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.
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.
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