Winter Wonderland

We have been talking about winter since returning from Christmas break. We have talked about winter weather, clothing, activities people do in the winter, and how to make snowmen. We brought a snowball inside to see what would happen (melting), and we also put colored water in ice cube trays outside to see what would happen (freezing)- I had to cheat and put the ice cube tray in the freezer since it wasn't that cold this week. We then melted red and yellow ice cubes together to make orange water, blue and yellow ice cubes together to make green water, and red and blue ice cubes together to make purple water.

Next week (January 14-18) we will be talking about hibernation, which will lead us into our animals theme (this will go through most of February). On Friday we will be having a hibernation celebration. The kids can wear/bring pajamas to school. In the afternoon we will watch a movie, eat popcorn, and "hibernate."

On Fridays we will now be doing Show-and-Tell. Students can bring an item from home that they would like to present to the class.

Reminder: We have Monday, January 21st off from school for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday.

         Drawing in shaving cream 

Examining the snowball as it melted

Math Center- matching numbered penguins to dots on igloos

Insta-Snow fun

Dramatic Play- dressing up in winter clothes

Playing Don't Break the Ice 

"Sewing" Mittens

Have a great weekend!

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