Wednesday, December 2, 2020

 Thank you for joining us on our Wednesday!

While others were enjoying free choice time, each friend (not here yesterday) 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

Abram chose to improve small motor control as he made ornaments for our class Christmas tree!

And...then he got to hang it on the tree all by hisself!

Puzzles are open again this week! These two friends improve spatial awareness as they work away...

The "candy construction" building set was a big hit again today.  We had a great time expressing creativity and improving fine motor control while building with "candy"!  

Beep beep! Everybody out of the way...monster truck coming through...

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)

Grayson is "in front of" the present!

Abram is between the present and the reindeer!

Ryan is "behind" the present!

Livy is "beside" the present!

Our question of the day made a comeback today...many of us were wishing we were currently at the beach!

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 tape it to our big letter!

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

We had some fun on the playground...while we enjoyed another sunny day!

Time for small groups (centers)!

As we remember Jesus' birth this month, we learned "J" is for Jesus! We colored dots in the shape of a "J".  Each friend was asked to pick 2 colors, then color the dots in a pattern!  Not only did we improve patterning skills (early math), we also improved small motor control needed for writing/drawing!

With Mrs. Dose 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!

We "read to a friend" 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.)

Yippee for one more round of sunshine to get the wiggles out!

Nolan did a GREAT job as photographer today...

Chapel wasn't quite ready for viewing yet, so for Jesus Time today Zippy came to visit and noticed our new nativity.  So, our friends took some time explaining what each piece of the nativity was to Zippy.  Zippy was so excited that he is going to get one for his house!  We learned/remembered that Jesus' birth is the most special thing about Christmas.  He is our Savior, who takes our sins away!

Thanks for taking a few minutes to check out our day!