It is hard to believe the first half of the school year is behind us! Where has the time gone? We had a wonderful time today playing with the babies, building gingerbread houses, making ornaments, and enjoying our Birthday Party for Jesus! During Motor Skills the children enjoyed a snowball fight and other winter games. Back in the room we used ribbon to measure ourselves. We cut the ribbon and stuffed it into an ornament. We will always remember how tall we were when we were three. Next up we were challenged to build gingerbread houses with a wide variety of building materials. There were different blocks, ornaments, candy canes, bells, buttons, jumbo pompoms, and more! We got very creative! It was finally time for our party. We enjoyed chicken nuggets, carrots, and veggie straws. Then we exchanged our books and opened the presents. Everyone went home with a wonderful new book. We finished out the party by decorating and eating cupcakes for Jesus' party. Everyone had a wonderful time. Thank you so much to the party host! I couldn't have done it with out you! The children had a wonderful time! I also want to take a moment to thank you all for your generous gifts and sweet words. I love working with these kiddos and thank you for sharing them with me a few mornings each week. I pray you all have the most blessed Christmas with friends and family. Enjoy making memories together! See you in 2024!
The class really enjoyed all of the new centers and dramatic play set ups today. In the kitchen area were were making birthday cakes, decorating cupcakes and singing "Happy Birthday". The sensory tub was full of little babies and bath toys. Our round table was transformed into a diapering and feeding station. There were many little moms and dads taking care of little babies all morning. We took some time to make the cutest snowman ornaments for our trees at home. We decided if we were learning all about babies we should probably learn a little about what they eat. We decided to have a baby food taste test. Some of us liked it a lot more than others. We used baby spoons to try the various flavors. Blueberry, Apple, Ginger was the fan favorite. Once we finished we washed our spoons and put them in our totes to take home. If that wasn't enough fun we thought we would do and experiment on diapers. Where does all the liquid go when a baby dirties a diaper? We decided to investigate. Each child had a clean diaper, a large water dropper, and a cup of water. We made predictions about how many drops of water the diapers could hold. Then we began counting. We were astonished at how much water the diapers could hold. After several minutes some of us tired of the droppers and just poured our entire cup of water into the diaper. We then picked the diapers up and turned them over expecting the water to fall out. When it didn't we wondered where did it go? We knew it was in the diaper, could feel the weight of the diaper but when we squeezed them no water came out. So we tore them open and were amazed to find what looked like fake snow! The water absorbing polymers in the inner lining of the diapers soak up the water and look like snow. It was fun to touch too! It certainly was an exciting day in the Owl room.
Friday will be our last class of 2023! We will have a pajama day and enjoy our class party at the end of the morning. We will be celebrating Jesus' birthday with a special lunch (provided) and cupcakes. Please bring a wrapped book for our story book exchange. The children will all go home with a new book to add to their collections. Looking forward to all the fun! See you Friday. The class enjoyed wrapping and unwrapping blocks again today. They were more successful with the tape rolls and really enjoyed watching their friends rip open the gifts they had wrapped. Sometimes the children wrapped a block only to open it themselves and act surprised. It was so much fun to watch. During Chapel Time we took a trip upstairs to the large nativity to learn about Jesus' birth. The children had a wonderful time in Motor Skills. They played all kinds of Reindeer Games and even had a snowball fight. When we returned to our room we began working on our Christmas gifts for home. Several students also decided to work on decorating a paper Christmas tree with sticker ornaments. This coming week will be a special time of preparing for the birth of our savior. Our room will move away from all the tradition Christmas festivities and focus on babies and birthdays. There will be plenty of babies and many fun activities for taking care of them. There will be a diapering station, baby baths in the sensory tub, and birthday cakes and cupcakes in the dramatic play area. We will taste test baby food and even dissect diapers to see what makes them work! It is sure to be a lot of fun.
Our class party will be a Birthday Party for Jesus on Friday from 11:50-12:30. Lunch will be provided. This will also be a Pajama Day. Were your favorite comfy pjs to school. We will listen to a nativity story and enjoy lunch together. We will also decorate cupcakes for our celebration. Please remember to bring a wrapped book for our class book exchange. Books do not need to be Christmas themed. Wrap your book at home and we will exchange them during our party. Then each child will come home with a new book for their home library. Looking forward to a fun week. See you Wednesday. Our morning was jam packed with fun. We began with all new centers. But by far, our favorite was the wrapping station. I set up a table with wrapping paper squares and some jumbo dominos for the kids to try and wrap. We really got into the tape dispensers. It didn't take long before there was more tape on the table in wads than was used on the actual wrapping. It was exciting to wrap and then gift someone a present. Even though we knew the presents were blocks we were super excited to open them! On our way to music class we stopped by the big Christmas tree for a class picture. After music we made our way up to the second floor where we were treated to a comedy/magic show by Spikey Mikey. The kids roared with laughter and excitement. My ears were ringing by the end of the show. We finished the morning with some time to run off some energy. It was a beautiful morning to play outside. Looking forward to Friday. We will begin working on a Christmas gift for our families. See you then!
The boys and girls were very excited to head back to the classroom and enjoy more time playing in the bakery. The centers kept everyone busy this morning. I sat in the dramatic play this morning and modeled some role play for the children. When the cookies came out of the oven I pretended they were hot and burned my hand. The kids caught on quickly and everyone was blowing the cookies so I would not get burned. Then several children helped serve me some milk to drink with my cookies. We are slowly developing play skills where we are not just playing with new props but using them to pretend and tell a story as we play. After sitting with the children for a few minutes, I quietly excused myself and stepped back to watch. They continued with a deeper level of play. It is so much fun to watch and listen as this new stage of play emerges. When we returned from Motor Skills we were delighted to find Tootsie had brought everything we needed to make our own cookies. We washed our hands and sat down to mix up some dough. We all took turns and not only mixed the dough but scooped our own cookies onto the baking tray. While our cookies were baking we took out some play dough and pretended to make cookies for the bakery. Many of us discovered that we could roll our dough into a long snake and then use the scissors to cut the dough into bite size pieces. Others just made cakes or cupcakes. When our cookies were baked and cooled we cleaned up the play dough and washed our hands again. It was finally time to decorate our cookies and eat them! The perfect end to Cookie Week!
Next week we will continue with some cookie play in the kitchen area but we will also have a center set up as Santa's Workshop. The children will have access to wrapping paper, tape, and bows to wrap up blocks. It always makes me smile to watch as the children try and figure out the tape dispensers. This will be a wonderful fine motor exercise. On Wednesday, December 6, we will also be treated to a visit from Spikey Mikey. He will put on a holiday themed magic/comedy show. It is sure to tickle everyone's funny bone! Enjoy your weekend and we will see you on Wednesday! |
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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