Grace Garden Preschool

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our classroom.  Our sparkly trees and poinsettias decorate the walls.  Stocking hang by the “fireplace.” Books about Christmas fill our bookshelf.  Holiday window "clings" decorate our glass doors. Hand crafted snowflakes dangle from the ceiling.  Laughter fills the air as the children played with toys.

This week, the children had fun searching for "presents" on the Sensory Table. The holiday book project was completed and ready to be shared with family.  We danced the Reindeer Hokey Pokey till we dropped from exhaustion.  The children practiced their songs to sing for our birthday celebration.

On Thursday, we were finally ready to celebrate Baby Jesus's birthday! Our decorated birthday presents were in the hall around our handprint Christmas tree. It was a sweet sight to see them gather around the birthday cake to sing "Happy Birthday" to Baby Jesus. What a special gift they gave to the grownups in the room, a gift to remind us of our own childhood memories.  What joy!

For our Special Areas this week:

Garden:  We cleaned up the bed and took out our freeze damaged squash and basil plants.  Some of the children really enjoy picking up the dried leaves and trash.  We look forward to planting more seeds and plants in the spring.

Chapel:  Ms. Sally graced us with her special energy. She tells great stories and amuses us all. The story was about the First Christmas with Mary, Joseph, shepherds, the angel and precious Baby Jesus.  Then we sang one of our favorites, "I Just Want To Be A Sheep".

Music:  Ms. S. had us singing some favorite Christmas classics.  We love to play with the jingle bells.

We thank Macey and Maya for the delicious cheese sticks and cheddar bunnies.

When we return on Jan. 10, our unit will be Community Helpers.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas with your family and friends. Our prayers are with you for safe travels. May 2012 be filled with blessings, joy and good health for all.

Ms. Mary and Ms. Jessica

We can feel the excitement building as Christmas approaches.  The change in weather adds to this festive time.  It was fun to see the Dragonflies bundled up in their coats, hats and mittens.  They came in ready to learn and play.  We have been finishing up our "Winter Holidays" project.  The children have enjoyed finger painting, painting with brushes on the easel, gluing and getting to use lots of glitter.  (Our floors are sparkly from all the glitter!)  Our Sensory Table was turned into a construction site with sand, small rocks and trucks. We used Play-doh to make "cookies" using Christmas shape cutters. We read lots of fun holiday books. One of our favorites was It's Christmas David by David Shannon.  Today we talked about holiday celebrations around the World.  The Dragonflies were amused to hear Merry Christmas in different languages.  Or maybe, they were amused by our attempts to say Merry Christmas in different languages.  Regardless of the reason, it was fun to hear them laugh.  

For our Special Areas this week:

Garden:  On Wednesday we inspected the damage done by the frost.  The children were shocked to see their wilted squash plants.  Our basil plant did not survive either.  Luckily, the peppermint and strawberries looked good. 

Chapel:  Ms. Sally read us the story, God Gave Us You.  To illustrate the message of this book, she brought a large mirror for the children to see themselves.  They all enjoyed hearing how special they are.

Music:  Ms. S. taught us some new holiday songs: "Silent Night", "Feliz Navidad" and the "Twelve Days of Christmas".

Leslie, thank you for the snacks and organizing our new snack rotation.

Next week our unit is, "Christmas."  We'll celebrate with a birthday party for Baby Jesus next Thursday.  You will receive more info on this event next week.

Stay warm and healthy,

Ms. Mary and Ms. Jessica

The energy and excitement of the holidays could be felt in our room this week.  Thanksgiving was long forgotten and Christmas was the new topic.  Getting into our theme of "Winter Holidays" was easy.  The Dragonflies were introduced to two new holidays, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah.  We had fun counting the candles that represent these celebrations.  Our bookshelf had books that showed us more about these special times in December.  Our Sensory Table transformed into a winter wonderland.  The children had a blast driving their cars and trucks through snow created by foam.  We changed up the driving conditions by adding ice and sand.  The season of winter was seen in our art projects: new placemats, snowflakes and a snow scene with trees.  We will use the snow scene in a book we're making for the holidays. 

For our Special Areas this week:

Garden:  We took a train ride in our wagon to see the whole bed.  Our mint plants are coming back after the hot summer.  The basil plant is still growing.  Our squash plant has several blossoms.  We are eager to see the squash.  The Ladybug's radish plants are thriving.  Ms. Kym pointed out the lovely Passion Ivy that is wrapping around the fence.  We can't wait to see the purple flowers in spring.

Chapel:  Was canceled due to an event at St. John's Church.  Ms. Jessica read a Bible story from a special book given to her by her grandparent's when she was a little girl.  Then we sang some of our favorite songs.  We also said a prayer for Pastor Amy.  She has just recently had surgery and will return in January.

Music:  Ms. S. used our theme and found some fun songs for Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas.  We look forward to the visuals she makes to go with the songs.  She is truly a gifted artist.

Julie and Will, thank you for the delicious snacks.

Next week our unit is, "Christmas Around the World." 

Another book we read this week was Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney.  It's a great story about this busy time of the year and the stress we can all feel.  The antidote for this condition is cuddling with our Mama.  So remember to cuddle your little Dragonflies even more in the weeks ahead.

Take a deep breath,
Ms. Mary and Ms. Jessica