Holidays Around the World

This week the children learned about the different holidays that people celebrate around the world.  We began our celebration of holidays around the world by talking about Hanukkah.  Ms. Marlene came into our class to read a story, light the Menorah, and give our children gelt.  The children learned the dreidel song and also learned how to play dreidel.  They have absolutely loved playing dreidel.  At first they sat at the table and practiced spinning the dreidels but as the week went on they got really good at playing the game.  Most of them now know all the names of the symbols and what the symbols mean.  The dreidel game is great because they get to practice their math skills while learning good sportsmanship.  When they get 'heh' they have to figure out what half of what is in the middle pile is.  When they get 'gimel' they get all of the pieces in the middle and must count those.  They have also learned to always say good game to each other and be good sports if they do not win.  We also made latkes as a class.  The children helped make the mixture and got to see them cooking on the pan.  They each tried them and then had to write if they liked them or not.  Most of you have probably seen what the results were in the class hanging next to the colored sand Menorahs and Stars of David. 

The following day Sophia's nanna came in to read a story and do a very special art project.  She read a book about the story of The Nativity and then had the children create a beautiful Christmas wreath with baby Jesus in a manger in the middle.  The children were very excited about the story and then were just as excited to recreate it as a class.  Then they worked very hard on the art project.  They had to cut and glue baby Jesus on one of the paper plates then decorate the other paper plate with green tissue paper to make it look like a wreath.  The children spent a lot of time making their wreaths look perfect.  If you have not seen these yet please check them out on the have-to job board!

On Thursday we talked about two other holidays, Kwanzaa and Las Posadas.  We read a story about Kwanzaa where it discussed The Kinara and what each candle represents.  The children then got to color in their very own Kinara by looking at the color key and matching it to the words in the candles to properly make it.  We also read a story about Las Posadas which was a spanish counting book.  The children learned how to count up to ten in Spanish while learning what Las Posadas is.

On Friday Amelia's mommy came to read the class a story.  She read Elf on the Shelf which was a story about an elf that watches children throughout the year and reports back to Santa if they were bad or good and what they want for Christmas.  All the children got to tell the Elf what they wanted for Christmas and then got a special treat out of his stocking.  They then were asked to decorate their own elf and name it as a have-to job.

Music

Throughout the day the children continue to have individual violin practice with either Ms. Michelle or Ms. Amy.  They are really enjoying it and often ask for it!

* We need more sign ups for weekly fruit for after Christmas break.  The sign up sheet is right next to the sign in.  Thank you!


* Please join us on Tuesday December 20th at 11am for our holiday celebration where we will be making cookies, reading a Christmas story, caroling, and sharing a tradition from my (Laetitia)
Christmas! Please have your child wear red and green or something festive. :)

Tis' The Season!

This week the children were eager to decorate our classroom and make it look festive!  We decided to make snowflakes to put in the windows, Christmas stockings, and a 'countdown until vacation' chain.  The snowflakes and stockings were a lot of fun for the children to make and these particular activities helped with small motor strength and control.  The children had to use scissors to cut out triangles in the folded up coffee filters and then rip the tissue paper into small pieces to make their snowflakes colorful.  Check out the windows to see how great they came out!  While the snowflakes worked on strength the stockings focused more on small motor control.  Each child had to string their own stocking.  They had to start from the top and move the string in and out through the holes all the way around.  This was tough for the children but with a little help they all quickly got the hang of it.  When they were done they then had to decorate the top of the stocking with cotton balls.  The countdown chain is a fun way for the children to actual see how many days are left before break.  They each got to write one number on a ring and will each get to rip one off daily.

This week we began celebrating holidays around the world.  On Tuesday we celebrated Krampus.  This is a holiday that is celebrated in Austria and Hungary.  The children leave their shoes out and Krampus and St. Nick go around together rewarding all the good children and leaving stones in the shoes of the bad children.  The adults celebrate this tradition with a big party on the streets where adults wear masks and run around the city.  We had the children leave their shoes in the hallway and when they heard the bells they went out to check their shoes and of course they ALL found treats!  We also had the children make Krampus masks at the art table.
                                   


















The children really enjoyed the survey sheets that were a choice at the bean table this week.  The sheet said "Do you like...".  The children had to think of something they wanted to ask their friends and write it at the top.  Some of the ones the children chose were ice cream, cookies, cats, flowers, and pancakes.  They went around the class with a clipboard and a marker and asked their friends.  If the children said yes they would put a check or write the first letter of the child's name in that column.  If the child said no they would do the same in the other column.  When they were done asking everyone in the class they would count how many said yes and how many said no and write the totals on the bottom of the paper.  The children REALLY enjoyed going into the preschool class and asking those friends.

This week we went outside to check out the tree we have been observing in the last couple months.  The first time we went out and the children noticed it had brown and green leaves on it.  This week when we went outside they observed something different.  There were no leaves on the tree so they could only draw the trunk and the branches.  The children brought their notebooks outside with them so they could draw exactly what they saw.  Shortly after we had to run inside because it was too windy!

Music

In music this week we had rhythm wars where half the children were doing one rhythm while the other half of the class was doing another.  We took the big drums out and had a rain storm since it was raining outside.  We also started learning holiday songs.

We had a special visitor from the dentist office on Thursday.  She came to talk to the children about proper ways to brush their teeth and floss.  The children enjoyed listening to her and sharing how they brush their teeth.  She also showed them all the different tools from her office.

Thank you to Sophia's nanna for coming in to read There was a Cold Lady who Swallowed Some Snow by: Lucille Colandro to the children.  They all really loved the story and enjoyed singing along with her.

Another thank you to Taryn (Adrian's mommy) for giving us two large maps to hang in our classroom!  One of the United States and one world map.  We are looking forward to begin tracking where family members and friends are from.  Please remember if your going away or having visitors come in from out of town we are looking for postcards or mementos to hang around the maps.

Staying Warm By The Fire!

The children seemed very eager to return to school after Thanksgiving break.  They were excited to share with their friends where they went, what they did and their favorite Thanksgiving food.  The children seemed particularly interested in the new set up in the dramatic play area, the camping site!  This whole week they have all spent a lot of their time camping.  They have enjoyed making s'mores and chatting around the fire.  It is really cute to watch them roasting the marshmallows (cotton balls) using sticks.  They have also enjoyed playing in the tent.  Most of them pretend they are a family on a camping trip while others like to pretend they are wild animals living in the woods.  Since they liked sitting by the campfire making s'mores so much we thought it would be fun if we could make the scene come alive.  On Friday, we let the children have real s'mores while reading them a story around the pretend fire.

The letter of the week this week was "C".  The children had a lot of fun showing us the proper way to form it, practicing the sounds it makes, and thinking of words that begin with the letter.  We decided that we would make a "c" word caterpillar where the children could write words that begin with the letter c in the body.  We began by cutting out the circles and asked the children to paint them green.  When they dried the children chose a word they wanted to write in each circle.  They were so eager to do this that we had to make the caterpillar even longer because they kept thinking of new words!  The children also did their Handwriting Without Tears "C" page to practice starting the letter at the top.  Some of the children only did one page while others sat their for long periods of time and did other letters and numbers as well.

The children have been enjoying the new map puzzle of the United States.  We labeled the back of the puzzle pieces and the base of the puzzle so the children could match the words to find the proper place of the pieces.  The children have been looking for the places where they have family members and telling their classmates.  We will begin placing the children's name and relatives on the map in the United States first and eventually will expand to a world map.  If any of you are going out of state for the holidays or having relatives come from out of state it would be great if they could bring a postcard or some sort of small memento representing their state.

  

MUSIC

This week the children each wrote their own rhythms and shared them as a group.  We also played hide the eraser with resonator bells.  The children had to make soft sounds when the child who was looking for the eraser was far away and as they got closer they made louder sounds until the child found it.  Now that we are in December we began singing holiday songs!

REMINDERS:

* If there is a holiday tradition you would like to share in our class please sign up on the calendar by the sign in sheet.

* As it gets colder outside please make sure that your child's change of clothes in his/her cubby is weather appropriate.

The Week before Thanksgiving

The children had a lot of fun doing many Thanksgiving based activities and learning about why we celebrate Thanksgiving.  We talked about an Indian man named Squanto and the Pilgrims and how they came over from England on a boat called the Mayflower.  We also talked about how much Squanto helped the Pilgrims to establish a life in Plymouth.  The children were excited to hear about the different ways Squanto helped and loved that he helped the pilgrim children as well.   As most of you have seen we have made a big tree in the dramatic play area.  This tree will be our "thankful tree."  The children have enjoyed coloring it brown and in the next couple days they will color in leaves to add to the tree.  Before adding the leaves to the tree, they will need to think of some things they are thankful for to write on the leaf.  Once the whole tree is complete it will have a bunch of different colored leaves on it with the children's thoughts.

The children made turkeys using their hands and feet for their body and wings.  We traced the children's feet and then asked them to cut it out for the body of the turkey.  Then they made the wings with their handprints.  The following day the children added feathers, eyes, and beaks to their turkeys.  The kids were very proud of them and loved how they came out.  Check them out!  The children also made placemats that they will be using at the Green Corn Dance (Thanksgiving feast) on Tuesday.

This week we worked a lot on numbers 1-20.  Not only on counting up to 20 but writing and identifying them as well.  We put out a lot of fun sheets on the bean table for the children to do.  The children were told that they needed to do at least two of the sheets but could do more if they wanted.  These sheets were all Thanksgiving themed.  The activities varied from follow the dots/numbers to two digit basic addition problems.  All of the sheets allowed the children to practice counting objects and writing the amount they counted.  Some of the children came right over and did all of them while others did the two that were required of them and then went back to their original centers.  The sheets varied in difficulty so all the children were able to feel confident and comfortable doing the work.  When the work was complete the children were given a choice about which ones they wanted to hang on the have-to job board and which ones they would take home.

The children had so much fun with the magician!  They were all laughing at his stories and all seemed very surprised with his tricks.  He did a lot of magic tricks where the children could participate with him by saying the magic words or making motions with their hands, which they of course loved.  He also did a really neat trick where he asked the children to come up and help him and ended up with a live goldfish in a glass.  It was great!

Here is what some of your children had to say when asked what a magician does....

"He's a magic man.  He makes things invisible." -OL

"Makes stuff disappear" -EH

"They disappear (The magician walked out of the class) SEE! I don't see him anymore" JL

"Make bunnies come out of their hats!" AR


MUSIC
We had a lot of fun singing Thanksgiving and Fall songs this week.  The children's favorite song is "Ted the Turkey," but they also enjoy "Pumpkin Pie."  We also did a lot of rhythms this week.  The children are getting very good at passing the rhythms as if they were passing a ball to each other.  They are all getting much better at writing rhythms using sticks and correcting a rhythm if it looks incorrect.

Thank you to the troops!

We had a very fun week and were very busy.  The children started the week by going outside, picking all different color leaves, and creating either an animal or a man with their leaves.  I read the story Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert, which is about a leaf man that floats through different parts of the world and sees different leaf animals on his adventures.  The children got ideas from the story and chose what they wanted to make with their leaves and googly eyes.  The children made men, chicken, butterflies, and monsters with the leaves they had collected outside.  

Along with the have-to jobs, the children have enjoyed playing in the different centers of the class.  They have begun having a real interest in academics and bring numbers and letters/sounds into all the play.  In the dramatic play area the children were reading the number books to each other.  They would each take a specific number book and read it to the other children while counting the pictures on each page.  The children also have enjoyed using the tweezers to count and pick up the different foam shapes and put them in their proper number cups.  At this point we are concentrating on recognizing numbers 10-20.  The children have been getting a lot of exposure to these numbers in morning meeting and should master that skill soon.  They also have been using the number stamps to practice recognizing numbers but also properly forming them.

In order to celebrate Veteran's Day we talked to the children about what we were celebrating and why Veteran's Day is a holiday.  We also talked about what soldiers are and why they are so important to our country.  We decided that we would have the children write a letter to a soldier.  We brainstormed as a class what we would write and this is what your children came up with.  Here is the letter we will be sending to the troops.

Dear Hero,

We are writing from The Suzuki Preschool of Newton and we are the prek class.  We wanted to thank you for fighting bad guys and girls to protect us.  We wanted to say hi and we love you.  How are you doing? We are doing fine.  Where do you fight? How is your family doing?  We hope you are well.  Where do you live?  We are thinking of you and thank you!

Love,

The kids at the Suzuki Preschool of Newton

Along with this letter the children each made a American flag that we will send as well.  Each of the American flags the children made have what they want to be when they grow up on the back.  Here are what your children said:

When I grow up I want to be a...

Fisher -IG

Doctor -AR

Race Car Driver -AN

Soldier -AW

Big Sister -JL

Princess -HK

Superhero -SK

Doctor -AS

Nurse -CK

Princess -OL

Soldier -PR

Mommy -SB  

MUSIC

This week the children decorated their box violins and have started using them in music class.  They practiced placing them correctly on their shoulders and just getting used to having them.  They also have been learning Thanksgiving songs that we hear around the class all day!