Wednesday, December 7, 2016

We had a wonderful Wednesday in Mrs. Mudd's class!

A few reminders...

Preschool and Kindergarten Christmas Service…is this Sunday, December 11 at 4:00 pm in Zion’s sanctuary (we will meet in Zion’s fellowship hall, lower level, at 3:45 pm). We will worship together and celebrate the birth of Jesus through songs, pictures, and words spoken by our Preschool and Kindergarten students!

12:00 Dismissal on Thursday, December 22…School will dismiss at 12:00 on this day to begin Christmas Break.  There is NO half day care option, please make arrangements to pick up your child at 12:00 this day.  We will not be eating lunch at preschool, but we will have morning snack. 

There is NO school Friday, December 23 - Tuesday, January 3…blessings on your Christmas Holiday! (school resumes on Wednesday, January 4, 2017).

And...here we go...

While others were enjoying free choice time, each friend began his/her day with a special check-in!  Each child completed his/her "December My Name" for his/her portfolio.  Everyone was able to write his/her first name from memory and some were able to write his/her entire name from memory!  While each friend wrote his/her name I took special note of :

pencil grip

right or left hand

copied name or wrote from memory

did he/she know the letters in own name

Near the end of free choice time, this group discovered/remembered our crystal trees that we made on Monday and Tuesday and took a few minutes to check them out!

We learned that when the solution begins to evaporate (disappear), it leaves behind the salt as a small crystal that forms to look like teeny, tiny trees (one is blue green because of food coloring, the other we chose no food coloring to see if it would look different!  And, look at that, an experiment within as experiment...the do look very different!)

Brrr...it's cold out there...but we still enjoyed one of our favorite parts of the day...outside time!!!

Check out SJ...mid jump!!!

We then finished up morning meeting with Wiggle Worm...he is back!!!  Today he brought with him uppercase letters on snowflakes.  If wiggle worm was picked from the bag...everybody WIGGLE, then stop!  Having to stop is tough, but it helps us learn self regulation!

   If a letter is picked, that friend told everyone the letter name and the letter sound!

 Today we introduced the letters "O" and "Q"!  

We remembered start your letter "at the top" then big curve, then keep on going for the "O" and big curve, keep on going, then little line at the bottom for the "Q"! Then we came up with words that start with "O" and "Q"!

Anytime one of our friends thinks of a word that starts with "O" or "Q" we can add it to our big letter.  Or, if at home, your child sees a small picture or item that starts with an "O" or "Q", bring it in and he/she can glue it to our big letter!

Then we practiced writing "O"  and "Q" with crayons (nice and short to reinforce proper grip)!

Time for small groups (centers)!

With Mrs. Mudd we created our own self portrait, "This is ME...in a SNOWGLOBE!"  We used mirrors to help us remember what we looked like!  While each friend loved looking at themselves and drawing his/her portrait he/she also improved symbolic development, early writing/drawing, fine motor control, and knowledge of self!

With Mrs. Dose we worked on creating "My Winter Scene" with paint, cookie cutters, and crayons.  Each child could choose to use my example as a guide, or they could choose his/her own scene!

Our Christmas tree numbers were all messed up and we needed them put back in order. (Identifying/recognizing numbers and sequencing are early math skills).  Success for some was being about to put 1 - 10 in order, while success for others was putting 1 - 20 in order!

In the block center we improved hand-eye coordination as we worked together to build a stable for baby Jesus!

 And...a little more time to get our bodies moving with large motor play...

During Jesus Time today Zippy visited a little worried and scared about becoming a big brother.  We reminded him that sometimes when things make us scared or sad, we can look to God for help.  God knows what's best.  He can turn our fear in to joy just like he did with the shepherds when the angel came to them in the night, telling of Jesus' birth.