Classroom News

This week we welcomed Liam to our Tues/Thurs afternoon class. He is 2½ years old & we are very excited to have him join us. Liam loved playing with play dough, building with blocks & playing at the Polar Express train table on his first day of school.

During small group with our 4's, we identified who has the letter C in their name, stamped & wrote Cc in our journals, circled the letter Cc if we have it in our name, rainbow traced C, walked C & outlined the letter C with gemstones. We also identified words with the letter C, went on a C hunt searching for items beginning with the letter C & came up with a list of words that begin with the letter C. Whew! I believe our 4's are now C experts! Ask them about the 2 sounds  of the letter C.

During large group time, we spoke about the upcoming holidays & how we will celebrate. We read plenty of holiday books to put us in a festive holiday spirit.

We continued decorating our stars using collage as well as marble painted designs on Christmas trees & dreidels! There was a lot of movement involved in our marble painting including doing the jingle bell hop, candy cane twist & gingerbread run. We combined movement & art in one activity! After the marble paintings were dry, we decorated them with festive colored items.

Edible menorahs? Yes, please. We made a special snack on Friday. And it was delicious! Ask me how we made it. Then check out our FB page for the pictures.

We also celebrated Melanie's 3rd birthday on Friday. Thank you to Melanie's daddy for bringing in Munchkins for us. They were delicious. We sang Happy Birthday & danced around Melanie. Happy 3rd Birthday, Melanie!

Books We Read

4's – My C Book (Jane Belk Moncure), Caps for Sale (Esphyr Slobodkina)

Everyone:

Olive the Other Reindeer  (J. Otto Seibold & Vivian Walsh)
Clifford Celebrates Hanukkah (Norman Bridwell)
C is for Christmas (Gayla Amaral)
ABC Haukkah Hunt (Tilda Balsley)
What is Hanukkah? (Harriet Zeifert)

December Birthdays

12/16: Melanie
12/18: Ms. Bethany
12/27: Aubree

Quotes

Ms. Sheri: “Tell me what you're making.” (While at the light table.)
Dessa: “It's a mystery.”

“Give your kids a holiday season filled with moments to remember, not toys they'll forget.” 
(Rebecca Cooper)

Dates to Remember

12/16 – Drop-Off Pajama Party 6:30-9:30 pm, $10 per child, register on website

12/21 – Pajama Day: Wear your comfiest PJs to school

12/23 – Holiday Party: AM Class – 10:15-11:30  PM Class – 1:45-3:00
              All are welcome to attend!

12/26 – Menorah Lighting – 6:00 PM, Main Street in Friendly Drugs parking lot

Dec. 26 – Jan 2 – Winter Break

Reminders

Our pajama drive ended this Friday, 12/16. The pajamas are being donated to children living in a local homeless shelter along with a book donated by Scholastic. Thank you to everyone who donated and especially to Kellen's mom, Ingrid who generously invited her work colleagues to participate. We collected a total of 21 pajamas. The children helped count the pajamas we collected.

Remember to send in a small treat (no candy please) by 12/19/16 for the holiday treat bags to be distributed at our holiday party on 12/23/16. We have 21 children who attend in the AM & 18 children who attend in the PM. Thank you to those who have already sent in their treats.

A sign up sheet is located by the front door for our holiday party. We still need juice boxes & water for both morning & afternoon sessions. Please let us know what you would like to bring. Thank you to those families who have already signed up.

Have a fabulous weekend! 

Keep warm!

​Ms. Sheri, Ms. Bethany, Ms. Fabi, Ms. Joyce, Ms. Sarah

Classroom News

It's that time of year again! The holidays are quickly approaching & the excitement is tangible. There is nothing more fascinating than experiencing holidays through the eyes of children. Of course, along with that comes varying amounts of stress for parents, children & teachers. Easier said than done but it's helpful to slow down & enjoy the season. Some children become very active during this time of year due to excitement &/or over stimulation as well as limited outdoor play because of the weather. Physical activity is important to help release that pent up energy. We try to keep them as active as possible in school via music, dancing & exercise activities. Your help at home is greatly appreciated.

Now that the cold weather is here we are working with our 4's to independently put on their coats & zipper them. Our 2's & 3's are working on unzippering & independently taking off their own coats. The look on their faces when they accomplish these tasks is one of pure joy!

During small group with our 4's, we identified who has the letter B in their name, stamped & wrote Bb in our journals & circled the letter Bb if we have it in our name. We also walked & outlined the letter B with gemstones

During large group time, we discussed the similarities & differences between Chanukah & Christmas. Check out our FB page for the Venn Diagram we made.

We have been working on a special holiday gift for our families & think you will love it! It's a surprise so don't ask your children about it! We also focused on the star shape this week & used collage technique to glue stars on stars!

Ms. Sheri set up a Polar Express theme center with trains, trees, snow & lights. The children love this area & are learning how to play   cooperatively as well as play carefully around the little lights.   We're teaching them to treat the classroom toys & books with   respect so they don't break or rip. If that happens, they know we   won't have the toys or books to use anymore. They are beginning to understand this concept since we started reinforcing this in September.

Books We Read

4's – My B Book (Jane Belk Moncure)

The B Book (Stan & Jan Berenstain)

Everyone:

The Polar Express (Chris Van Allsburg)

Hanukkah Lights (Dian G. Smith)

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Dreidel (Caryn Yacowitz)

It's Hanukkah! (Jeanne Modesitt)

December Birthdays

12/16: Melanie
12/18: Ms. Bethany

Holiday Party

For our holiday party this year, we would like to try something different. We are asking that all families bring in 1 traditional dish (meal or dessert) that you typically prepare for your holiday gatherings. We thought this would be interesting as we are a multicultural group & it will give the children a chance to sample different foods that their friends eat.

There will be a sign up sheet by the front door for you to let us know what you're bringing.

Thank you for your participation.

Quotes

Caiden: “I'm sugaring my whole mouth.” (While eating a sugar cookie.)

Jonah: “My brain's telling me a story.”

Gianni: “It's a lovely day for a drink of coffee.”

Ms. Sheri: “I don't know what you're saying, Gianni.”
Gianni: “I don't know what I'm saying too.”

“Give your kids a holiday season filled with moments to remember, not toys they'll forget.”
(Rebecca Cooper)

Dates to Remember

12/16 – Drop-Off Pajama Party 6:30-9:30 pm, $10 per child, register on website

12/21 – Pajama Day: Wear your comfiest PJs to school

12/23 – Holiday Party:  AM Class – 10:15-11:30  PM Class – 1:45-3:00
               All are welcome to attend!

12/26 – Menorah Lighting – 6:00 PM, Main Street in Friendly Drugs parking lot

Dec. 26 – Jan 2 – Winter Break

Reminders

We are collecting pajamas for our pajama drive through 12/16. The pajamas will be donated to children living in a local homeless shelter along with a book donated by Scholastic.

Remember to send in a small treat (no candy please) by 12/19/16 for the holiday treat bags to be distributed at our holiday party on 12/23/16. We have 21 children who attend in the AM & 18 children who attend in the PM. Thank you to those who have already sent in their treats.

Have a fabulous weekend!

​Ms. Sheri, Ms. Bethany, Ms. Fabi, Ms. Joyce, Ms. Sarah

December already? Time is flying by. We hope that everyone had a delicious Thanksgiving break. We have many good times to look forward to in December. My communication attempts have been lacking & I apologize for that. It's a busy time of year & additionally my brother is getting married Friday (12/2)! I won't be here but Ms. Sarah & Ms. Bethany will hold down the fort for the day

We welcomed 2 year old Kira to our class. We are very happy to have her join us.

Our 2's are working on socialization skills. They are at the stage where they love to fill & dump so we are providing them with activities where they can fill up containers, then dump out the items. They love to collect items from all classroom areas. We are teaching them to not grab items from friends & how to use their words when they want something.

In addition to socialization, our 3's are working on fine motor skills to strengthen their small muscles. This will help them when they begin writing. Play dough & scribbling with crayons & pencils are some of their favorite activities right now.

Our 4's are working on skills such as letters, numbers & shapes. We learn these skills through play activities & we use our journals for writing.

Dramatic play & sensory activities are always on our agenda. All of our children learn best through multi-sensory play.
 
Thank you to Jordan's & Sophia's family for making delicious turkey rice krispy treats to share with us before the Thanksgiving break. They were delicious!

Books We've Read

4's: My A Book (Jane Belk Moncure)
       Berenstain's A Book (Stan & Jan Berenstain)

2's, 3's & 4's:
I Can Make Good Choices! (David Parker)
The Feelings Book (Todd Parr)
It's Time-Out Time! (Steve Metzger)
The Way I Feel (Janan Cain)

This week we spoke about our feelings & making good choices. We are encouraging our children to use their words to describe how they feel. If they have difficulty, we give them the words to use. You might also want to try this at home.

Quotes

Caiden: “I can't really balance. When I'm 5 I can balance.”

Sheri: I need a longer play list.
Caiden: Maybe Santa Claus will bring you one. Put it on your list.

Sarah: “Your hair smells like tomatoes. Now it smells like green beans.” (Referring to Ms. Sheri. Hmmm...I'm pretty sure my shampoo & conditioner don't smell like either one of those.)

Brianna: “What's an illustrator? She goes up in an elevator?”

December Birthdays

12/16: Melanie
12/18: Ms. Bethany

Reminders

We are collecting pajamas for our pajama drive through 12/16. The pajamas will be donated to children living in a local homeless shelter along with a book donated by Scholastic.

Dates to Remember

12/2 – Scholastic Orders due

12/3 – Holiday Tree Lighting on Main Street 
           4:30 pm in Irish Times parking lot

12/16 – Drop-Off Pajama Party
             6:30-9:30 pm
             $10 per child, register on our website

12/21 – Pajama Day: It's the 1st day of winter! Wear your comfiest PJs to school.

12/23 – Holiday Party: 
             AM Class – 10:15-11:30
             PM Class – 1:45-3:00
             All are welcome to attend!

12/26 – Menorah Lighting on Main Street
             6:00 pm in Friendly Drugs parking lot

Dec. 26 – Jan 2 – Winter Break

Have a fabulous weekend!

​Ms. Sheri, Ms. Bethany, Ms. Fabi, Ms. Joyce, Ms. Sarah