Numbers, numbers and more numbers have dominated our last few weeks in the classroom. We have been working with patterns, measuring, Venn diagrams, rote counting, subitizing, number formation, addition, and subtraction all in our play and daily routines. Ms. Beth and I are so impressed with these smart and curious Blue Whales.
The Blue Whales enjoyed decorating our classroom for Christmas with lights, garland and stockings. The children know this is their classroom and were proud of their decorating abilities.
On Wednesday Bo’s mom, Kyle, joined us during center time to help the children put together their gingerbread houses. And then the fun and creativity continued Thursday when parents joined us to decorate the gingerbread houses and gingerbread cookies to enjoy with their frosting, candies and sprinkles. A huge thank you to our wonderful families for your donations, time, support and enthusiasm for this festive holiday activity. It was a wonderful event.
The children have been working on a special gift and card to bring home to you. They practiced their patterning skills in small groups with red, white and green cubes and by creating a candy cane ornament.
Christmas tree puzzles (a green paper triangle cut into strips) were available for the Blue Whales to figure out how to put the Christmas tree back together and decorate it with shiny gems. It was fascinating to watch how each child approached the task and created beautiful unique Christmas trees. You can see their amazing work hanging outside our classroom.
We continued to rip a link each day on our green and red paper chain for our Countdown to Christmas. Every day a child rips a link off as we countdown to Christmas. The children are talking about ripping the links on their chains at home too.
We are spreading kindness at our STEM table where we had boxes, gift wrap and small gifts. The children can pick an eraser, tatoo and/or sticker to put in a box and wrap and then give to another child in the classroom. We reused the boxes. The Blue Whales are such kind friends and I’m sure you have seen the stickers, tatoos and erasers in your child’s backpack. They are also practicing their measuring, estimating, cutting and fine motor skills and having so much fun. I think all of you have some excellent helpers if you need assistance with gift wrapping at home.
We read The Gingerbread Man and The Gingerbread Girl and talked about the similarities and differences in the two books. The Blue Whales enjoy story time and it leads to some thoughtful discussions.
We had Guess-n-Tell and Leland did a great job with three clues about his item and calling on friends to guess the item. The Blue Whales were able to guess Leland’s item because of his great clues.
PRESCHOOL CHRISTMAS CONCERT - Please plan to join us for our concert on Wed, Dec. 18 at 9:30. Drop your children in the classroom at 9:00 and then find a seat in the sanctuary. This concert is our Christmas gift of love to you. After the concert, we will say goodbye for the holidays.
We are enjoying creating, moving, singing, discussing, observing, reading and playing with our Blue Whale friends. Hope everyone has a nice weekend.