Friday, January 21

The children are helping me write this blog today:

"We learned where animals hibernate. We learned that ladybugs hibernate too. They don't get much heat in the winter in their bodies. We found some places in the woods where animals can hibernate (we've posted one of those pictures). We learned that some animals hibernate so that they don't die. Chipmunks hibernate and bears hibernate."

Charlie and Jackson were able to take a few rides on the sled. There is still some snow left on the banks in the woods. We missed our other boy today, Andrew. He has pink eye.

Please bring a mug or coffee cup for our hot cocoa party next week. Also, book orders are due next week. Have a great weekend! Thanks for being so flexible and allowing the children to come play today!

Snow Day

The Hochstein Girls

Andrew & Jackson (seconds before the wipeout)

Charlie

Charlie & Family

Poppi

Jackson

Jackson & Poppi

I'm quite certain that the children have enjoyed the snow as much as I have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we were not able to meet today. It would have been so much fun to play in the snow as a class! I would like to make up our class on Friday but if that doesn't work for everyone, let me know. Also, if you have any snow pictures, email them to me and I'll post them.

It's A New Year!

It was so nice to have everyone back together again. We had an awesome day which was a wonderful start to the new year together! We are learning about Winter this month. We are going to discover some of the happenings of Winter. Today we talked about hibernation and we learned that bears don't go into full hibernation. In other words, they don't sleep the entire winter. We did find out that cubs are born in the dens during the Winter months. Jackson said, "they get pregnant in the winter" but I'm not able to verify if that is true or not. Regardless, that wouldn't be something that we would study at preschool! Ha ha! We also learned that frogs, ladybugs, and snakes all hibernate. We actually took a walk through the woods and talked about some of the habitats where these and other animals hibernate. Speaking of hibernation, Jackson has a fort that he's been working on in the woods. I captured a picture of the boys in the fort. It almost looks as if they are hibernating too! We are learning the months of the year through song. We are still working on the days of the week song which some of the children are able to sing and sign. We also talked a little about the four seasons which we also Incorporated into our music and movement time. Andrew won our "Bear Bingo" game today! We were all proud of him especially since he is one of our youngest classmates. All of the children did great with the activity which encourages counting and one to one correspondence. Each one of the children completed the activity without any complaints! We learned a new finger play today. Here it is: Thumbs in the thumb place, fingers altogether. This is the song we sing in mitten weather. I often come across some really good early childhood education articles that are worth sharing. Here is a link to one on early childhood art and creativity: www.education.com/magazine/article/raising_young_artists/

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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.