Junior Kindergarten

Polka-Dots and Pastries

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

  • Winter Long Weekend is February 7- February 10. Classes resume at 10:00am on Feb 11. Enjoy!
  • Rest blankets were sent home to be washed. Please return them on Tuesday in their blue bag.
  • Your child’s folder was sent home with a Scholastic Order form. We will submit orders next Friday, February 14th. Here’s the link to order online: 

Connect to Our Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/PBFGL Thanks for your support!

  • Baking Show and Share: Please send in a photo of your child baking or with a favorite birthday cake or family dessert. Often desserts are at the center of special moments or holiday celebrations. Think Christmas cookies, Thanksgiving pies, Sunday cinnamon rolls, or that Elsa birthday cake they wished for! This will be a chance for the children to share a special time in their life when they created or enjoyed a memorable dessert. You can send in a photo by Tuesday, February 11th through talking points, email, or even send in a hard copy. Thank you for your help and for sharing a special memory with us!
  • We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Thursday, February 13th. Thank you to the families that signed up to provide items for the party. Please make a valentine box with your child that is large enough to hold plenty of cards and treats and bring it to school any time the week of Valentine’s Day! You can leave your child’s valentines blank or address them to each child. If your child would like to have the names of their classmates on their valentines here is a class list:

Ollie

Bodhi

Noah

Sophia

Leonardo

Izaak

Henry

Mylah

Forrest

Lola

Heidi

Hailey

Lucas

Bradford

Kipton

Wendell

Rory

Bria

Scarlett

Emma

Dax

Hunter

Stylee

Hello JK families,

Our classroom is filling up with cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, and more but a few things are missing to make the space feel like a bakery. After last week’s wonderful conversation about what we needed to house our confections, we set to work by starting with the walls of our structure. Based on drawings from the children, we came to a consensus that the building should be gray with colorful polka-dots. Using large pieces of cardboard, and nearly a gallon of gray paint, the children had a ball painting the walls of the bakeshop. They had to stretch to reach the center or jump in the middle and paint around themselves carefully. We did our best, but paint shirts were no match for such hands on fun! After the gray background dried, the children used sponges and bowls to print big and small polka-dots on the walls. Lucas then stated: “We need a roof!” The ideas just keep coming! Speaking of ideas, we really wanted to hear what the children had to say about different aspects of the bakery. We decided to divide the children up into four small groups: menu, supplies, payment, and decor based on their interests. We then met with each group and had a brainstorming session. They talked and bounced ideas off each other. Then they took some time to sketch out some of these concepts. Here are a few soundbites from each of the brainstorming sessions:

Decor Group:

How should we decorate the inside?

“Let’s draw some ingredients, powder, and some eggs, water.” -Emma

“We could put the mixer things and bowls.” -Emma

“Some more lights of cats.” -Emma

“We need a register.” -Dax

“Put numbers on tables.” -Dax

Menu Group:

What should we have available?

“Cake. What about snowman cookies?”- Sophia

“Cookies and cream. Jelly donut. We cannot forget about banana bread. My favorite!”-Mylah

“Maybe we can have some milk and cookies, chocolate cookies to dip in milk.” -Stylee

“Strawberries. Cupcakes. Donut Bread.” -Bodhi

“Bear cookies. Rainbow-colored.” – Henry

Payment Group:

Where are we going to put how much each item is?

“I want to put it right by the cookies or the cakes. Like on the tray.” -Lucas

“I want to put them (what is bought) in a baggie.”- Scarlett

“The cakes can be $11.00. The pizza can be $10.00” -Kipton

“You have to sell chocolate covered pancakes. $2.00. The person cookie should be $100.00, it is a famous one.” -Forrest

“Chocolate. $3.00.”- Izaak

Supplies Group:

What do we need to run the bakery?

“Napkins, Plates, Forks, and Spoons.” -Noah

“Flowers outside.” -Bria

“Tables and chairs. A balcony for the tables outside.”- Rory

“We need a place where they make the food.” -Rory

“They make the food in a kitchen.” -Ollie

“There’s an oven in a kitchen.” -Bradford

As you can see, we have a lot of wonderful ideas that will come to life in the weeks ahead. We also spent some time getting messy with sensory play inspired by baked goods. The children played in cake batter cloud dough, and shaving cream and orbees to mimic icing and sprinkles!

In Phonics, the class spent time practicing the sound and formation of the letter Gg. The children continue to work in their small focus groups to build their pre-reading skills.

In math our student teacher, Miss Trista, taught a lesson on counting that incorporated pretend chocolate chip cookies, made by the children! See her infographic below for more details. The kiddos also learned the terms, whole, 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4, and even practiced cutting these amounts from a whole cookie. Real baking is inevitably around the corner, and measurement will be an important part of the process.

Next week, we will shift our focus to our upcoming holiday, Valentine’s Day. The children have loved writing “love,” drawing hearts, making them out of floam, and adorning their clothes with heart stickers.

We wish you a wonderful winter break and look forward to celebrating all things LOVE next week!

All the best,

Miss Liz & Miss Claire

Painting the Bakery Walls

Bakery Design Groups

Baking Sensory Play

MathWhole, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4

Letter Practice, Reading with a friend, and more JK fun!

Welcome to the JK Bakery 🥐🍞🍰🍩

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Thursday, February 13th. Please make a valentine box with your child that is large enough to hold plenty of cards and treats and bring it to school any time the week of Valentine’s Day! If you would like to provide items for the class party, click here and sign up! You can leave your child’s valentines blank or address them to each child. If your child would like to have the names of their classmates on their valentines here is a class list:

Ollie

Bodhi

Noah

Sophia

Leonardo

Izaak

Henry

Mylah

Forrest

Lola

Heidi

Hailey

Lucas

Bradford

Kipton

Wendell

Rory

Bria

Scarlett

Emma

Dax

Hunter

Stylee

Dear JK Families,

With the weather cooperating a bit more for us this week, we were able to finally able to tally up all of our sales from our “Loving Little for Laughlin” button sale. We made a whopping $305 and were so happy to send it off with all of the donations that the Early Childhood classes collected. We shout out a huge “thank you” to all of you who sent items in and are now adorned with fabulous buttons!

Our classroom has been taken over by all things yummy and delicious as we have begun to learn more about bakeries. We read a fun book, There Are No Bears in the Bakery by Julia Sarcone-Roach, a story about Muffin the cat who helps a baby bear and its mama satisfy their hunger by giving them all the treats in a bakery. The students then shared what they knew about a bakery, including:

“A bakery means where you buy food.” -Bodhi

“I’ve had a couple of donuts there.” -Heidi

“Me and Grandma Bev go to Fat Apple Bakery and we have ice cream.” -Ollie

“They got bread in there.” -Lola

“Mommy got me donuts.” -Izaak

We relaunched some of our previous provocations, including our play dough creations and cake designs. Fresh boxes were covered in colorful “frosting”, while some of the initial cakes were decorated with sprinkles, silk flowers, ribbons, gems, and letters. There was color-mixing galore as the students collaborated on where certain spots still needed covering and which items should be added for those extra special touches.

“Oh, look how lovely that candle is.” -Wendell

“I’m putting sprinkles in the frosting.” -Emma

“Should we dump them together to make a giant purple?” -Lucas

“We mixed them together to make this color.” -Hunter

“We’re making a rainbow cake and anything on top.” -Lucas

Simultaneously, we had a gamut of treats being made with our natural-colored play dough. Silicone molds, tin cups, real candles, straws, buttons, beads, and pom poms made for some interesting creations. Here is what was said:

“This is going to be a strawberry cake.” -Scarlett

“A chocolate chip cake.” -Lola

“It’s a person!” -Forrest

“This is a heart-shaped smiley cookie.” -Lucas

“It’s super kitty!” -Hailey

“I’m adding red and blue to my pie. It’s strawberry and blueberry.” -Rory

“I’m making cupcakes” (Hunter). “Those are little cupcakes” (Rory). “Yeah, because I like little ones” (Hunter).

“This is a bug and a crab. I broke the candles for his eyes.” -Wendell

As more and more items were made, we knew we needed to think about turning part of our classroom into a bake shop. The light table area was highly suggested and was quickly cleared to help with a classroom redesign. During a group discussion, the students shared a ton of ideas of what we would need to make our space look like a real shop. Here are just a few:

“Walls!” -Lucas

“Ingredients.” -Heidi

“We need a menu for dessert.” -Mylah

“Decorations.” -Dax

“You need to get tables.” -Bria

“How about milk?” -Stylee

“What if we had a big cake to bring people in?” -Hunter

This conversation sparked a drawing session in which the students referred to printed images of real and drawn bakeries for inspiration. They carefully chose colors and shapes to create a bakery of their choice, which they then articulated to us. Next week JK will be under construction as we start to take their ideas and turn them into reality. Stay tuned!

We continued our letters and numbers studies this week, focusing on the letter Gg and #8. The students have been working so hard to remember that we start our letters and numbers at the top and the direction that each one faces. We love seeing them practice on their own during our playtime, whether it is writing on our whiteboards or in little notes/cards. We are so proud of all the learning they have been doing!

Lastly, we would like to send a warm welcome to our student teachers that will be with us in our classroom. Miss Trista and Miss Heather will be us most of the week and we look forward to sharing our learning adventures with them both. We hope you have a lovely weekend and see you on Monday!

Sincerely,

Miss Claire and Miss Liz

Bake Shop Explorations

Bake Shop Designing

Playtime/Classroom Fun/Letters and Numbers

Masks or Cakes?

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Thursday, February 13th. Please make a valentine box with your child that is large enough to hold plenty of cards and treats and bring it to school any time the week of Valentine’s Day! If you would like to provide items for the class party, click here and sign up! You can leave your child’s valentines blank or address them to each child. If your child would like to have the names of their classmates on their valentines here is a class list:

Ollie

Bodhi

Noah

Sophia

Leonardo

Izaak

Henry

Mylah

Forrest

Lola

Heidi

Hailey

Lucas

Bradford

Kipton

Wendell

Rory

Bria

Scarlett

Emma

Dax

Hunter

Stylee

Hello JK families,

We have been closely watching the children’s play in the days following the holiday break to see some areas of interest. Bubbling out of art center, is the desire to make masks, or more specifically face coverings made out of their artwork- the eyeholes are optional! Ranging from trees, to hearts, and even some faces, the children want strings attached to their art so they can wear it! Since Miss Claire and I have been busy making each child multiple masks daily, we decided to extend this idea further. We presented the children with cardboard, a variety of papers, foam balls, buttons, beads, feathers and more to see what kind of mask they would make. The foam balls as large eyeballs were a hit! The children also showed an interest in drawing a shape around their glued on items and cutting it out.

Simultaneously, cakes and other pastries have been popping up in both play-doh and blocks centers. We’ve seen both tall stacked block creations adorned with gems and smaller sheet cakes made with dough and encrusted with crystals and beads. Whether tall or small, these cakes are always presented with such pride! With baking on the brain, we decided to let the children decorate a variety of boxes with pretend icing (glue mixed with shaving cream and food coloring) sprinkles, and glitter. They loved spreading the icing over their cakes, and even squeezing it on with piping bags. We also provided play-doh with markers and a range of cookie cutters and baking pans.

After the masks, cakes, and cookies dried we decided to let the children revisit any activity of their choice. We re-launched both the masks and the bakeshop and let the kiddos go wherever they wanted! Just about every child chose to continue working on the cakes and cookies in the bakeshop. There was conversation between the children about celebrations that call of specialty cakes, an interest in adding more decorations, and of course the desire to take a bite! Next week we plan to talk with the children to discuss what they know, wonder, and want to learn about bakeries and baking. We are excited to see where this may take us!

Stay warm out there,

Miss Liz and Miss Claire

Cakes and Baked Goods

Mask Making

Daily Discovery and Big Books

It Is Snow Squishy!

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

  • Friday, January 24th is an 11:30 am dismissal. Aftercare will be available until 3:00 pm.

Dear JK Families,

Brr, the weather outside was a bit chilly this week but that did not stop us from continuing our explorations of all kinds of winter elements. Two stories got us even more in the mood for braving the cold. Ten on the Sled by Kim Norman took us on a speedy race down a mountain with 10 different animals. As each one tumbled and whirled off, the students helped us countdown until there was only one left. The best part is that they all came back together at the end for some snowy fun. We also read Snow Globe Family by Jane O’Connor that showed us what it looks and feels like to live in a snow globe. Can you imagine?! The students took on four different wintery provocations. We had a frozen Arctic with glaciers and ice caps made of frozen baking soda and water that fizzed and popped as the students squeezed vinegar from pipettes. They were sure to save the animals from the icy waters. A big tub of snow made its way into our space, adorned with ladles, scoops, buckets, and snow cone cups. The students quickly felt the cold and grabbed their gloves and mittens so that they could keep their play going. We created own own version of what looked like the colorful Northern lights using ice cubes and watercolors. The color mixing was full on and brought so much joy to a grey day. Some even discovered that the ice cubes had holes in the middle and could not only slide onto a paintbrush, but could also be colored on the inside. Lastly, a tub of InstaSnow brought squeals of delight at the fact that it still felt cold without being real snow! The children used spoons and plastic containers to make their own snow globes, as well as other snowy treats. Here is what some of them had to say about this fun material:

“When you squish it, it feels so interesting.” -Sophia

“This feels so good.” -Heidi

“Oh, it’s squishy!”- Ollie

“I made a snow cake.” -Bria

“I made a snow globe. I put a water bottle in it. The family is under there.” -Bodhi

“Uh oh, the baby is getting stuck in the snownado!” -Bradford

We also started Focus Groups this week. These smaller groups of students give us the opportunity to meet each of them where they are, honing in on certain skills that might need a little extra support. This might include letter recognition, handwriting, and phonological awareness. We continued our letter explorations as we practiced the letter Cc. The students talked about how it is just made with a curve and came up with quite a list of Cc words. We also explored the number 7 and practiced counting and writing it. To give ourselves a little more of a letter review, we invited the students to two different literacy provocations. First they practiced writing their lowercase letters in trays of oatmeal. Then using our names written on long paper along with our identity blocks, each student practiced tracing the letters in each of their friend’s names. Loose parts were also given to trace the letters.

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend and see you on Monday!

Sincerely,

Miss Claire and Miss Liz

Wintry Fun

Classroom Play

Loving Littles for Laughlin Buttons

Letter, Number, and Name Explorations

We’re Inside a Snow Globe!


CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Loving Littles for Laughlin Button Sale:

The Early Childhood Classes will be selling handcrafted buttons again this year! The buttons are $2 for one button or $3 for two, with all proceeds benefiting Laughlin Chapel in Downtown Wheeling. They will be available before and after school in the gym beginning next Wednesday, January 15th so be sure to send your child with some cash!

To keep MLK’s giving spirit going, we also decided to collect the following items to help keep the children of Laughlin Chapel clean and healthy. Please bring items to school before Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 20th. Here is what they need:

  • 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner  (16 oz average size-not travel or mega)
  • Dove soap-unscented
  • Disposable razors
  • Deodorant-preferable neutral (Ok for either gender)
  • Chapstick
  • Hair brushes
  • Toilet paper

Hello JK families,

We were quite literally “walking in a winter wonderland” this week! Snow days at Wheeling Country Day are storybook magical. One child even exclaimed, “we’re inside a snow globe!” Thank you for sending in all the snowgear so the children could still get some fresh air, build snowmen and even sled ride. The snow did make the week shorter than expected, but we packed as much learning and fun into our days as possible.

When we returned from our snow days, we jumped right in to creating buttons for our upcoming button sale that will benefit Laughlin Chapel. Using oil pastel and watercolors, the children colored circles that will soon become beautiful pieces of flair!

The class also created identity blocks. On one side of the block they drew a full body self portrait and on the other side we attached a real full body picture of each kiddo. These identity blocks will serve as markers to help the children learn their friend’s names. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, learning the names of their classmates is helpful for writing valentine’s and finding their friend’s box. With this in mind we did a name activity this week as well. Using colorful paint chips and clear stones, the children matched the letters in their friend’s names.

We also did a number review and introduced the concept of counting to a number using our fingers. Hands made out of wood, cardboard, and even rubber gloves allowed the children to build numbers and count to each number using colorful bands wrapped around each finger. Once they caught onto the concept, they were delighted to play with the extra hands and make lots of numbers!

Next week is likely to bring more winter fun with more snow in the forecast, as well as the kick off to our annual early childhood button sale. Don’t forget to send in a few dollars on Wednesday!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Miss Liz & Miss Claire

Snow much fun outside!

Counting on “our hands”

Building a friend’s name

Identity Blocks

Button Making

Classroom fun and January birthday lantern making

Let It Snow! ❄️☃️

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

MLK Jr. Day of Service at Wheeling Country Day School embodies the spirit of community and action, inspiring students to make a difference in the lives of others. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?'” This day reminds us that even the youngest among us can contribute meaningfully to building a better world.

Preschool/ Junior Kindergarten/ Senior Kindergarten will be collecting hygiene items for Laughlin Chapel. Laughlin Chapel has been an active community center in Wheeling providing various programs for local young ones. These programs include after school care, meals, transportation and much more. This nonprofit organization offers these programs free of charge to those in need. To keep MLK’s giving spirit going, we decided to collect the following items to help keep their children clean and healthy. Please bring items to school before Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 20th. Here is what they need:

  • 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner  (16 oz average size-not travel or mega)
  • Dove soap-unscented
  • Disposable razors
  • Deodorant-preferable neutral (Ok for either gender)
  • Chapstick
  • Hair brushes
  • Toilet paper

The early childhood classes will also be holding our annual button sale with proceeds supporting Laughlin Chapel. Right now the children are in the process of creating the buttons. Stay tuned for more info on when the sale will begin. Thank you in advance for your support!

We were so excited to get back at school and hope that you all had wonderful breaks with your loved ones. The students took no time to get back into a groove. We loved hearing about their favorite parts of their break, including baking cookies with grandparents, taking trips to fun places, and playing with new toys. The snow brought on a magical surprise…we love getting outside in the snow at WCDS! In preparation for snow to come, we kindly ask that you send your child with snow gear. This should include snow pants/bibs, waterproof mittens (preferred as they are easier to get on), snow boots, a hat, and extra clothes. We encourage the items to be left at school, but we understand if they need to travel to and from home.

We hope you all have a great weekend!

Miss Claire and Miss Liz

Happy Holidays, Junior Kindergarten!

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Happy Holiday Break! Classes resume January 2nd with a 10:00am start

Hello JK families,

A short week was filled with endless joy in Junior Kindergarten. We kept the mornings slow and let the children enjoy a variety of holiday provocations. Envelopes, cards, stickers and stamps, were a wonderful way for the children to write messages to Santa or family and friends. Cups, bows, and bells became towering festive trees, or holiday drinks pushed through the classroom on our rolly cart. A wrapping paper station, fully equipped with paper, bows, scissors, and tape, was a great way to help build their fine motor skills! We even filled a baby pool with fake snow and watched as they buried themselves, made snow cones or decorated the class tree with the fun fluffy stuff.

We couldn’t head off to Christmas break without having the children create a holiday gift for you! Using real pine and wire they made their own mini wreath and attached a little painted snowman. We read the story, This is Christmas, by Tom Booth and asked the children to share what they feel is a sign of Christmas. A few things the listed included, time with family, a Christmas tree, presents, playing in the snow, candy canes, and more!

We ended the week with a class party! Thank you to the families that donated supplies or food for the day. The children really enjoyed their special snack. They also participated in 4 fun party activities! Using cups on their hands, (like reindeer hooves) they tried to see how many marshmallows they could scoop in 30 seconds! They loved counting up the marshmallows to discover the winner. They also decorated a giant tree taped on the floor with loose parts, played with grinch play-doh, and played a snowball skee-ball game! It was a wonderful way to kick off our holiday break.

We wish you a joyful holiday filled with heartfelt moments and lasting memories. See you in the new year!

Miss Liz & Miss Claire

Making Holiday Gifts

Holiday Fun!

Shine Your Light Wherever You Go

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Important Announcements:

  • We will be celebrating the upcoming holiday together on Thursday, December 19th. If you would be willing to donate items for our party, please click here. We thank you in advance for your support!
  • Even with the weather being a little all over the place, we still go outside every day. We kindly ask that you send your child to school with a coat, a hat, and gloves. We want to make sure we can safely head outdoors all together.

Dear JK Families,

How do you share kindness? How do you bring light to those around you? As we have been preparing for our Winter Family Night, it was no surprise that our kiddos would help us transform our classroom into the most magical forest dance party ever. First up, the trees. The students dodged and weaved boppers as they added shades of green paint to our forest. They then added hand-drawn decorations to each one, including colorful candy canes, stars, snowmen, and pipe cleaners with jingle bells. Sheets of tin foil were marked with paint sticks and oil pastels then wrapped around chicken wire to create more trees in our forest. To help the students shine their lights even brighter during their special song, they each created a tea light holder using salt dough. Once shaped to their liking, colorful gems and beads were used to add that extra sparkle.

All of the students’ hard work came alive during our Winter Family Night and we just loved seeing their eyes glimmer with pride as they shared their time with their families. The semi-interactive light wall brought amazed eyes as the simplest tap of a finger magically made red, blue, purple, green, and yellow. The dancing trees swayed to and fro, keeping time with the holiday classics that brought out some stellar dance moves. A flashing zip line resulted in squeals of delight as the students sent their ornaments whizzing across the ceiling. Top it off with a cozy story time, the sweetest rendition of This Little Light of Mine, a hot cup of cocoa, and the cutest bear treat bag ever, we could not have asked for a more enchanting night together. We want to thank Miss Dena for helping all of us learn our song, Mrs. Dodd for preparing our yummy drinks/snacks, and all of the other faculty members that assisted in making the night a success. We hope you all felt the undying love we have for all of the students and how important it is for us to share their everyday experiences with you. They truly are a magical group and we just adore them!

Hold up! We can’t forget about the performance of the best drumming band ever, Zee Zoop! The students gave an excellent run for our music video, which you can find by clicking here.

We finished off the week with another journal entry, using a prompt inspired by our book and the real reason behind the holiday season. The students finished the sentence “I can share kindness and bring a little light by…”This is what they had to share:

“Flashlights and gingersnap cookies.” -Lucas

“Catching fireflies in jars.”-Lola

“Playing with my sister.” -Scarlett

“Spending time together in a tent.” -Hunter

“Playing outside with my sister.” -Henry

“Giving hugs to my mom.” -Emma

“Giving hugs.” -Kipton

“Eating and playing together.” -Hailey

“Giving cookies and bringing light.” -Forrest

“Giving roses.” -Noah

“Decorating a tree with light.” -Rory

“Giving a light and a rainbow.” -Leonardo

“I’ll bring some light to my Mimi’s house.” -Bradford

“Giving a cookie and a lantern away.” -Dax

“Loving this kind of rainbow.” -Stylee

“Giving someone a present on their birthday.” -Bodhi

“Helping someone up after they fall by giving them water and bandaids.” – Sophia

“”Giving them a flower.” -Bria

“Helping people when they fall at school.” -Mylah

“Giving someone a lantern when they are sad.” -Wendell

We hope you enjoyed our night together and thank you for coming! Have a great weekend!

Miss Claire and Miss Liz

Preparations

Early Childhood Winter Family Night

Classroom Fun and SNOW!

Zee Zoop: The Greatest Drumming Band Ever

Important Information and Upcoming Events:

Wednesday, December 11th: Please dress your child in red. We will be recording a music video of the kids performing in their drum band.

Thursday, December 12th 6:00 – Early Childhood Winter Family Night

Children should come dressed in festive attire they feel best wearing. Please drop them off in their classroom by 5:45. Families can then head to the gym and find a seat. The children will perform a special song and then enjoy a story read live by their teachers. The story, Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light, will then be brought to life in each of the early childhood classrooms. Families will be invited to enjoy refreshments and travel freely around campus while participating in a variety of heartwarming activities sure to bring joy this holiday season!


CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Hello JK families,

The Christmas tree is up, holiday music is filling the air, and the children are abuzz with preparations for our early childhood winter family night next week. We read the story that will inspire the evening, Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light by Apryl Stott. In the story, a big brown bear is misunderstood by the other forest animals. His human friend, Coco, suggests he win their affection by gifting them with cookies and lanterns. They soon find out the gifts aren’t what matter to the animals, but in fact Bear’s love and kindness. At the conclusion of the story, we find out that Bear loves to dance and they have a forest dance party! We have decided to transform areas of our classroom into an interactive forest dance party next Thursday night. The children set to work creating a variety of elements needed for the night. They painted unconventional things like umbrellas and curtains using spray bottles and paint. Our movement obsessed kiddos loved testing out how the suspended fabric and propped up umbrellas would handle the paint. They also created their own clear wall sconce using plastic bowls and Sharpies, and made beautiful ornaments stuffed with pom pom balls and lights. We also transformed the big wooden tree house by covering it with sticky contact paper and letting the children cover it with paper, pine, ribbon, and more! We won’t reveal how all these things will come together for our family night as to not ruin the surprise, but trust us, it’s going to be magical!

Before we left for Thanksgiving Break, the class had begun exploring sound in addition to movement. Inspired by their love of drumming on buckets and the story Say Zoop, by Herve Tulle, we decided to have the children perform several of the stories pages in their very own drum band. Picture this, 23 four-year olds behind buckets, following a beat in unison! What FABULOUS sight and… sound! Nearly every morning the children have been practicing together. We decided to ask them what we should name their band. Here are a few ideas:

“Soph, The Best Drumming Band Ever”- Sophia

“The Music Band” -Lola

“Zee Zoop” – Noah

“The Bungalls or Zee Zoop” – Wendell

“The Drum Band” – Lucas

“Bu, Monkey” -Scarlett

“Zoop” -Emma

“Wild Animals” -Forrest

“Drum Band”- Bodhi

“Among Us”- Rory

We decided to call the group, Zee Zoop – The Greatest Drumming Band Ever! We had to figure out a way for families to see the class preform, so we decided to film a music video! When we asked the children what they should wear for the performance, red was the universal color choice. So, with our band name chosen, and our outfits picked, we plan to film a quick video of the children performing next Wednesday. Please send your child in red. The music video premiere will take place on Thursday at the EC winter family night. We can’t wait for you to see them rock!

We wish you a wonderful weekend,

Miss Liz and Miss Claire

Making Glowing Wall Sconces

Transforming the Treehouse

Painting Curtains (to make our forest sky)

Painting Umbrellas (to make tree tops)

Making Pom-Pom Ornaments

Finishing Our Bead Roller Coasters

Decorating our Class Christmas Tree

Counting Our Blessings in JK

CHECK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

⭐️Mark your calendars! Early Childhood Family Night: December 12th at 6:00 p.m. More information to come!

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude.” -A.A. Milne

Dear JK Families,

Our hearts could not possibly hold any more gratitude for these tiny little souls. Their love of life and creative imaginations make each day magical and inspire us to learn right along with them. With a short week, we spent our time together sharing what we are most thankful for. The students added images to their Fall collage pieces using colorful oil pastels. Some even chose to write words such as Family and Love to celebrate everything special in their hearts. The images were then pieced together to make two beautiful runners for our Thanksgiving Luncheon tables. We joined the rest of the school and alumni to celebrate the upcoming holiday together, not without watching a few innings of the Faculty vs. Alumni Turkey Bowl game first. The Faculty players took the win this year and we enjoyed cheering on each team. We want to give a big thank you to Mrs. Dodd and Mr. and Mrs. Cooper for preparing such a yummy meal, as well as all of the parent volunteers for their hard work. It was a great way to kick-off our break from school.

We hope you have a wonderful holiday filled with lots of love and good food. See you on Monday!

Sincerely,

Miss Claire and Miss Liz