Happy 2016!

Yay, another year! I am so sorry I didn't update from December. I am going to add some of the fun things we did last month as well as the first week of January. The kids have been having such a great time back at school. I sure missed them during our break. I have started assessments and will get those out to you soon. :)

December

L is for Lights. The kids had fun making Christmas lights with their finger prints.

We made an advent calendar to add cotton balls each day on Santa's Beard.

Christmas Math: The kids added stickers under each number to match. 

Peppermint paint: We made some fun paint to practice our letters in. Shaving cream, peppermint extract, and green food coloring. 

Grinch Day! This was such a fun day. We talked about what makes us feel grinchy. We made yummy Grinchy milk shakes to cheer us up and we made a grinch to go along with the story. We also compared characters from the story to see which one was bigger and smaller and then made a chart of things that were bigger than us and things that were smaller than us. 

We decorated a Christmas tree with skittles. The kids had to sort them by colors and then put them on based off what color we rolled. 

We decorated our own Christmas tree by cutting out lots of ornaments and decorating them. 

Polar Express Day: We added our names to the train on the Word Wall and set up our chairs like a train. The kids got to enjoy listening to the book while riding on the train. We sang songs and worked on our presents for our parents. We played some fun jingle bell games and worked on letter P. We had hot chocolate and watched part of the movie that was similar to the book. The kids loved getting a bell at the end of the day and getting to wear their pajamas to school. 

Gingerbread Man Day: We read some fun books that were a little different than the original. We made our own Gingerbread Man or Girl and decorated them. The kids got to write down where they would have the gingerbread man hide if he saw the fox. They also enjoyed a yummy gingerbread man cookie. 

Our Christmas party was a lot of fun! We hid somebody in the present and the kids had to guess who was hiding. We made a Christmas tree snack, played pin the nose on frosty, bingo and a stocking game. We did some Christmas yoga and our book exchange. Our Christmas Elf Skippy also came during the month of December and left fun prizes each day for good behavior. 

December was a great month. We worked on our letters and numbers more and the kids are growing and learning so much. 

January

This week has been great. Our units were Polar Bears and Chinese New Year

Polar Bears: The kids loved learning about the different characteristics of a polar bear. We did a science experiment with ice and cold water as well as crisco to act as blubber. They loved feeling how polar bears stay warm in the icy cold water. 

During centers the kids were able to work on the  numbers by counting the number of polar bears and adding a gem to the correct number. 

They made polar bears out of cups, paper and cotton balls. I love how creative they are. One of my classes asked for colored paper to make food for their bears. 

We ice skated with pieces of wax paper and pretended to be polar bears sliding on the ice. 

Chinese New year was a blast! We learned about where China is and read some fun books to learn about their different tradition and culture. The kids  loved using chopsticks for snack time. We made lanterns like they do to light up the streets for the parade. They got to stamp 2016 and China onto their lantern as well as some animals. The kids in China take red envelopes to different homes and receive money for the new year. Each child got a quarter in an envelope since we were working on letter Q this day. One of their favorite activities was pretending to be the dragon and making a long snake as they followed the leader. 

Thank you for letting me teach these adorable kids! They really brighten my day and I love watching their faces as they learn something new or are excited to show me something they are getting better at. I feel like I have the best job in the world!