Thursday January 08, 2015
The first week of the second
semester is under our belts! Everyone
seemed to have an enjoyable time off and it is exciting for my friends to run
up to me through out the day and tell me what they got for Christmas! I know it
has been hard to get up this week and to readjust my time clock to school
time! I am sure the same has been for
your little ones and I am sure by Friday night some of your kiddos are going to
be ready to crash!
Mrs. Wegener returned today
to take Mrs. Linneman’s place. Mrs.
Linneman is doing well she had her first week at the school she will be doing
her practicum and student teaching at and so far things seem to be going
well. Mrs. Wegener has jumped right in
and my friends have welcomed her with open arms and are excited to have someone
new to talk to and play with. Many of
them today did ask where Mrs. Linneman was at and when she would be back. We will send her a card in the next week or
two so they can say hi to her. It has
been an easy transition and that has made for a very pleasant return to school.
Today we became re
acquainted with the classroom, rules, and routines and of course our
friends. With the start of a new month
we had all new things to checkout, learn and explore in the classroom. The sensory table has been replaced from
Christmas things to a table full of rice.
New toys were found throughout the room to play with as well as we found
some big Duplo blocks to build with and new puzzles to try and books to
read. We also had white play dough to
try our hand at rolling out and making star designs.
We started learning about
the number 6, the shape of star, the color white and a pattern of red and blue
mittens. We will spend most of January
reviewing our letters and catching up on our letter books. We started a new Bible story learning about
the bright star, the wise men and the three gifts they brought Baby Jesus. Please read below about our day and enjoy
the pictures.
Jesus Time: Today we learned about the wise men, the bright star
and the gifts that were brought to Jesus.
Below is the story that was told to my friends….
Gifts for
Baby Jesus
Matthew
2:1-12
Soon many of
the people who came to register in Bethlehem went home. Mary and Joseph
moved into a house. One day they had visitors who came from far away in
the east. These visitors were wise men. They had followed a bright
start to find little Jesus. They bowed down and worshiped God's only Son and
gave Him expensive presents of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
During our center time we had the opportunity to use watercolors
and paint a picture of the three Wise men and baby Jesus. It was neat to here my friends talk about
baby Jesus getting presents and how they were different than the presents that
they get at their birthday.
Number: Today we were introduced again to the number 6. We practiced counting six fingers. In which we discovered we now have to use
both hands to count to six! We practiced
clapping our hands 6 times, nodding our heads 6 times, stomping our feet six
times, jumping up and down six times and rubbing our tummies six times. We also counted six snowmen.
Shape: The shape of the star is what we will be learning
about during the month of January.
Today during centers we cut out strips of white paper and glued
them onto the shape of a star. They are
hanging in our hallway so please be sure to stop and look at the great job our
students did!
Color: We will be studying
about the color White during January.
During Morning Meeting we identified objects that could be white and put
them on our color board.
Our center time was focused on making a snow globe with a white
snowman inside. Be sure to check these
snow globes out in our hallway on the bookshelf.
Music and Movement: We had fun singing Jesus Loves Me, Twinkle
Little Star, Jumping and Counting, Jumping and Turning Around. We also sang the Wheels on the Bus, Our
ABC’s, and Five Little Ducks and did Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.
Outside Time: With the
frigid temperatures upon us, we will probably not be going outside very much in
the next two months. If we hit a warm
day we will go out. For now we are
having fun playing in the commons with our other friends from the PDO Classes.
Patterning: We started a
new pattern today of Red mittens and Blue Mittens.
Science and Sensory: The
sensory table was filled with a lot of brown rice. We had fun feeling the rice,
picking up the rice, dumping and pouring the rice from scoops to buckets and
back into the table. It was so much fun
to watch the children feel and explore in this area today. We also talked about the cold weather and
when we hear snow fall to the ground we decided it would be soft and not
loud.
Pre-Writing Skills: We will
really start to work on this area a little more this semester.
Today during center time we practiced drawing a straight line to
OLAF everyone’s favorite snowman. Some
of my friends were able to complete this task without any help and some needed
a little assistance. Some of my friends who were here on Tuesday already
completed this center.
As a reminder many things will come home over the course of the
month but some things will not as this will be put in your child’s portfolio
that you will get at the end of the school year!
Enjoy the pictures from our day!
Free Choice Play
Today we continued to listen to music that comes from the Winter Collection of classical music. I have mentioned it before but I firmly believe that music really sets the tone in the classroom. It is not loud but loud enough for the students to hear it and I think that it helps calm them and also expose them to a wide variety of music.
New White Play dough.
Play dough is a great way for us to work on our finger and hand muscles. We work on rolling it out with a rolling pin and with our hands. We practice rolling it into a ball and pressing down on a cookie cutter to make an imprint of the shapes.
.Mrs. Wegner helped the students make all types of fun creations with them. They really got into rolling the play dough into balls.
.Carson had a little help with making a tunnel for his motorcycle to go over and under with.
Sensory Table
The sensory table has been filled with rice. This is a great way for the students to pour and scoop into bowls and scoops. We are working on a variety of things when in the sensory table, we are able to feel, touch, smell, pour and dump the rice. We are working on our hand eye coordination as well as our fine motor skills as we are pouring from one container to the next. We also are working on our listening and following directions skills.
Magnetic Board
This month the magnetic board has letters to the alphabet on it. This is a great way to allow the children to become familiar with the letters of the alphabet. 
Playing with the new toys the cash register and race tracks have been hot items to play with this week.
Puzzles are always available to the students to do. On an average I will have one or two students working on a puzzle at free choice play and center time. I feel it is important for the students to have things accessible to them so they can explore and learn through out the day.
Art Easel
This is always available to my students. They have the opportunity to draw with chalk and markers on the dry erase side. This is a great way for students to work on their pre writing skills as well as work on holding a writing tool. We are also working on strengthening our arm muscles. We have some pretty creative artists in our class
Books are also always available to the students to look at and "read". Mrs. Wegner took time today during free choice play to read a book to Landry and a couple other friends.
Morning Meeting
Happy New Year from our Thursday Bunch
We read this book about Clifford when he was a puppy and how he made a snowman out in the snow that was just his size!
Transition and Snack Time
Today we had to put mittens on our snowman. Each of us had a different color mitten. When our name was called we listened to the sound of the first letter in our name and then heard our name. Each student was then asked to identify the color of mitten they had.
Music and Movement
We did a few songs before we headed to the Commons to play. Head Shoulder Knees and Toes is a song we have not done in quite some time.
Commons Times
Circle Time
After our time in the commons we came back and did circle time. We practiced singing our ABC's and reviewing our letter sounds.
We practiced our counting and color identification skills as I drew a snowman on the wipeoff board.
We read this story about a Snow Day and I all the fun things you can do on a snow day
. To conclude our circle time we played a mitten matching game. I gave each child a mitten and then I would hold up a mitten and they had to see if their mitten matched my mitten. When they made a match they were able to choose what they wanted to play with during center time
Center Time
We listened to the soundtrack of Frozen during center time today and it was so funny to see how well my friends knew all the words to the songs and what part of the movie the song was from.
Today we made snow globes using a clothespin and a pompom as our paintbrush. This made our snowman, we then used our finger tips to make the snowflakes and the end of paintbrush to to make the eyes, mouth and buttons. We had to use glue to glue on our hat and nose. This was a little different activity for us to do today and we all did a great job.
Prewriting Work
Today the students were given a blue marker and had to trace a straight line from the bottom of the paper and stop at our favorite snowman Olaf! This activity is helping the students become aware of how to hold a writing tool and how to have self control and to work in a smaller space when writing.
Cutting with Scissors
We had fun cutting with scissors today to decorate our stars. Some of our friends were able to cut the strip of paper unassisted, others still needed help and that is just fine we are all at different stages in the cutting process and each center is tailored to meet the individual needs of each student in the class.
Water Color Painting
Music and Movement
We had a lot of fun Jumping and Counting
Transition and Lunch Time
At the end of our last circle time of the day we listen for our names and when our name is called we need to find our mitten and take it off the board and give it to Mrs. Horn. This activity allows us to work on our listening skills as well as working on following directions. We are also incorporating letter, name and color recognition with this activity.
We had a great day and had fun welcoming Mrs. Wegner to our classroom and showing her what big kids we are. I am looking forward to seeing you all next week. Remember to take time to worship this weekend if you can we would love for you to join us at Zion if you do not have a home based church. We offer services on Saturday at 5:00 and Sunday at 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00. Blessings on a wonderful evening and remainder of the week stay warm!
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