Happy Holidays from Pirate Pete

Our last week of preschool this semester was filled with learning about holidays celebrated by people from all sorts of backgrounds!  We drew Santa lists, mixed up snow, decorated Christmas trees with our finger prints, collected tiny toys for Santa's sack, created pine trees out of words and numbers, and learned about mixing colors.

Our stories this week had to do with holidays and learning about friendship and family in this holiday season.  Some of our books had a bit of magic in them as well!

We threw snowballs at snowmen towers and targets and learned about the Menorah and the candles placed and lit on it during Hanukah.  We played the dreidel game and learned how to spin the top with our pincher grasp.

We learned about a lot of science experiments dealing with color and temperatures and how to create various things out of other things.  We made it snow in jars filled with sparkles and magic!

We are so grateful to all of our pirate families who make it possible for us to learn together.  Thank you all so much for being a part of Pirate Pete Preschool!  We hope you have a fantastic winter break and will see you in January for orientation on TUESDAY, the 21st.  We will be emailing you when we get back from winter break the week of January 6th with more details. 

Enjoy these last few photos from our fantastic day of preschool with Santa Claus!  We hope you enjoy your gifts from the big guy and have a special place to hang your ornaments.

What's Coming Up?

• Don't forget to mark your calendars; preschool orientation is Tuesday, January 21st.  AM families should plan on being with us from 10:30 AM -11:30 AM and PM families should plan on being with us from 1:30 - 2:30 PM that day to meet the teachers who will be working with them that semester since some of the high schooler's schedules will have changed.
  
• The first normal day of preschool will be Wednesday January 22nd with our typical times of 9:30 - 11:55 AM and 1:00 - 2:30 PM.
  
• Spread the word to anyone with fall or winter birthdays that we are happy to accept any new preschoolers in the afternoon session in January (AM is full).
  
• Preschool registration for next year will be in March of 2020; current preschoolers will only need to submit updated registration forms and payment to get their spot however new families will need to include copies of the birth certificate, physical and immunization records.

The most wonderful time of year

It's the most wonderful time of year and we are kicking things off by talking about winter and all it's wonder as well as some of the holidays coming up as we end our preschool semester.  This week we wanted to pass on some of the knowledge our preschoolers got about upcoming Kwanzaa (celebrated December 26th - January 1st this year) and what is to come next week as we learn about Hanukah and Christmas.

This week while we had a lot of fun building igloos and have snow ball fights, stuffing mittens with story time and writing in snow, we also learned a lot about a celebration held by African Americans this time of year that honors their culture and heritage.  We looked at pictures of traditional clothing worn to some of these events and decorations placed in homes too.  Kwanzaa uses the colors, red, black and green; red for struggles, green for the future and black for unity.  

We learned the word Kinara means candle holder and that Kwanzaa is similar to Hanukah in the use of candles and a holder to show the lighting of candles over the course of multiple days.  We made patterns and sorted items of green, black and red this week to represent the 7 principles and candles used in a Kinara. 

We learned about the food used during Kwanzaa and made classroom corn out of beads that will be on display as centerpieces for the holiday party next Friday.  We also made placemats to bring home and use to put under our plates for dinner as well by learned about weaving by moving red and green strips of paper over and under, over and under.

As we learned all about Kwanzaa and unity cups and friendship this week we also took time to play with our friends in class and build snowmen out of a variety of objects and knock those snowmen down! 

We learned a few scientific lessons this week as we discovered penguins have special oils on their feathers that allow the icy cold water to slip right off, preventing them from freezing in the cold water when they swim.  We did this with spray bottles, zip loc bags and beautifully decorated penguins!

We melted styrofoam snowmen with just a little warm water and time as we watched tiny Olaf inspired creatures melt in bowls of warm water the way the sun melts down snowmen when the weather warms up.

We learned the word 'liquid' and what things are liquids and what are not and then learned that even liquids are different from one another.  We learned that heavier liquids like shampoo is different from lighter liquids like water or oil and created a three layer design in jars watching the mixing of the liquids straighten themselves out by which was 'heavier' and which was 'lighter'.

Our icicles were fun to talk about during math this week as we threaded beads onto swirled pipe cleaners to place only the right amount of 'ice beads' on the pipe cleaner to practice reading numbers and learning what amounts they represent.

What's Coming Up?

• Next week is Holiday Spirit Week! 

• Monday, wear your coziest holiday pjs (or any pajamas you want!) 
• Wednesday is holiday shirt day, support whatever holiday you want the sillier the better! 
• Friday is Ho, Ho, Holiday colors day, wear red and white to the holiday party to meet the big guy!
  
• Friday, December 13th will be the holiday party for both morning and afternoon preschoolers.  

• The AM preschool party will be from 9:30 - 11:00 AM and the PM preschool party will be 1:00 - 2:00 PM.  
• The big man will be at both celebrations so be ready for some pictures and feel free to bring siblings along!  
• (Let us know who you might be bringing so Santa doesn't forget any children!!!!)
  
• The last day of this semester for preschool will be Friday, December 13th.  We will see you again after winter break on Tuesday, January 21st for preschool orientation.  

• AM families should plan on being with us from 10:30 - 11:30 AM and PM families should plan on being with us from 1:30 - 2:30 PM that day to meet the teachers who will be working with them that semester and get acclimated back to the classroom.
  
• The first normal day of preschool will be Wednesday, January 22nd with our typical times of 9:30 - 11:55 and 1:00 - 2:30.