered to know that they could perform an "adult" task themselves. Look forward to some pestering about recycling in your own home ;).








Finally, we learned about the number 5. We used dice to associate the idea of the number 5 with the physical dots on the dice. Each child got a chance to roll 5 dice, and we took a tally of how many times someone rolled a 5. The kids laughed the whole time, and were super excited every time they counted 5 dots :). What a fun day!




Oh, we also did a flannel-board version of "There was an old woman who swallowed a fly" this day. The kids ate it up and it was a good intro to our recycling theme.

ALBERTSON'S FIELD TRIP

We had a good time learning about what is available at a grocery store, and how to shop for healthy foods. Talk with your kids about "Always foods" and "Sometimes foods."