Our Christmas Party and Birthday Party for Jesus was so much fun. The boys enjoyed making their own pizzas, drinking hot cocoa, releasing balloons for Jesus and celebrating with a very special birthday cake. Thanks to all the parents and siblings that were able to join us and help out. I hope you all have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas! Earlier this morning we painted with jingle bells attached to our paint brushes. What joyous sounds we made as we painted. We also had time to squeeze in a little literacy today. The boys played with snow (shaving cream) and used their fingers to draw and work on writing some of their first initials. This was so much fun. As you can see by the pictures a few of the boys were up to their elbows in fun, literally! Merry Christmas! I look forward to seeing you all in 2014! God Bless you and your families this Christmas season.
We were all boys again today and we worked hard keeping busy with an array of activities to encourage gross motor (whole body) movement. Our snowball toss was a lot of fun and I was surprised at how good the boys were at figuring out ways to get their snowballs into the snowman cups. Some stood on their dots and tossed, others bounced them and still others walked right up to the cups and dropped them into the snowman. Lots of fun and some great problem solving going on. For our art today, we painted with jingle bells. What fun! The sounds of the jingle bells bouncing around inside the container was very exciting. We placed a piece of paper inside a container, added a few bells and a scoop of red and green paint, closed the lid and shook, rolled and jingled our way to some really beautiful paintings. We are all looking forward to Friday for our class Christmas party and Birthday Party for Jesus. The children come in from the playground around 11:30 and we are planning some adorable crafts, lunch (provided, no need for lunch boxes), Christmas stories and of course a Birthday party for Jesus where we will be releasing balloons with our special wishes for Jesus tied to them. Please join us if you are able to share in the fun.
This morning we spent some time working on number recognition with a simple bean bag toss game. The boys (all boys today) had to toss the bean bags onto the snowman and then call out the number it landed on or the number closest. Just the kind of physical activity we needed on this chilly, damp day. The boys also got into a puzzle game where we had to find matching color and texture cards and piece them together. This was a challenge but working together as a team we were able to help each other find the correct matches. At the end of the day we worked on a little art project which targeted our fine motor muscles. We used various shades of green paper and tore it to pieces. Then we worked on squeezing those glue bottles and putting all of our pieces together to make our very own Christmas tree creations. What fun!
This morning we continued to work on our fine motor development with several seasonal activities. The children had a wonderful time spooning jingle bells into star shaped ice trays, stamping snowflakes, working with snowflake magnets and giving their finger muscles a workout with some playdough and buried treasure (beads). Overheard today while working with playdough... "I'm gonna make a gingerbread boy!" "A ginger man and a house." "My cookie has sprinkles." "I can roll it out!" "Squeeze it and squeeze it!" "Look, I found a treasure." "I made a pancake." "When my pancake is ready, you can have some." "Yum, let me have some!" "I cut it first." I also presented the children with a special challenge. I used painters tape to mark off a "race track" on the vertical white board. I handed the "race car drivers" a dry erase marker and challenged them to keep their "car" on the track and not veer off the road. This activity incorporates the use of both fine and gross motor skills. They needed to stand and move their whole body to complete the task. They were lined up to be the next racer! This is a challenge we will need to repeat again. It was just too much fun!
The owls continued to thoroughly enjoy wrapping and unwrapping large dominoes. You would think this would get old but the sheer excitement that comes from each child as the literally pick a block and wrap it and then a minute later rip the paper off and are shocked to see the block in the package is priceless. Overheard today... "I need tape." "Tape is fun." 'You can open my present." "Look it is a block!" "I want to wrap another." "I want to help my Mommy wrap presents for my cousins!" "Oh my, I can't believe it is a block! Look!" We also had fun building snowman collages today and working with our "own" glue bottles. Learning how to control the glue and exactly what amount you will need takes a lot of practice and strong hand muscles. As many of you could see by the classroom rug at pick up, the children also had a great time in the sensory tub. Sensory tubs are an exciting and engaging hands on way to explore scooping, pouring, measuring, the senses of touch, sight, sound and smell, cooperative play, story telling, gravity and a host of other important concepts. Today we were working with dry oats and cinnamon with a few glass stars sprinkled in for the glitz. It was not only all over the floor but wound up in most of the boys hair as well. When all was said and done one child even though there was enough on the floor to make "snow angels!" After bundling up we headed outside for some fresh but cold air. We finished our day with a little painting of something special for our parents. But you will have to wait until Christmas for our surprises! Hope you all have a warm and fun family weekend. See you next Wednesday!
It was wonderful to be back in school after our Thanksgiving break. I was so happy to see my Awesome Owls again. We began our Advent season today with all sorts of fun fine motor practice. We wrapped blocks. This was particularly fun as the children tried to use a tape dispenser, many for the first time. It was exciting to wrap and open all those "presents". We also enjoyed putting coins into piggy banks. I can not stress how much the children enjoyed this task. They would fill the banks and empty them over and over. We also used small grabbers to flex our hand muscles and sort holiday erasers. The children also enjoyed listening to the Christmas story and working with the various nativities we have in the classroom. It was good to be together again and the children settled right back into their routines. During this Advent season we will be spending a lot of time learning about the true meaning of Christmas.
*On a side note, please remember to wear your blue school t-shirts on Friday.* |
Why Blog?Here you will find little snippets of our days together. When my children were in preschool and would come home I would always ask, "So, what did you do today?". All they ever said was, "Played." That didn't tell me much. I hope this blog will be a place to share what we have done and help you ask more directed questions of your child. You will see first hand just what we do after you kiss your little one goodbye in the morning. It will also be a great place to visit and see just how much your child has grown and learned throughout the year. Archives
May 2023
Categories |