This was our last full week of preschool for the fall semester and the children were able to go out with a Disney based blast! We heard from a great Star of the Week and then jumped right into our math activity as the children read patterns of fairy tale characters and had to cut and fill in the blanks of the pattern like princess, prince, princess...
After working on patterns we make our own stories like the fairytales and stories we see in Disney movies. Many children recreated their favorite Disney tales but then some also made up their own stories. It was wonderful to hear them "read" their books to us.
We made wizard wands as well as fairytale wands using pipe cleaners and beads for fine motor development then attached stars with staples to the top to perform magical feats during free play. Lots of terrific spells were cast this week.
We did take a break this week to make a few last minute decorations for our upcoming holiday party and the children are eager to show off their work to parents and Santa on December 14th.
We got right back into our Disney routine with a winter wonderland story of Winnie the Pooh and Friends then made our own snowmen while reading the numbers on his hat and gluing the appropriate amount of buttons to him. These are also hanging up in the room to show off the day of our party.
This week we also had a lot of fun with science as we made some goo out of glue and powdered soap with a little water for fun. The teachers showed us what to do and then we went to the tables to make our own batches of goo at the tables. Some children called it melted Olaf and others called it Elsa potion while some just said it was magic. If you have powdered laundry soap at home and some glue, put it in a bowl with a little water ad mix it together and watch the magic happen!
We practiced writing letters and drawing shapes with straws as we watched the teacher pour paint into baggies and then sealed it to lay the paint out flat in the baggie and draw with the straw. This type of 'clean painting' is nice to do at home if you worry about messes and it helps children with writing skills as they practice using the straw or a Q-tip even to create something out of paint again and again without any mess.
On Friday we read another winter Disney story and then learned why we put salt on the roads and sidewalks. The children then went to the tables and were given buckets of ice and water. The children tried to get the ice cubes wet to build ice towers like Elsa and realized the only way to make things sticky would be to add salt. As they poured salt onto the ice cubes they began to stick together making amazing towers. We added blue watercolor paint at the end to give it that Elsa touch.
After making ice castles we warmed up our hands by playing a few Disney games on the iPads while the teachers cleaned up the tables and room in order to make way for our last few activities of our day.
We worked on letter sounds and phonics as we looked at pictures of various Disney characters and tried to recognize the sounds of the beginnings to names of characters on the screen before going to the tables to work on them one on one with teachers too.
We worked on the word sounds for a while and then met back at the circle to talk about the movie Inside Out and the characters in that movie. The children identified the names of the characters like Joy, Fear, Disgust and Anger then worked with teachers on one one to complete some sentences about their own feelings. Some children said things like, "I feel joy when I am playing in the snow," while others added, "I feel anger when my brother takes my toy."
To end the week of Disney we stuck with the Inside Out theme as we made "Squishies." These balloons filled with rice and flour were made by the children with the help of funnels and their teachers as they were told they could squeeze them when they are excited or angry or worried as a way to help them talk about how they feel. As the holiday season comes into full swing, feel free to borrow them parents!
What's Coming Up?
Our last full day of preschool is Monday, December 12th. We will be learning about other holidays that occur this time of year like Kwanzaa and Hanukah and making sure we are ready for our holiday party which is Wednesday, December 14th.
Santa is planning on stopping by to say hello to all the children who come to our party on Wednesday this week so if you have not already sent in your RSVP please let Mrs. Stary know if any other children will be attending with our current preschoolers. Please remember to bring a dozen or so of a treat to pass during our party as we will have the treats laid out while Santa greets the children.
Spring semester orientation is Friday, January 27th and our first official day of next semester will be January 30th. You will get details sent out about spring semester the week of December 19th.
This week was our last one of 2016 and we had a great time learning about all the other holidays besides Christmas that come around this time of year. We always celebrate Christmas with a visit from Santa and a lovely tree and lots of decorations. However, we also took some time to learn about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and how they are similar and different. 
We learned about Menorahs and Kinaras and that they both hold candles. We learned how many each hold and what the candles represent then made a kinara to hang up in our room for our party. We also learned about african drums that can be made to play music from this time of year and painted and colored them and used the as centerpieces at our party on Wednesday.
After making our drums, we set them aside to dry and then tried out a little 'candle' experiment. We talked about fire safety and rules with candles and lighters. Mrs. Stary was in charge of touching the lighter for the experiment and the children were not allowed to cross the yellow line on the rug as we tested out the science experiment of hot air rising. 
As many times as we practiced this experiment on non-preschool days, it didn't want to work when we tried it in front of the children but feel free to check out this youtube video of how to do it at home. Just be sure you have a high ceiling as if it works the tea bag can rise pretty high.
We had a wonderful semester and want to thank all of our families for the memories and opportunities they have given us as we work with their children. The future teachers in our program are very grateful for the chance to learn how to be amazing teachers and as the director of the program, I am excited to watch them amaze me each week with their lessons and activities. We hope you enjoy these few photos from the holiday party and will see you January 27th for orientation! 
