Merry Christmas!

Today was our Christmas party and our extended day. The children always look forward to this day because we get to go inside of my house and watch a Christmas movie. I don't know why they love it, but they certainly do!

I didn't take many pictures today. We were so busy with all of the Christmas activities. Thanks to everyone for bringing such wonderful goodies for us to eat. We really enjoyed it!

We finished up our ornaments and I hope that all of those made it home in one piece. I tried to wrap them in tissue paper this year since Syan dropped one last year and was so upset about it.

We had a full day of fun. It was a great way to end the year 2008 together. It wasn't quite complete because Charlie wasn't with us but we hope that he and his family are all recovering from that awful stomach bug.

Oh, I almost forgot! We opened the last three boxes of our "What God Really Wants For Christmas" activity and we found out that what he wants is us! The 7th box contained a mirror.

I hope that everyone has a healthy, safe and happy Christmas. See you in 2009!

Christmas Lists

We decorated the glass ornaments today which has become an annual tradition. It's an activity that we all really enjoy. I've posted a picture of our tree with all of the ornaments that we've made so far. Our "Charlie Brown tree" looks so beautiful now. Don't worry, I promise to send all of the ornaments home next week:-)

We read the story, How God Decorates Heaven For Christmas. The children shared their favorite holiday traditions during circle time. We also made a list of things that each child wants for Christmas. I hope that Sean and Dawn Patterson read this! Here's the list:

"I want Legos and a Thomas Train." Charlie

"I want a dirt bike with all of the equipment, clothes, and Slimmers." Jackson

"I want Elvis Cd's." Syan

"I want makeup, a phone, a brother, a TV, a pony, and a pretty bow." Michalea

"I want a Buzz Lightyear toy." Andrew

I don't know if your child has mentioned it or not but we are doing a special activity that is similar to the Resurrection Eggs. It's called, "What God Really Wants for Christmas" and each week, we open two boxes. In each box, there is something that tells us about the birth of Jesus. We'll open the last two boxes next week.

Next week is our extended day so we'll meet from 9:30-3:00. It's an early Christmas present for the mothers. I hope that each mother can take advantage of a few extra hours of class. We'll also be having a Christmas party that day. I'll email reminders about what each child is bringing.

Here is a new little song that we learned today:

(Tune of Happy Birthday)

On the first Christmas Day

From the Father above

Came the little Lord Jesus

To show us God's love.

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

I love you dear Jesus

Happy birthday to you.

Ornament Making- December 3, 2008

We had a wonderful time together this past week! We began our study of Christmas by reading the book, The Pine Tree Parable. Did you child tell you child tell you about the tradition of Christmas trees and how they represent about the birth of Jesus? Here is how:

*Triangle shape of tree is symbolic of the Trinity

*Jesus died on a cross (tree)

*A Christmas tree is an evergreen- eternal life and Jesus lives forever

*The tree points towards Heaven

We made Styrofoam ornaments using Styrofoam balls, glitter paint, glitter, and jeweled sequins. They look beautiful hanging out our little tree! Check out the posted pictures.

We'll make glass ornaments during the next two class meetings. This is a favorite art activity each year in December.

The children worked well together this week. The kids spent a lot of time working on robot. I was so proud of their cooperation. You can see their creation in the group picture that is posted. Also, several of them put together an alphabet puzzle and a math puzzle which required a lot of thinking and adding/subtracting.

We'll have "show and tell" next week! See you then!

November 19, 2008

We were busy cooking up some treats today. The children made corn muffins and whipped butter along with preparing a little concoction of Cranberry Apple Punch. Everything tasted delicious! I've posted a few pictures of the children shaking and dancing while whipping up butter. This made the time go by faster.

Each child told me at least one thing that they are thankful for. Here are the responses:

"Turkey." Syan

"My family and my neighbors." Michaela

"My Mommy and Daddy." Charlie

"Treats!" Andrew

"My trip to Disney World." Jackson

We played a game of alphabet bingo today. The children seem to be getting better at letter recognition and letter sounds. We'll continue to play the game throughout the school year.

Thank you for sharing your children with me. I enjoy the uniqueness of each one of them! Happy Thanksgiving! See you back on December 3rd.

November 12, 2008

Check out the picture of the turkeys that we made today. Aren't they cute? The children seemed to have a great time making them.

Our story for today was "Over the River and Through the Wood" by Lydia Maria Child. The story is a wacky twist on the classic song that we all grew up singing. The children enjoyed the humorous illustrations of the family from the city traveling to the country.

Today was the perfect day for making leaf piles. I'm sure that you probably noticed how dirty we all looked at 1:30 today. We had a great time in the woods.

We will be doing a few cooking activities next week in celebration of Thanksgiving. It should be fun! I look forward to seeing everyone next week.

Intro To Thanksgiving

This past Wednesday was the first day of our Thanksgiving unit. We learned about the very first Thanksgiving and we talked about how each of us celebrates Thanksgiving with our families. We also learned about the Native Americans and the Pilgrim's travels on the Mayflower Ship to America.

Some of the children are learning the Thanksgiving song that we like to sing every year. We like to call it the "Mr. Turkey" song. Syan wants me to write down the words so I'll post those at the bottom of this post. Some of you may know it from your childhood. My grandmother knew this song so I assume that it has been around a while.

We had a new friend join us today. Poppin or "Poppi" is Jackson's new puppy and she spent the day with us. The children absolutely loved her and enjoyed playing with her. She was wonderful with them too. We talked about Jesse's death and having Poppi seemed to add a bit of sunshine to what could have been a sad day.

See you next week!

Turkey & Pumpkin Song:

Thanksgiving Day is coming

So Mr. Turkey said.

And very careful I must be or I may lose my head.

The pumpkin told the turkey,

"I'm frightened too, oh my!

They'll mix me up with sugar and spice

and I'll be a pumpkin pie!"

Our Preschool Kitty

Jesse James

1999-2008

Our preschool kitty, Jesse James, died this morning. He was nine-years-old. It seems that he went peacefully (quickly and without suffering). The vet believes that he died of cardiac arrest.

Jesse spent the first two years of his life in the preschool with the kids and me. I just thought that it would be fitting to post a recent picture of him on our preschool blog.

Apple Unit Celebration

Here are a few of the many pictures from today. Enjoy!

Newsweek Article

I don't always share links to the articles that I read but this one is really good. Newsweek article: Struggling School Age Boys http://www.newsweek.com/id/157898

Johnny Appleseed

It was a wonderful day today and I enjoyed seeing the kids again. The break seemed to do all of us some good.

We learned about Johnny Appleseed today and the story that we read was about his travels and how he began planting apple seeds that were given away. He traveled across three states planting apple seeds.

I added some new toys to some of our centers so the children spent a lot of the morning exploring. We also spent some time outside playing. Granddaddy Joe had a small fire going so we spent a little time roasting marshmallows. We had a ton of fun today!

Next week is the last day of our apple unit so we'll end it with a hayride and costume party. We'll be ordering pizza so make sure that you send in $3 for that. We'll also be making a special treat that day too. I am looking forward to it. See you then!

Millstone Creek Apple Orchard Field Trip Pictures