Christmas Time is almost here!

It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas! 

We are in a really great groove in our classroom right now.  We have adjusted to our new set up in our classroom and how our center times are being done.  We are in the Christmas mode in our classroom, lots of time being spent learning about Baby Jesus' birth and learning the Christmas Story.   Our room is becoming a Christmas Wonderland and I am so proud of how everyone is working together to make our classroom beautiful for the Christmas Season.  Makes me sad that we will not be able to enjoy it longer than we will, so it might stay up after we come back from Christmas Break so we can enjoy all of our hard work and efforts.  Please be sure and look in the hallway for all the neat things we have been busy doing and in the classroom as well.  We have been very busy learning about the color green, the shape of a triangle, counting to the number 5, learning the Christmas Story and about the Holiday Season.   

A few reminders:

Next, Thursday is our last day of school and we will have a special Chapel Service in the church starting at 8:15.  Please be sure to arrive at school by 8:00 so we will have plenty of time to walk over to the church.  If your child does not attend on Thursdays, I strongly encourage you to join us for this special Chapel Service that Mrs. Haun, our Early Childhood Director will be leading.  It will be very informal as we hear the Christmas Story and sing a few Christmas songs.  

Christmas Break will start on Friday, December 18 and we will not return to school until, Tuesday, January 05, 2016.  Please remember that the campus will be closed during this time in observance of Christmas.  

Diapers…..I have lots of friends in desperate need of diapers for the next few weeks of school.  Mrs. Wegener is sending home notes in lunchboxes and backpacks if you are in need of some.  It would also not be a bad idea to check in with Mrs. Wegener this week to see how your pull-up and diaper supply for your child is.  I have some that need them for rest time so even if your child is potty trained during the day but wears a pull-up or diaper at nap time please check with Mrs. Wegener as well.  

Peanut Butter……A friendly reminder that we are A PEANUT FREE FACILITY.  NO PEANUT BUTTER CAN ENTER THE SCHOOL BUILDING.  Also, be sure your child's hands and faces are being washed before you enter the classroom in the morning.  I know it may be a pain but this is for the safety of our friends and teachers who are allergic to certain foods.  I appreciate your help in keeping our school safe.  

Enjoy viewing the pictures and reading about what we did today.  All questions and concerns may be directed to my email address at hhorn@zionharvester.org.  ENJOY!! 

FREE CHOICE/CENTERS

We continue to enjoy our selections of Christmas Music during this time of the day.  It has been a blessing to see how much these little friends of mine have grown in the few short months we have been together.  

Puzzles

Today we had three new puzzles that were given as a gift from the Taylor Family.  Thank you so much Taylor Family for the new puzzles in our room.  We had  a lot of fun doing them.  

Playing with Nativity Set 

MAGNET BOARD

Currently we are using our Magnet board to play out the Nativity Scene.  It is interesting to hear my friends tell the story to themselves or each other as they are placing them on our board.  

DECORATING THE CHRISTMAS TREE

This activity has been great for the students this month they are able to decorate the Christmas Tree however they wish and they are able to take them on and off and rearrange them to their liking. They are working on fine motor skills as well as color, shape and object identification. 

 

LETTER N

This week we are learning about the letter N, today in our alphabet book we used a brown bingo dauber to trace the outline of the uppercase letter N and decorate a birds Nest.  We also talked about different letter N words, new, neighbor, next, newt, Nightingale. 

CHRISTMAS LIGHT PATTERNS

Today we used red and green bingo daubers to make a pattern of red and green Christmas Lights.  We worked on matching the colors and figuring out what color will be next.  Patterning is really big in Early Childhood and something we expose our little friends to on a daily basis.  It is neat to see how many of our little friends are catching on to the concept of patterning. 

MARKERS ARE BACK!!

I made the bold decision to bring out the markers for our friends and they didn't skip a beat as they got right back to coloring, drawing and having lots of fun!   

FIVE GREEN TRIANGLES TO MAKE A CHRISTMAS TREE

I was not sure how well this center would turn out, but after I was done with each friend I was so pleased with how well it turned out.  First, each child had to help me count out 5 green triangles.  After we had them counted out we laid them on the table and the students picked a green triangle to make their very tall Christmas Tree.  We talked about how some of the triangles were bigger than others.  When we were done gluing on our triangles and the trunk we added a little sparkle to our fabulous looking trees.  All of the trees turned out great and are proudly being displayed in our hallway.  They are unique and different just like all of my beautiful friends.  We worked out recognizing the color green, the shape of a triangle, our fine motor skills of gluing on the triangles, spatial awareness as well as using our creativity.  

BINGO DAUBER CHRISTMAS TREE

Today we worked on our fine motor skill as we decorated a Christmas tree using a green bingo dauber, we had yellow for the top of our tree and brown for the trunk of our tree.  We use bingo daubers a lot in our classroom we were able to work on our fine motors skills and pre-writing skills.

 READING BOOKS 

Books always make a great Christmas Gift.  

PAINTING A STOCKING

Today we painted a stocking either red or green that we will hang on our fireplace that we painted last week.  

COUNTING BOOK

Today we worked with Mrs. Horn on a counting book.  On each page we had to count how many ornaments there were on the tree.  After we counted the number of ornaments, we place a star sticker on top of the ornament.  We were able to work on number recognition, as well as counting and fine motor as we placed our star stickers on the ornaments.  We also were able to work on pre-reading skills as we had to turn the page.  These books will becoming home this week leave out so your child can "read" their book to you and practice counting with you.  

We ended center time with a little cooking!  

MORNING MEETING 

HAPPY THURSDAY

Today our calendar card was a picture of Mary, Joesph and Baby Jesus

OH MR. WEATHER FROG we were really confused how to dress him today! 

Our Studies for the month of December 

We counted 5 stockings on our Fireplace today. 

Our pattern for the month of December 

Letter of the Week-------LETTER N

We read this booka bout the Christmas story that was done in all different colors.  

Our echo prayer for the month of December.  

Transition and Snack Time

We decorated a Christmas Tree with different color ornaments.  We worked on what color ornament we had to put on the tree today

Jesus Time 

Today the Christmas Story was told on the magnet board using the magnet pieces.  

Transition Activity

We placed more ornaments and presents on our tree to help get our room decorated and ready for Christmas.  

Lining up to Head outside

OUTSIDE PLAY 

We filled our bird feeders up today so our bird friends will have something to eat.  We let our other friends help us out from the other PDO classes. 

CIRCLE TIME

After we came inside and washed our hands we read a story about The Little Drummer Boy.  We also did our flannel board story of Five Yummy Gingerbread Cookies.  

CENTER TIME

DECORATING A CHRISTMAS TREE

Last week we painted a Christmas Tree green this week we used different colored paints and q-tips to add some "lights" and "ornaments"  to our green trees.  As we finished them and they dried we are hanging them on our wall in our classroom to create a winter scene.  This was a great way to work on our fine motor skills as we had to hold the q-tip in our hand and dip it in the paint.  

NATIVITY STICKERS

Today some of us were able to tell the story of Baby Jesus using stickers as we re-created the story on paper.  It was so neat to see the children place the stickers on their paper and be able to tell you who the characters were.  Ask your child when they bring home their Nativity Scene who the people are on their paper.  This center also allowed us to work on our fine motor skills as we had to peel the stickers off the sheet and place them on our paper.  As well as pre-reading skills as we were re-telling the story we have heard quite a few times already this Christmas Season.  

SPECIAL CHRISTMAS PROJECT --IN THE WORKS

Today we worked on a special Christmas present for our moms and dads that will becoming home next week.  

LOTS OF PLAY GOING ON! 

 Transition and Lunch Time

We took off our ornaments today when our name was called and then we washed hands for lunch after we prayed. 

Our final book of the day! 

Another wonderful  day we had here in our room.  We finished our day off with our goodbye song.  The past few weeks have been amazing for our class and I have been leaving the classroom with a heart full of Joy and accomplishment knowing how wonderful and loved each of my little friends are.   Have a wonderful and blessed evening