Merry Christmas!

I have to be the luckiest teacher on earth because I get to teach these beautiful children! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! See you next year!

i am kneeling....it looks like I am standing doesn't it! i will be shorter than all these students by the time they are in middle school but for now I am really the tallest! :)

Twas the week before Christmas.....

Here are some pictures of the crafts we did this week....


Added berries and ribbons to our wreaths....


painted the sticks to frame our ornaments...

decorated our ornaments.....

made candy canes from pony beads and pipe cleaners...

made reindeer food......

Trains.....

Recently I got out some battery-powered trains and they have quickly become the children's favorite......as you can tell....

Let's read!

It was so cute to watch the children all climb in the reading center "pool". It started out as one child and then they just all seemed to follow. Reading sure if fun when you have a friend to do it with!

Christmas wreaths

Today we finished up a few Christmas crafts we have been working on. This one will be a wreath. First the children painted a paper plate green. Then they painted some puzzle pieces. After I cut the circle from the middle of their plate they glued on the "leaves"(puzzle pieces). I put large dots of glue on their wreaths and asked them to place groups of 3 on each dot of glue. Next week we will add the "berries"(red glitter) and tie ribbon at the top! It should be a nice addition to your holiday decorations!:)

The Polar Express

To end our study of trains the children came to school in their PJs and we watched "The Polar Express"! We had popcorn, hot chocolate and marshmellows! It was a fun day!

The number train

Today the children created a numbered train. I gave them each 6 cars numbered 0-6. First they had to put them in numerical order and then they added Christmas stickers to each car according to its number. The children are really grasping their numbers!

Making Trains

Today we constructed trains from small boxes. We read some informational books about different train cars and discussed the difference between a cargo train and a passenger train. Each child made 2 train cars....they labeled one "cargo" and one "passenger".


Then we set up a station and put our passengers out(barbies) and our cargo(small toys). As their trains passed the station they were to load up a passenger and some cargo.


Kylie is pulling away from the station with her cargo and Todd is waiting to load up!


Some of the boys weren't too sure about the barbies;)

All aboard!!

After centers we played "Ticket to Ride". Each child was given 4 tickets with a letter on the back. They couldn't ride the train unless they had a ticket. The conductor would call out "All Aboard the "C" train". Then the children would look through their tickets and give the conductor the ticket with that letter. When they were all aboard we would sing "The Wheels on the Train" or "This Little Train".

Trains

Today we started talking about Trains. We read some books that discussed the different cars a train can have and how a train moves. We also sang a couple fun songs about trains. One in particular had verses for each color. As we sang about a color I had a battery-powered train to match that I handed to a child. After we sang all the verses, each child chose a cargo car for their train to pull. This cargo car was going to hold letters that they would pick up at the station. Then we built the tracks all over the playroom floor. I set up the station where the children would pick up their letters. As their train came into the station I would call out a letter -by name or sound- and they would identify it and place it into their cargo car. This was a very fun activity.

Morning Talk

The mornings are one of my favorite times. It is so fun to watch the expression on their faces as they come into school and greet their friends. I always have an activity waiting for them at the table to work on as we wait for the rest of the class to arrive. Some children start talking right away and others listen and wait. This morning we were stringing colored wheel pasta and we talked about Trent's birthday party and his "A-go Ooter" (Diego Scooter) which prompted the others to talk about their scooters. Then we talked about dogs and babies. I rarely have to prompt the children to talk--they always have lots to say! I love it!

Wheel Patterns

I got so involved with the children on this activity that I forgot to take a picture of them in action! :) But here is their finished product. We do various activities with patterning and it is very rewarding to see the "light-bulb" moment when they can do a skill on their own!

W is for Wheels!

The children put wagon wheel- shaped pasta on "W".

computer center

Today I introduced the computer center. The children enjoyed taking turns on the Blue's Clues game.


Patrick and Chase are trying out the computer

Wheels!

This week we are talking about wheels and their many uses. We read "Bears on Wheels", made a wheel chart and looked for wheels in the classroom. Each child brought home a paper car to write down the different items in their home that have wheels. They are to bring those back to class on Thursday.


sorting different wheeled vehicles


making a wheel collage

Happy Thanksgiving!!

My camera died on Thursday so I didn't have any pictures to post of the children but I did want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Below is the poem we learned this week. We had fun reciting it while in the room and walking to the bathroom(of course we had to waddle like a turkey on our way to the bathroom also).



I saw a little turkey

Standing by a tree

It gobbled and it wobbled

And it ran away from me



Oh turkey, turkey, turkey

Please come out and play

I promise not to eat you

On Thanksgiving Day!

Shopping for Thanksgiving Dinner

Today we started talking about Thanksgiving, what it means, who would be visiting the children, and what they might eat for Thanksgiving dinner. We read the book Countdown to Thanksgiving by Judy Huelin and I had a "grocery store" set up by the housekeeping center. The children were to first make a list of the items they needed for their dinner and then they could push the cart around and collect their groceries. After shopping they would come to the cash register where someone was waiting to check them out and bag up their groceries. They had so much fun with this activity!

Kylie making her list.

Can't forget the apple pie!

After Kylie checked out the customer she would say "have a nice day!"

Sink and Float

With all the balls that were brought in this week I thought it would be fun to see which ones would float and which ones would sink. I started off this activity by explaining what float and sink were by using some objects in the classroom(a car, marble, plastic food, etc). Then I brought out the sports balls and our float/sink graph. The children each took a turn dropping in their ball, choosing the picture card that went with their ball, and then placing that card on the correct column to mark our chart. This was a fun activity and I even learned that baseballs float! I thought they would sink:)

Golfball Art

Today we used a golfball as a paintbrush. First we put a sheet of paper in the pan followed by drops of red, yellow, and blue paint. The children placed the ball in the pan and tilted the pan from side to side watching the ball roll in the paint. The paintings turned out very colorful and the golfball created some secondary colors as it rolled through the primary colors.

More sports!

The children brought in a variety of sports equipment for us to explore and play with this week. We took out all the balls and compared them and then lined them up biggest to smallest. We talked about what the different equipment was for and how it keeps the participant safe. They sure enjoyed learning about all the different games and we definitely have some future sportsmen (and women) in our midst! Enjoy the pictures:)

Sports!

Just some pictures from our Sports day today. We will also be talking about "sports" next week -so send in anything sport-related you may have! The children would love to see it!

Trent and Todd getting ready to rumble!




Kylie testing out the cleats and shin guards! They make a funny sound when you run:)






Can anyone guess what Todd will be when he grows up??:)





Chase is going to be the next Andre Agassi!

Happy Halloween!

We dressed in our Halloween costumes today for school (if the children wanted):)

Pumpkin Carving

I bought a pumpkin for the children to carve into a Jack o'Lantern today. Before cutting it open I asked them what they thought would be inside. Here were their responses:

a train

goo

a puzzle

a tangle of things

seeds





Then I cut open the top and we all looked inside. The the children got the magnify glasses so they could examine the pulp and seeds better. They all agreed it was "stinky" inside:)





I stuck my hand inside to pull out more of the strings and seeds. I asked if they wanted to help but they boys thought I was crazy!! Kylie did take a turn going in and pulling out some seeds:)

Then they all took the marker and helped draw a feature on the pumpkin for me to carve. Chase and Kylie drew the eyes and Todd drew the nose. I did the mouth. I think Mr. Jack turned out pretty cute!!

We have done a couple of Halloween art projects this week. I wish I had a picture of the children doing their footprint ghosts from Tuesday but I didn't have enough hands! It was so funny to watch the expression on the children's faces as I painted their feet with the white paint. Some giggled and others wanted to be "tough" and not laugh or wiggle. They turned out really cute.....don't know if you can tell from the picture that they are ghosts or not.....


The other art project was making a candy corn from torn paper. For morning work on Tuesday I had the children tear orange, yellow and white paper into little pieces. Then today they glued the different colors onto the paper to make their candy corn. Chase is using a pair of tweezers to pick up his white paper. This is great exercise for those fine motor skills!

[before Kylie started her project she said the blank candy corn(it was a beige color) looked like a big nose....and it really did:) They say the cutest things!]