Tuesday December 08, 2015

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.  We were so engrossed with what all we were doing today that we lost track of time.  Our friends did a great job playing, sharing and working with one another.  

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.  

GREEN PLAY DOUGH

We are enjoying making different Christmas shapes with the green play dough.  We have enjoyed rolling it out and making "cookies."  Play Dough would be a great Christmas gift for your little ones at home, it helps foster their sensory skills as well as strengthen hand and finger muscles.  

BLOCK BUILDING

Today I had set blocks on the table for the students to work with.  It was interesting to see how much they enjoyed playing with them and building all different types of creations with them.  We were able to work on our fine motor skills, our color recognition, counting skills as well as our language as we had to communicate with our friends if we were building together.  

PUZZLES

We had fun working with different puzzles today as well.  Puzzles are another great Christmas Present for your little one it helps with problem solving and pre-math skills. 

IMAGINATIVE PLAY 

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. 

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.  

 MORE IMAGINATIVE PLAY

 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.  

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. 

MORNING MEETING 

HAPPY TUESDAY!!!

Today our calendar number was the number 8 and we talked about the 3 Wise man who came and brought baby Jesus three gifts after he was born.  

OH Mr. Weather Frog it was a little tricky today dressing him living in the STL can be a little tricky from time to time.  

Our studies for the month of December. 

Our green Color board ask your child if they can name on the different pictures on our board.  This is a great way to reinforce the color of the month and increase our vocabulary and the world around us.  

Letter of the week----The Letter N

This was the book we read this morning during morning meeting.  It helped us talk and learn more about the Christmas Holiday.  

Our new prayer for the month of December.  We are doing a really good learning this echo prayer.  

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.  

We did a wonderful job decorating our tree.  

Yummy Snacks--remember we need to bring something that easy for us to eat and our friends can eat on their own.  

Jesus Time

 Today we talked about the Christmas Story with pictures that we used on our board.  It is so neat to see  and hear my friends help and tell this spectacular story.  Ask your child if they can name some of the people in this picture.  

Transition Activity

Today we helped decorate the tree that we made last week.  We had painted large paper yellow, green, red and blue a few weeks ago that we turned into all different types of ornaments.  We did a great job putting the ornaments on there and we will put more on throughout the week.  

GETTING READY TO HEAD OUTSIDE

Look how great we are doing at standing in line!  

OUTSIDE PLAY

So happy we were able to take advantage of this beautiful weather we are having!  Please remember to dress your child in appropriate clothing for us to go outside.  All students must have a coat to wear outside and appropriate footwear.  

CIRCLE TIME

Today we read this story about a lovable and cuddly bear and his different emotions.  

Our Flannel board story about 5 Yummy Ginger Bread Cookies 

Music and Movement 

We did lots of Music and Movement today.  We did the Hokey Pokey, Five Days Old, Shake Your Body Down,  Jumping and Counting, The silly Dance Contest and Jump Turn Around.   

SPECIAL VISITOR

Today Mrs. Haun, Zion's Early Childhood Director came in and told the Christmas Story.  I am so proud of how great all my little friends listened and participated in her Bible Story.  She did the Christmas Story like it will be done next week in our Christmas Service on Thursday Morning. 

Helping Mrs. Haun out holding the special star that the three wise men followed to find Baby Jesus in the manger.  

Ringing our Jingle Bells!  

CENTER TIME

PAINTING A STOCKING

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

PUZZLES

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.  

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.  

Julija and Carson were very excited to show me their finished nativity scenes!

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.  

Another fabulous day we had here in our room.  We finished our day off with our goodbye song and washed our hands and faces off and got ready to head home or for rest time.  It was a pure joy to have in my little friend in our class today and I left with a full heart knowing how wonderful each and everyone of my little friends are and what a great job they are all doing in the classroom!  Have a wonderful and blessed evening.