New Schedule and Some Concert Pics

I just wanted to let everyone know that I've just added the second half of the year for both groups  to the online schedule.

Since announcing a new schedule makes for a boring blog post I thought I'd throw in my pictures from the Christmas concert too.  

How cool was that to see an entire 6 rows dedicated to Our Cool Preschool?

Christmas around the world

The kids were a bit reluctant on Tuesday to *work*, but they were right on task today. Look how many ways we can show 5! 4 and 1, 2 and 3

2 and 3, 3 and 2, 4 and 1...

We also spent some time on December's skills. We practiced writing 5 on Gavin's back (he's a bit ticklish!). We practiced cutting *straw* for Jesus' manger. We practiced putting our thumbs on top (in the little hole) and our other fingers on bottom in the big hole. Cutting takes some serious concentration.

It made me smile to hear how many pieces of hay the children cut in an effort to help baby Jesus be snuggly.

We also practiced "dot, dot, dot" with the glue. My gluing suggestions were not heeded, as it turns out, and we're out of glue now :). I'll try to remember to get some more...


We talked about our Christmas traditions. Gavin asked if some friends' traditions were "fiction"; some of them were pretty extravagant!

And we talked about traditions in other countries.

Mexico:

In Mexico, children often celebrate Christmas with a pinata. Those lucky ducks: no celebration is complete without a pinata!

Whack it, Simone!

Ireland:

In Ireland, people put candles in their windows to show that they would have welcomed Mary and Joseph as they were looking for a place for Mary to give birth to baby Jesus. I wish you could have seen the tender expression on Ellie's face as she talked about how she would have made room for Mary and Joseph.

India:

The Christian people in India remember that Jesus is the Light of the World by lighting clay lamps filled with oil and placing them around the walls and roof. Here's Ellie, working hard at her pinch pot:

With the left-over clay, she made a rollie-polly and a rollie-polly baby (that's what this is, can't you tell?):

And here's Gavin with his lighted lamp after we baked it in the oven.

I talked to them a little bit about what "Jesus is the Light" means, but probably the more meaningful conversation came while they were shaping the dough. The kids asked questions such as, "Why did Jesus have to die?" and "Did it hurt?" and "How did Jesus dying make it so we can live with Heavenly Father again?" These kids are so thoughtful. Such sweet spirits.


It was a really fun preschool day to teach. Hearing the children speak lovingly of Jesus, and then seeing them compliment each other so much on their projects (especially Matthew, he was really dishing it out!), make a fort together, sing those sweet primary Christmas carols, and then work to solve a MAJOR sitting problem at the table until everyone was satisfied, just warmed my heart!

We missed you, Rachel and Maylie. Feel better, Rachel!

Christmas in France

In honor of Thomas, we learned how children in France celebrate Christmas.

First, the kids looked at a picture of the Eiffel tower

and tried to build one out of Magnetix.

We learned that in cathedral squares, the story of Christ's birth is re-enacted.

Some of the boys put on costumes to play the parts of

the shepherd, a wise man, and Joseph.

Nearly every French home displays a Nativity scene or creche at Christmastime.

The boys colored their own nativity scenes.


In France, families once had a Three Kings Cake with a bean hidden inside it.
Whoever found the bean in their slice was made King for the day.

Seth found the bean today--yeah!

Finally, on Christmas Eve, French children leave their shoes by the fireplace

to be filled with treats by Pere Noel.

(Thomas thought this tradition was "disgusting.")

Father Christmas did find their shoes by the fireplace and left them some gold coins!

Joyeux Noel!

S is for snow

We talked a lot about the letter S today. We noticed that two of the days of the week start with S - S is everywhere!


S is for Stories, some were fiction and some non-fiction:

This book was one of the best non-fiction books I could find related to the topic. We practiced breathing as slowly as the hibernating bat and woodchuck in the book.


This one comes as a kit in the library with a CD. Very cute, worth checking out.


And this was one of the favorites. There were transparency pages inside and a little musical button we each got to push at the end.


And of course, you can't read books about snow without reading this classic. Gavin thought this story was believable until we got to the part where the bear crawled in the mitten, and then he decided it must be pretend.

S is for snow.
Then we made some snow. We scooped and measured and experimented with making snow starting with blue water.



S is for subtraction.

Seven little snowmen fat
Each with a funny hat
The sun came out and melted one
What a sad thing was that!

Rachel knows her facts; she could figure out the difference each time without even counting the remaining snowmen!


Then we made our gift snowballs. The kids chose to put gems inside the soapballs. Here's Gavin counting his. He needed lots because "my mom REALLY likes diamonds!". A few kids chose to practice printing S instead of playing with the goopy soap.



Preschool can be SO educational! Just ask Daniel what he learned J/K :)

Winter Wonderland!

I can't figure out how to move these pictures, so I will just talk about them in this order! This is Seth acting like the Abominable Snowman?

Below, we are watching our ice experiment while eating lunch. There is sugar in one cup, salt in another, and David suggested we put mustard in the third. I asked the boys which ice cube they thought would melt first. At first many thought the sugar would win, but then Jack hypothesized that the spicy mustard would melt it faster. All the other boys thought that was logical! Of course, the salt won.

Next we made some icicle art with ice cylinders and blue jello powder.

Who knew art could be so tasty?

Jack really showed his artistic talent with his blue swirls--
notice the intense concentration!

We went downstairs to our pretend winter wonderland!

Loaded our arms with sock ammo. . .

for our snowball fight!
We saw some moose footprints in the snow.

Wow, we had fun talking about winter today. What do animals do in the winter? How do they stay warm? We learned about bears, moose, reindeer, polar bears, and sled dogs.

service with a smile

More fun at preschool went like this:

• writing sheets -- numbers, "s" and silly snake poem (finding the letter "s" and dotting them)
• playdough ("making cookies, "making playdough sausage," "making playdough snowmen," are things the boys said as they played)
• Show and Tell and Who's turn to share?" song. Each person had a chance to be in front and present something to share. The boys did an excellent job at presenting and listening to each other. After each item was presented as a group we sounded out each item to determine what letter it started with. (The boys were good at this!)
• Listening to the "Ant Story" and the personalities of each of the ant siblings (dilig-ant, persist-ant, obedi-ant, pleas-ant, observ-ant, and last serv-ant)
• Learning a "Service With a Smile" song and putting on a show (holding up the letters S-E-R-V-I-C-E to spell service)
• Reading "The Doorbell Rang" by Pat Hutchins (a book about sharing cookies). While we read this book we made Friendship Fudge -- the ingredients were in a bag and each person took turns squishing the bag to mix it up. Each time the page of the story turned, they passed the bag. We talked about how service is helping others and we all have to take turns helping... At the end we got a delicious treat!
• All the boys brought ingredients to make another treat (Gooey Yummy) and we made that after the story. They decorated the plates and each took home a BIG treat (cereal goo and fudge) to SHARE with their families.

Here are the recipes...

Gooey Yummy

2 cubes of butter, 1 cup Karo syrup, 2 cups brown sugar -- boil 6 minutes. Add can of sweetened condensed milk and stir for 2 minutes. Add a box of Corn Pops. Stir. Spread on a sheet and let cool.

Friendship Fudge

In a gallon ziplock bag add the following: 4 cups powdered sugar, 3 oz. cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup cocoa, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/2 cup nuts (I left this out because of peanut allergies), 1 cup mini marshmallows.

Mix together by squeezing the bag as it is passed around the group. (Hint: double bag the mixture and soften the butter and cream cheese).

sky

Activities we did --

• Read It Looked Like Spilt Milk and made our own cloud symmetrical art using white paint and folding our paper. The boys were pretty creative at telling each other what their clouds looked like.
• Sang songs about weather and talked about things in the sky
• Went to outer space with our pretend space suits and helmets
• Learned about the different shapes the moon makes (from the light) and did a shadow play.
• Looked at the painting "Starry Night" and created our own using chalk (dipped in water) on black paper.
• Ate lunch and talked about the Christmas story and the importance of the new star. Cut out trees, glued stars on the top and decorated the ornaments.
• Each boy was sent home with yarn tied around their finger to remember to bring two things next time -- something for show and tell and an ingredient for a group cooking activity.

I didn't take a single photo today, but I'm sure you can picture seven excited boys learning about the sky.