December Tuesday Fun!

Tuesday, December 02, 2014

Merry Christmas!    We have entered the month of December we have a very busy month ahead of us filled with learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus and how he was born, to learning about all the fun things that go along with celebrating Jesus birthday!  We will be busy decorating our classroom and the hallways so be sure to check out what all we have been up to during the month of December.  Today we started our studies on the color green, the number 5, the shape of a triangle, learning about the Angel Gabriel and learning about new Christmas words. 

The classroom has been decorated and we discovered new toys through out the classroom.  We had fun playing with new toys and seeing our friends that we may have not seen last week.  We are working really hard at following directions and listening to what a teacher tells us to do.  We are comfortable in our classroom, which tends to make us forget some of the rules and boundaries, so we are working on using our walking feet and keeping our hands to ourselves.  This is completely typical for this age group at this environment is the place for us to work on these things.   

I hope you enjoy reading about our day and enjoy looking at all the pictures of what we did. 

Jesus Time: Today we began learning about the Christmas Story…. Here is an overview of what we learned about….

 Luke 1:26-38

Not long after his visit to Zachariah, the angel Gabriel went to see a young woman named Mary. She was a cousin to Elizabeth, Zachariah’s wife.  Mary lived in Nazareth and was engaged to marry Joseph, the carpenter.  Don’t be afraid, Mary the angel said.  God is pleased with you. You will have a baby and will name him Jesus.  He will be called the song of God.  This was a big surprise to Mary. 

Matthew 1:18-23

When Joseph heard the news that Mary was going to have a baby, he didn’t’ know what to think.  He wasn’t married to her yet.  God loved Joseph and wanted him to understand that the baby was from God and everything’s was going to be all right.  So God sent an n angel to talk to Joseph in a dream.  This angel told Joseph, Name the baby Jesus.  He will save people form their sins.  When Joseph heard God’s plan, he married Mary.

During our center time we water colored a picture of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.  We continued to talk about how the angel Gabriel came to tell Mary she was going to have a baby and his name would be Jesus.   

Number:  We started learning about the number 5 today.  During Morning Meeting we were introduced to what the number 5 looks like and then we practiced counting to 5. We counted 5 fingers, rubbed our bellies 5 times, stomped our feet 5 times and jumped up and down five times.  We then counted 5 red Christmas Stockings. 

During center time we decorated a Christmas tree with red, green and yellow bingo daubers.  We made 5 red ornaments, 5 green ornaments and 5 yellow ornaments.  We also decorated 5 Christmas lights matching the bingo dauber to the correct color and number.    

Shape:  Our study of the shape of a Triangle began today as well.  We talked about how a triangle has 3 sides and how a lot of times you can make a Christmas tree out of triangles. 

Center time allowed us the opportunity to use a green bingo dauber to decorate the outline of a triangle to make it look like a Christmas tree.  We are at this time becoming familiar with what a triangle looks like and how it has three sides.  

Color:  Green was introduced during our Morning Meeting and we filled up our green board with different objects that are green. 

Center time brought us to painting a Christmas tree green that will help decorate our classroom. 

Music and Movement:  We did not go outside today due to the cold weather, but we did have the opportunity to play in the commons area with our other friends in the PDO classes.  We had fun running, jumping, playing with hula-hoops and balls.  After our time in the commons we took a walk around the school.  We also had fun singing our ABC’s, twinkle Little Star.  We were introduced to Away in the Manager, which we will be singing on December 13 at the 5:00 church service.  We had fun clapping our hands, doing the Silly Dance Contest, Washing in the Wash Machine and singing the Wheels on the Bus!  

Patterning:  We were introduced to a new pattern today of candy cane and Ornaments.  We had fun saying the words and counting to 10!  More new Christmas Vocabulary words!    

Science and Sensory:  The sensory table was filled with all different types of things we may see at Christmas time.  It will be opened each day for the children, to touch, look and feel what we may see at Christmas.  Ask them what they saw in the table.  More new Christmas Vocabulary words to learn….

During center time we had fun making an ornament with our initial on it to hang on our classroom Christmas tree.  We had to tell Mrs. Horn the first letter in our name and then we used glue to trace that letter and then we picked what color glitter we wanted to use and then sprinkled the glitter on our initial.  Be sure to check our Christmas tree out Daily to see what kind of ornaments will be on it!

Enjoy the pictures from our day!

Free Choice Play

Today we began listening to a variety of Christmas Music during our Free Choice Play.  We had lots of fun exploring all the different things we see at Christmas time and checking out all the new toys we have in our classroom.

.Carson checking out all the different things in the sensory table

.Emma working her fingers playing with new green play dough. 

.The bus is still a big hit.  

.Jack enjoying sometime in the orange chair with the Sheriff from Cars

.Budding artist hard at work at the dry erase board. 

.New puzzles to figure out and problem solve 

.Susanna and Evan made some short and tall ladders with the linking blocks. 

.Morning Meeting 

.We are all ready to start our Morning Meeting

.We have a new month DECEMBER. 

.Mr. Weather Frog was ready for the bitter cold

.Our new number the number 5, the shape of a triangle and our 5 Stockings. 

.Today we started our advent calender we will add a part to our calendar each day we are at school to help us get ready for the Jesus Birthday.  

.My friends that sit quietly and listen will get to help put the stickers on our advent board each day.  

.Listening to the story of Gabriel the angel coming and talking to Mary. 

.Jack putting a star in the sky to help us get ready for the coming of Jesus. 

.Avery put a cow near the manger where Jesus will be born. 

.Our new pattern Ornament, Candy Cane.  Two hard words that we are working on saying. 

.We read this book about the angle that goes on the top of the tree.  We talked about how some families have an angel on their tree and some have a star.  

Transition Time 

Mr. Turkey is gone and was replace with a Christmas Tree .  Today we had to decorate our tree with either a Candy Cane or an ornament.  

.Our Tree is looking pretty good! 

.Our Green Board for December.  

Snack Time! 

Our class has grown which means we have had to split into two tables for Snack. Today we sat all the girls together at one table and all the boys at another. 

Independent Reading

Today we looked at books we had lots of new books to look at that we were able to practice "reading" This a great way for children to work on their pre-reading skills.  By holding the book the correct way, turning the pages the correct way and how to care for a book.  

.Heading to the Commons

As we got ready to walk to the commons we spotted some Nativity Scenes on our way!  We found one right outside our door on the shelf in the cut out in the wall. 

.We also spotted on in our lobby of our building.  SHHHHHH…Baby Jesus is sleeping! 

.We arrived to the commons and had a lot of fun playing 

.After our time in the commons we went for a walk around the school.  The following pictures are what the children pointed out to me along our walk. 

.A Christmas Wreath

.A cornucopia 

.A pumpkin 

.Baby Jesus being born 

.Check us out standing on the wall like big kids in the big school!

.Center Time

Painting a Green Christmas Tree 

.Making a Christmas Ornament

.Outlining the shape of a Triangle

.Water coloring a Nativity Scene

.Counting to 5

Decorating a Christmas Tree with 5 red ornaments, 5 green ornaments and 5 yellow ornaments 

.Color Matching and Counting

We had 5 Christmas Lights and they were labeled 1-2-3-4-5 and we had to match the color with a bingo dauber to make a pretty light display. 

.Exploring the Classroom 

.Reese and Emma worked together to finish this puzzle 

.Peek A Boo Mrs. Horn! 

.Susanna building a train track 

.Emma creating and drawing on the chalkboard 

.Evan found a French Horn in the Christmas Table! 

.Avery completing a 3-D Puzzle 

.Evan playing with the dollhouse and Julija playing with the cars. 

.Reese and Emma drawing on the easel together. 

.Jack and Landry working together to build a train track 

.Another master piece by Sophia on the wipe off board 

.Avery and Susanna were just giggling away in the school bus 

.Jack and Landry were busy cooking it up in the kitchen 

.Emma taking care of her baby 

Music and Movement 

.We read this book about Baby Jesus being born 

.Listening to the directions 

Transition Time

getting ready for lunch we had to find our ornament and take it off the tree. 

.Today we drew a picture of Christmas Tree and decorated with different colored ornaments in groups of 5 

.We read this silly Book about Duck and Goose getting ready for Christmas and decorating a tree. 

Independent Reading

Before we went home today and after lunch we had a little more time so we sat and looked at books some more 

.We had a great day and a busy day today.  Have a wonderful evening and look forward to seeing you all later this week !