Last week of 2016

We ended the semester with one last Star of the Week poster; don't worry if your student hasn't brought home this special homework yet, we will finish up next semester with the children who haven't had their turn yet.  We know this is a special assignment and will make sure every child has a chance to do it by the end of the school year.

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!