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- Classes Resume January 5th- Wishing you a wonderful holiday break!
We had a full week to celebrate the holidays, and boy did we! Every minute was filled with as much magic as humanly possible! We even began the week with a winter wonderland thanks to the BIG weekend snow storm. We bundled up all 22 children and ventured out to explore the joys of playing in the snow! Then, we shifted our focus to the upcoming holiday. Christmas is truly a feast for the senses! The lights, the sounds, and the smells ignite a joy within all of us unlike any other time of year. What better way to celebrate the holidays, than to smell, touch, taste and see it’s beauty! The story The Sweet Smell of Christmas by Patricia Scarry was inspiration for a sniff and guess game with the kiddos! They were invited to close their eyes, smell and guess the holiday scent!
When presented with cinnamon this is what they guessed:
Leland- sugar
Lennon- sugar
Lincoln- coffee
Avery-chocolate
Isla-marshmallow
Archie- pumpkin pie
When presented with almond this is what they guessed:
Nala-wood
Archie- a cherry dilly bar
Avery- the things we put in oranges (cloves)
Ripley- water
Gemma-vinegar
Levi- cherry
They were then invited to explore the lovely scent of real pine! They created their own Christmas trees using small pieces of pine projected on a larger scale on the wall. They added bells and gems to decorate their tree creations. They also enjoyed playing with peppermint play-doh and creating their own christmas cookies in our holiday bakeshop.
Seeing the beauty of Christmas often comes in the form of viewing beautiful twinkling lights on a Christmas tree! We read Christmas Tree! by Wendell and Florence Minor and experienced the many possible trees around the world before sharing some things about our own. This is what the children had to share about their own Christmas trees:
“My tree is at home all week.”- Levi
“When the first Christmas tree was over, my mom put it in the basement it got spiders on it so we got a new one! It has lights on it!”- Sebastian
“My Christmas tree lights up… it’s rainbow.”- Lennon
“Mine has golden lights.” – Clara
“I have lights on my Christmas tree and they are rainbow color.”- Donato
“My angel star lights up.”- Ben
“I just have ornaments.”- Isla
The children then made their very own loose part Christmas trees using ribbons, gems and more! They LOVED squeezing the glue! They then re-created the idea of twinkling lights on a Christmas tree by placing colorful cellophane inside cut-out stars on giant cardboard trees. These beauties were so big they filled our classroom windows and reflected colorful patterns onto the classroom floor!
Handmade gifts for our families were at the top of our to-do list this week. The kids coated ornaments with glue and encrusted them with glitter, gems, and rhinestones. These sparkling creations will make the perfect addition to your Christmas tree for years to come!
In language and literacy the children practiced the letter Dd’s formation and sound. They continue to practice their auditory pre-reading skills daily and are making wonderful progress as these drills are increasing in difficulty. We also welcomed the 3rd grade class as our reading buddies! Each 3rd grader read a holiday story with a JK student. It was wonderful to see how much joy the children shared as they read and got to know each other!
We ended the week and launched into winter break with a pajama party holiday celebration! Thank you for helping provide items for the party. The children enjoyed a special snack, and a surprise gift delivered from the North Pole right to our school office! Inside the children found fun glasses that turn twinkling lights in a variety of holiday shapes and kaleidoscopes! They were then invited to play in two dramatic play centers: The Polar Express & Santa’s Workshop! They LOVED cutting paper, taping and wrapping toys and placing them under our class tree. They even watched a live stream of the real Santa’s Workshop as they worked! Meanwhile, children were buying tickets and boarding the train to the North Pole!! Oh the fun! Let’s just say the floor was covered in lots of little pieces of paper from all the fun “ticket punching.” It was the perfect way to begin our holiday break! We wish you a restful time spent creating memories that will last a lifetime!
