Tuesday, December 1, 2020

 And...just like that we made it to December!

Two quick reminders...

11:50 Dismissal on Friday, December 18…Our class will dismiss at 11:50 on this day to begin Christmas break.  There is NO aftercare option, please make arrangements to pick up your child at 11:50 this day.  We will not be eating lunch at preschool, but we will have morning snack.

There is NO school Monday, December 21 - Friday, January 1…blessings on your Christmas Holiday! (school resumes on Monday, January 4, 2020).

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.  Almost 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

Livy made her own personal "hot tub"!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in preschool!

Some friends improved small motor control as they made ornaments for our class Christmas tree!

We even got to hang our ornaments on the tree all by ourselves!

 As another month passed us by...we got to check out another pie graph!  Right away our friends noticed there was no blue (rain) on November's graph!  We also noticed, we sure did have a lot of sunny days in November, we had the most of those!

To wrap up morning meeting, some of our friends took turns rolling the dice, recognizing/counting the number of dots, then finding that number on our "positional words" paper.  (Quantifying, connecting numerals to their quantities and understanding positional words are early math skills)

Cooper is "under" the present!

Rylee decided it would not be safe for her to get "on" the present, so she chose to place the dice "on" it instead!

Brody is "beside" the present!

Clare is "in front of" the present!

Time for a little science!!!

Scientist Mudd arrived today, with water, borax, and a snowflake (made of pipe cleaner)!

First we had to count how many cups of water it took to fill a jar (2 1/2). Next, we needed to heat the water to boiling...scientist Mudd did this and reminded friends how careful we need to be around HOT water.  Third, while the water was heating in the microwave, each friend made his/her prediction, "What will happen when we put the pipe cleaner in the solution?"

 Once the water was HOT, we counted out 7 1/2 tablespoons of borax and poured it into the water.  We observed that the water looked white or cloudy as we were mixing the solution. 

Finally...it was time to test our prediction...Scientist Mudd dropped the snowflake into the jar!  But, wait a minute, nothing happened, it just sat there!  Our friends found out that this experiment is one that we get to practice WAITING!  We have to wait to see what happens to the snowflake until tomorrow!

However, today we were in luck...we had the snowflake from yesterday's experiment! So, we found out that when the borax solution cools, it makes CRYSTALS!!!  We made a crystal snowflake ornament to hang on our Christmas tree!

Yay for sunshine on this very chilly round of outside time!

Time for small groups (centers)!

SHHHHH!!!!! One of our centers today was "top secret"...you might see our work under your Christmas tree in a few weeks!!!

With Mrs. Cooper we made ornaments for our Christmas tree!  We strung beads (some even did so in a pattern) and jingle bells on to pipe cleaners! Stringing those tiny beads while holding a pipe cleaner sure can be tricky!

Yikes...we had a little snow in the classroom!!!  Working together we sequenced snowflakes from smallest to biggest and/or biggest to smallest!

We noticed that all our Thanksgiving/fall books were gone and we had "new to us" Christmas books to read!  We "read to self" remembering the rules of using a book correctly (orientation: read from front to back and left to right...make sure the letters are right side up...turn 1 page at a time, gently!!!  Being able to use a book properly is an early literacy skill.)

Finally...a lot of running, running, and running to stay warm on the parking lot playground!

During Jesus Time today we remembered the Christmas story through song!   We learned that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem, riding on a donkey.  When they got there, the only room left for them was in a stable.  In that stable is where Jesus was born!  Angels sang of His birth, "Glory to God above!"   We remembered that Jesus' love for us will never end!

Enjoy the rest of your day!