Tis The Seaons!

Thursday December 04 2014

The holiday season is upon us, children know that it is a fun time and parents feel pressed to get the perfect gifts and attend all the fun holiday things that are offered around town and at the schools.  Often times we get so wrapped up in the commercial side of Christmas that we lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas.  In our class during the month of December we will focus our attention on the Birth of our Savior Jesus and how we in the church world celebrate this great event in our history.  We will also spend time learning about other things that happen through out the holiday season. 

We will be very busy during the month of December and we started our day off today with exploring, discovering and seeing all the different types of things we may see through out the holiday season.  There were new toys and new items out and about in our classroom.  The sensory table was filled with all types of fun Christmas Items and we were busy making ornaments for our class Christmas tree and making a special gift for you all to open closer to the holiday. 

We are working really hard at sharing, respecting each other’s space and listening to our friend’s words.  This class is designed for all these things and something we work on all year long.  Enjoy reading about our busy day and viewing the pictures of what we were up to in the first week of December. 

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.  

I have been very blessed with such great parents in this class Avery ‘s Grandmother Barbara loaned me the Fisher Price Nativity Scene so that I was able to have props to tell about the story of Jesus Birthday. Thank you so much Barbra for the loan it was a great help to tell the story of Jesus!

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.  

During our Free Choice play we were given the opportunity to play on the big magnet board with a nativity scene that was magnetic it was a popular place to be and was so neat to watch my friends move the different pieces around.   

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 Elf with red, green and yellow bingo daubers.  We made 5 red berries, 5 green lights and 5 yellow lights.  For his collar we did a pattern for red and green.

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 trace a triangle with a green marker and decorate it with some different Christmas stamps.  We used an ornament and put 5 ornaments on the tree, on our page as well as 5 candy canes.  We also were working on learning different Christmas words we may hear through out the month of December.

WE also worked on a special present that will becoming home the last week before Christmas break.

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 ornament that will help decorate our classroom. 

Music and Movement: 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 Jumping and Counting, doing the Silly Dance Contest,

Outside Time:  We did not go out side due to the dreary weather.  So we headed to the commons for some free play with our friends from the other classroom. 

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

We had fun listening to a variety of Christmas Music Today!  We will listen to Christmas music all month long.  This group does really well playing with toys as you will see from the pictures the room pretty much looks like the scene out of Toy Story Three when the toys are at Sunny Side School and the  room has toys all over the place!  My philosophy is if the classroom is clean and everything is in its place during the school day then children of this age are not learning and exploring enough.  Enjoy the pics! 

. Nicholas started by the door and ended up on his horse by the housekeeping area. The horse was a big hit today and we learned a lot about taking turns and sharing.

. Sophia loves dogs and cats and she found a book to "read"about a dog taking a bath

. Working together to build the manger scene on the magnetic board.

.The orange chair is still being loved as you can see by the kiddos playing on it and looking at books 

. Emma decorating one of the three trees we have in our classroom  This one is made out of felt. 

. Sarah getting her turn on the horse 

. After her ride on the horse she helped to decorate the tree. 

. Landry was busy running cars through the house! 

. Emma found her a baby doll to take care of at school 

. Joesph was busy in the school bus making phone calls 

. Julija and Nicholas working together to decorate the tree. 

. Looking Fabulous

. A little rearrangement by Sophia 

. Sarah recreating Jesus Birth

.My friends love to be read to and Mrs. Linneman read them a few books this morning.  Ten in the Den and Clifford's Dad were on deck today

. Morning Meeting

. Our borrowed Nativity Set to help tell the story of Jesus Birth 

. Our advent board we will fill it up each day of class to prepare for this important day! 

. Number of the Month and Shape of the Month 

. Christmas pattern 

.We read this book Tuesday but decided to re read it again to allow the children to touch and feel the the different parts of the angels

Transition Time

Decorating another Christmas Tree in our room  

. Commons Time

. Center Time

We came back from the commons and got ready to play, paint and have more fun.  We started by painting a green ornament to help decorate our classroom and hallways. 

. Special Christmas Project 

. Decorating A Christmas Elf!

. More Exploring and Playing

. Decorating the tree again look at the team work happening! 

. Hi Mom and Dad, I am having a great time! 

. Puzzle time this is the calm before the storm picture further down! 

. Reese learning her numbers, colors and shapes! 

. More Decorating 

. Learning more about the Manger Scene 

Water Color of a Nativity Scenes 

. Puzzle mania getting ready to explode 

. Creating on the wipe off board 

. Cooking in the Kitchen 

. And we have Puzzle Mania taking place!  But they did a great job getting it all cleaned up and put away when the clean up song came on. 

. Making a Christmas Ornament 

. Tracing  A Green Triangle 

. Music and Movement

This group loves to dance so we danced, jumped, counted and got down right silly during the Silly Dance Contest!

. Time for Lunch

. We ended our time together reading (Mrs. Horn Singing) About these silly dogs and the 12 days of Christmas.  

WHEW!! WE had and awesome, fun filled, exploring, learning day in our room.  We had fun playing with our friends learning new songs and just well having FUN!  Have a wonderful weekend and look forward to seeing you all next week!