For a party day the kids were really chill today! Not sure if it was the pj's or the morning party but the kids settled in so nicely today that we really enjoyed just being together. Our biggest excitement was a fire drill and even that we all handled really well, no tears or worries once it was over. A little later in the morning we stopped or a little snack. Everyone loved the "Grinch Grapes". Once the party was over we continued to play with our babies. The kids worked on some sticker art and made fun faces with playdough. Many thanks you to all for your wonderful gifts and generosity! I am so thankful that you share your precious little ones with me a few hours a week! They have grown so much these last few months and we have much more to go. Their independence is going to take off in the new year and I'm really looking forward to new challenges. Have a safe and restful Christmas Break and we will see you back here on January 5th for Ice Week! God Bless and Merry Christmas!
We had a great morning playing with baby dolls and making birthday cakes. We began with some center time. Every one loved the new choices and in particular had fun playing "mom" and "dad" with the baby dolls. We also had the cutest reindeer applesauce for snack! After snack we all gathered for a rather unique science experiment, a diaper dissection! We discussed all of the things babies need and why they are so dependent on the big people in their lives. Then I brought out a diaper and everyone got really interested. I told the children we were going to do a science experiment using a diaper. The challenge was to use a large dropper to add water to the diaper and see how much water it could hold. As the boys and girls began they were fascinated that the water seemed to disappear when they dropped it into the diaper. After they had added a full cup of water with their dropper I refilled the cup and asked one of the boys to pour his whole cup of water into the diaper. After a few seconds I picked the diaper up and turned it upside down and not a drop fell out! They all thought it was some kind of magic trick. One at a time everyone poured their second cup of water into the diaper and some even added a third cup. It is really amazing how much liquid a diaper can hold and not a drop fell out when the diaper was turned upside down. So the question to everyone was, "Where did the water go?" We talked about a few ideas and then I took one of the heavily saturated diapers and ripped it open. Everyone was amazed that a snow like substance poured out. I told everyone that this was silica gel. It starts out like sand but once it gets wet it sucks the water in and turns into a fluffy white substance. One by one I opened the diapers and poured the silica gel onto a large tray. Everyone wanted to touch it so we took the tray out to the garden and explored this new substance. After all of that excitement we headed over to Music with Ms. Rachel. When the children returned to the room we were ready for another fun activity. Baby Food Tasting! We sampled 5 different varieties. Some were hits and others misses. In the end everyone found one favorite to enjoy. We finished out the morning with some play dough time. Today the children buried little babies and pacifiers in the dough. It was a big hit! Friday is our Christmas Party. The kids are so excited to wear pajamas to school! We will have our party right at the start of the day with a pancake breakfast. Remember to bring a wrapped book for a gift exchange among the students and pack a normal lunch.
As far a shoes go, I am ok with them in footie pjs, sneakers, or slippers. They are even welcome to wear socks (with grip) if you are comfortable with them on the playground in socks, but be prepared to trash them after a full morning in preschool. It is going to be such a fun day! We began our morning by exploring our centers and hearing more of the nativity story during Chapel time with Mrs. Kunkel. After chapel we returned to the room and everyone washed their hands. At the big table, we all took turns adding the cookie mix to the bowl and mixing up the dough. Everyone really enjoyed it. Once the dough was ready we scooped out the batter, flattened it just a little with a fork, and decorated it with some Christmas sprinkles. At this point most of the children were ready to eat but we had one more step. With Ms. Amanda's help we walked to the kitchen to put our cookies in the oven. We set a timer and went back to the room to read a book before returning to the kitchen to check on our cookies. The anticipation was fierce! The kids couldn't wait to taste their creations. Once the cookies were cool enough to eat the children dove right in. I don't think they have ever enjoyed a cookie more in their lives! Once we baked real cookies the dramatic play area was the only thing we wanted to do the rest of the morning! We also enjoyed some outdoor time and ended the day with our last birthday celebration of the year. Come Monday the whole class will officially be 3 years old! Now that your little one is a baking expert don't be surprised if they want to help you in the kitchen when you're baking your Christmas Cookies this year.
Looking ahead to next week we will be learning all about babies and birthdays in anticipation of Jesus' birthday on Christmas Day. Just a little reminder, our class party will be on Friday and it will be a pajama party and pancake breakfast. Please bring a wrapped book for a little gift exchange and please still pack a lunch for later in the morning. I can't believe we only have two more class days before we are officially half way through the school year! See you all next week. There was a cookie explosion in the classroom today! We were baking up a storm in dramatic play and all of our centers were cookie themed. The children loved every bit of it. They are really excited to bake real cookies on Friday! The Dramatic Play area was a huge hit today. Everyone really got into baking cookies, taking turns selling. and pretending to eat them all! It is like that lightbulb has finally gone off where the boys and girls are taking on roles while they play. I'm sure they have all baked with you at home at one point or another so it is a scenario that is familiar and one in which they feel comfortable trying different roles. Some children enjoyed baking (putting the wooden cookies on the tray and then popping them in the oven). They loved using the oven mitt to carry the freshly baked cookies to the table and telling me that the cookies were hot so I needed to blow on them. Others loved working the register shouting out "Who wants a cookie?" At one point I was charged, "Twenty dollars!" for a gingerbread cookie. Other children enjoyed walking around the room offering cookies to all of their friends and waiting for you to take a bite and say how delicious it was. I love to sit back in the corner and just listen to how they play. Overheard today in the bakery: "Hey, hey, I need people to make more cookies!" "That's going to be ten-twenty bucks." "Watch out they are hot. Blow!" "I want the one with sprinkles." "Look, dip it in milk!" "I need the glove, I can't touch the cookies they're too hot." "Oh, those cookies are yummy!" "Can I help you sell them?" We also worked on a Christmas painting during art. We stamped a tree with paper towel rolls and then decorated it with fingerprint ornaments. We finished out our morning by using Christmas cookie cutters with new green play dough. We were practicing for the real deal on Friday when we bake and decorate our own sugar cookies. It's going to be so yummy! Looking forward to cooking up some more fun on Friday! See you then!
We had another busy morning. The boys and girls enjoyed centers, wrapping gifts, and hearing the nativity story. One of our favorites today was mixing up some Starbucks coffee for our friends. During chapel time we heard the nativity story. Then when we returned to class, Tootsie had brought a beautiful Melissa and Doug Nativity set for us to play with. The children enjoyed hearing the story several times today. In Motor Skills the children made "snow angels". They are totally ready should we have another snomageddon! We had fun making some sticker Christmas Trees. We continued to enjoy wrapping gifts for our friends. Some of the kids spent a good portion of the morning wrapping and gifting and wrapping some more! Even Tootsie was given a gift! We finished our day with another birthday party. One more next week and the whole class will be 3! Next week, we will turn our classroom into Santa's Bake Shop! We will be baking and serving up all kinds of holiday treats. And yes, we will even bake our own cookies and decorate them. So much fun still ahead!
Where did 2021 go? I can't believe it is December already. This year has flown by. Time for us to start celebrating the Christmas season. We got off to a great start today as the children tried their hands at wrapping gifts, playing some holiday themed games, and meeting two real life reindeer! Yes, real reindeer! After snack the children finally took an interest in the wrapping station I had set up. We had bows and wrapping paper squares to wrap up large foam dominoes as "gifts" for our friends. You can't wrap very well without some tape so there were also several tape dispensers available for the children to experiment with. And yes, I let them use the tape as they saw fit. I love, love, love, watching them try to use the tape. To us adults, it seems like such a easy thing to use but for a three year old that is simply not the case! I try to have the paper squares cut to just the right size so they really only have to put the block in the center and fold over the sides of the paper and adhere a small piece of tape to keep the paper in place. It rarely went that way without help. There were long strips of tape all mangled and twisted that may or may not have crossed the seam of the paper. But that didn't matter to the children. They absolutely loved trying and then gifting their present to a friend. Sometimes a child would wrap the block only to rip it open themselves! And every time someone would rip the paper to reveal what was inside we all exclaimed, "A Block! Just what I always wanted!" The children got such a thrill tearing into the wrapping paper. It was exciting to see them get behind the pretend play of it all. They also really enjoyed giving a gift to a friend and waiting to see their reactions. It was precious! The highlight of our day was most definitely a visit from the reindeer. We were only expecting one but were surprised to find two reindeer when we went out to meet them. Zoomanination brought along Jingles and Noelle for us to get an up close and personal visit with. When we returned to the room we broke out some play dough and enjoyed working with some Christmas cookie cutters. I am looking forward to Friday where we will learn two new chapel songs for the month. I am sure Santa's wrapping station will also need to be restocked for another busy day of wrapping blocks. See you Friday!
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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
March 2024
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