Happy Holidays!

This week we talked about how people celebrate Christmas (give presents, decorate Christmas trees, hang lights and wreaths). We read The Grinch and discussed how at the beginning of the story The Grinch was mean and angry and hated Christmas, but at the end he was happy and nice and liked Christmas. We also watched The Grinch and did very well with sitting quietly (all 3 Pre-K classes sat together and watched the movie). 

Each morning at circle time 4 children were picked to unwrap a "gift" for our magnetic Christmas tree. They either unwrapped a letter or number- this was our way of reviewing the letters and sounds we have learned so far (Aa, Bb, Cc, Ff, Hh, Ll, Pp, Ss, Tt, Xx).

At the playdough center we had peppermint scented playdough, and we made Christmas crafts at the art center. Plenty of holiday themed books were on display in our classroom library.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Albany donated a present to each Pre-K child in our classroom, those gifts went home today. 

Other:

Blankets went home today to be washed, if your child was absent I will send their blanket home in January to be washed.

When we go back to school we will be talking about our new season, winter. We will then move onto Martin Luther King Jr. (talking about being fair, treating others the way we want to be treated), hibernation, and Arctic animals. We will be talking about different types of animals (ocean, zoo/jungle, farm, pets) probably through February.

Reminders:

1. After 9:15 your child is marked Tardy- this is tracked for attendance!

2. If your child is absent you need to send a note explaining their absence.

3. If your child uses their extra clothes please send a replacement item/set as soon as possible.

Happy Holidays everyone! We will be back in school on Wednesday, January 2nd.

H is for holidays! Hanukkah and Kwanzaa

This week we talked about how people celebrate holidays this time of year. We also discussed how not everyone celebrates the same holidays. This week we focused on Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. We learned that people who celebrate Hanukkah use a menorah that has 8 candles and one tall one in the middle that lights the other ones and each day one candle gets lit- when all 8 candles are lit Hanukkah is over. People who celebrate Hanukkah give gifts, eat potatoe pancakes (latkes), and play the dreidel game, which we also played! We then talked about how people celebrate Kwanzaa- they get together with family, have a feast, dress up, give gifts, light candles- the kinara has 7 candles- 3 red, 1 black, 3 green. We used fine motor skills to weave mats using the Kwanzaa colors (black, red, green).  Next week we will be doing Christmas activities and crafts.

Making Menorahs 

(the kids had to put the "candles" in number order)

Latke Math

Playing the Dreidel Game

Weaving Kwanzaa Mats

Gingerbread Week!

This past week we read 5 different versions of the Gingerbread Man. We read The Gingerbread Boy, The Gingerbread Girl, The Gingerbread Baby, The Gingerbread Cowboy, and The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School. We discussed how the characters in each story were different, and how some of the endings were different. The kids really enjoyed reading these stories and discussing them.

We incorporated the gingerbread theme into our centers and daily activities. The dramatic play center became a bakery where the kids dressed up in aprons and chef hats and pretended to bake donuts, cupcakes and cakes, and gingerbread men of course. The playdough center had gingerbread scented playdough, cookie cutters and rolling pins. We decorated gingerbread men at the art center and made cinnamon and applesauce gingerbread man ornaments. The math center had a gingerbread man counting activity, and the listening center had The Gingerbread Boy available for the students to hear multiple times.

On Friday we read The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School . This story was about a class who made their own gingerbread man and left him to cool while they went to a special. The Gingerbread Man tried to find his class and therefore was running around the school. The kids really enjoyed this story and I actually hid a gingerbread man cut-out throughout our classroom and school during the day. Each child had a turn to find him and we are going to make a class book showing where we caught The Gingerbread Man. We also made our own gingerbread cookies.

It was a very busy week, I hope you enjoy all of the pictures!

Dramatic Play Center- Sweet Treats Bakery

Playdough Center- Gingerbread Playdough

Art Center- Making Gingerbread Ornaments

Using a recipe to make Gingerbread Cookies

Cookies are cut and almost ready to bake

 Taste test time! 

Thumbs up or thumbs down.

Gingerbread Man Loose in Our School!

*This coming week we will be talking about holidays that people celebrate. We will be doing letter Hh for holiday and Hanukkah. We will also talk about how people celebrate Kwanzaa and Christmas. We will only be talking about how people celebrate holidays- religious beliefs will not be discussed.