Holiday goodies...

Some students enjoying a holiday treat. Have a great vacation and we'll see you on Wednesday, January 2nd!

Happy Holidays!

Today we had an emergency practice. It was an in classroom (lock down) drill and it went off with out a hitch. The class listened to directions and did everything calmly and quietly. We talked before about how we practice like this in case there was an emergency like a storm and Mr. Anton needed to make sure we were all in one place and safe.
Today's book was "'Twas the Night Before Christmas". This classic poem is great for vocabulary, imagery (words making pictures in your head as I say), and of course rhyme.
Below are some examples of the students' holiday art work.

Today we:

Read "The Night Tree", played in the gym and made play dough ornament. There was also some serious train track building. Team 3 is planning a cupcake festival for Dramatic Play tomorrow.

Conifer/Christmas week!

We had a great active play time in the gym. We used scooters, hippity hops and played frosty freeze tag. One student would tag with a blue bean bag to freeze and another would tag with a yellow bean bag to melt so we could run again. Team 5 learned this from Mrs. Johnson in P. E. and tomorrow they will teach team 3!

I brought in several different kinds of evergreen/ conifer branches for exploration at the science table. Today we read "The Christmas Tree Farm" and heard the song "C is for Conifers" by They Might be Giants (on our YouTube channel).

Literacy today...

Today Team 5 worked on the letter Hh. We look at the shape of the letter, how to write it and discovered there are many words that begin with h. We had extra time after literacy some the class took turns playing the "comparison game".  I made it harder by asking them to explain why or how the object they was chose was different.  Some were tricky but they had some good answers and reasoning.
Our book for today was "Mickey's Christmas Around the World" and it has a surprising wealth of information about the topic. It covers traditions in Sweden (see photo) France, India, Mexico and the U.S. The students were able to point out things that were the same or different from their own family holiday traditions.  They were quick to point out that wearing candles on your head is not safe.  We talked about how parents there to help and that one would need to be extremely careful on this special occasion.

Tues. & Wed. books.

Both have great pictures and are terrific for the pre-k age group. The students could relate to what was happening in the books to the holidays at their house.

Craft fair fun!

This week at the math center...

Today's book was:

We read the Winter Holiday section.

Team 5 sets up our shoe store!

We made a list of what you see and need at a shoe store. Boxes, shopping bags, cash register, all kinds of shoes, money and credit cards. Today we set up the store and began to establish the types of roles you could play in a shoe store scenario. Students sorted money, measured feet, paired up and ordered the shoes by size. They wrote price tags, receipts and checks. On Tuesday they will guide Team 3 in the Dramatic Play area.

Quiet time in the book area

This student was thrilled to discover that she could read "The Shoemaker and the Elves" by using the pictures and her knowledge of the story structure. At choice time she read the book to myself and then again to Mrs. Black. Great work!

We read "The Elves and the Shoemaker"  by Jim LaMarche (2003).  We have been reading different versions of this classic Brothers Grimm tale about giving and helping.  The class is getting more able to retell the story on their own.  We loved the pictures and the part where they put on their new clothes.

Essay on what professors can learn from preschool teachers

Here is a great article on the importance of early education.  It is a great illustration of the work the children do here each morning.  They learn so many new things so quickly!
Essay on what professors can learn from preschool teachers | Inside Higher Ed