p is for present (for our families)
if you are a preschool family and you haven’t opened one of these, go check your child’s backpack and don’t read further!
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back when we painted our stars, we also painted these from discount school supply.
then we used the same photos as we use on our picture board.
ms. carol acted as “glitter fairy” one morning and added beautiful glitter designs.
then there was name writing and ornament wrapping. when preschoolers are learning to “write” their names, i always emphasize the importance of scribbling, not perfect letter formation. when children ask for traditional letter formation help, i “write” it first with my fingernail which leaves a little indentation as a guide. but one of my favorite stages is when i call out their name letter by letter and the children make little scribble marks for each letter.
really sweet.
m is for merry
hoping you can be warm and cozy this season.
merry christmas, friends and families! see you in 2010!
b is for bell
more thrifted wooden pieces, a bit of pipe cleaner, a jingle bell, watercolors and GLITTER!
we used a couple of techniques to get glitter on: glue and shaking it on and dipping the wet paint bell in a cup of glitter. both worked fine.
and yes, we have glitter all over the room (and i am guessing in back packs and homes too).
p is for pajamas
on our christmas celebration days we wore our pajamas.
there were books read, songs sung, poems chanted, candy canes hunted for, and cookies eaten.
thank you, families, for sharing your children with us!
c is for cat
what fun to have a cat visit our tuesday/thursday class. thank you, lucy, for this special show and tell!
it was fun to watch sesame explore the classroom…
come back again, sesame!
w is for winter
welcome to winter!
feeling cold?
how about making yourself a fireplace!
still from this painting project, we cut flames and glued them to a big paper.
(here we are showing our favorite pages from christmas books.)
if you don’t have a bridge/boat, the kids think you could use chairs or a table on its side. : )
p is for play dough cookies
i made mint play dough for christmas week and pulled the family corner stove close to the table.
such a great opportunity for “kitchen language:” turn the oven to 5 degrees, cook them for 3 hours, add more flour, find your oven mitten, my tray is full, get off the stove-it’s on!
mmmm.
c is for candy cane
posterboard, a new tape dispenser (thank you, kourtney!) and new rainbow tape (thank you, otis):
or, you can be like a few preschoolers and say, “oh, yeah! i know: j is for christmas!” : )
c is for (sticky) candy cane
i only knew these as wikki stix until we were given bendaroos (thank you ronni)!
they have been made into spiders, flowers, bracelets, and this week, into candy canes.
of course!
l is for light
did you know that colored paper dividers that your middle school daughter thought she needed and then didn’t are fun to cut and make colored images on the screen when put on an overhead projector?
good times.
s is for santa
one year later, he’s back!
this sweetheart brought his own accessories to wear with the red bathrobe we have in our family corner.
g is for gift tag
we are on the last three days before christmas vacation. preschoolers will go home with plates of homemade cookies from church friends, many projects they’ve been saving, and a little gift from the teachers. here is the color version of the gift tag:
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
merry
christmas,
little friends
can you do this?
we love you!
g is for gift
so thankful for the gifts that have been showing up at preschool this week.
i had the children help think of things they wished we had at preschool and we put the items that i think would be under $15 on post-it notes. families are in no way obligated and i don’t talk to the children about it, it is simply an option for the adults.
more photos to come…thank you, families!
c is for cozy christmas
we moved our circle time rug in order to create a cozy island for read our christmas books and playing board games.
o is for opportunity
why make a straight path when a zig-zag path really works our big body muscles?
p is for (snowy) pinecone
i first saw this as a project to turn pinecones into little owls. imagine these with owl eyes glued on. cute.
in anticipation of christmas, we just made them as snowy pinecones. using these from discount school supply, we poked cotton balls in. clearly a pencil would work too! it was easiest if the cotton balls were pulled apart into tinier pieces.
oh, snowy pinecones, welcome to the season.
s is for star
i can’t remember where i saw this project.
the way it works is by putting a shape of contact paper (or laminate in our case) on old mat board (or whatever you have), then water color painting over the whole surface. this proved to be a big task and it evolved into an opportunity for teacher-child bonding. we would sit and help them paint their boards when they wanted it.
after the paint isn’t dripping (either because it has dried or because we dab it with paper towel), the kids peel off the laminate.
so pretty.
s is for shadow
one overhead projector on the ground behind a curtain we use to hide the church folding chairs makes shadows.
during “l is for light” week, this was perfect.
let me tell you, it was exciting.
p is for problem
uh, ms. kristin? there is a PROBLEM in the bathroom.
when i heard that, i was actually relieved to see this:
really, it all makes sense.
k is for ketchup paint
in anticipation of christmas projects, i wanted some painted paper that looks like fire. since it was k week, we started with red paint (in a ketchup bottle). this is almost as funny as this.
we added a new color each day: red, yellow, orange.
the yellow was glitter paint!
the first day we painted paper taped to the table. since i had to clean the table anyway, we switched to painting the actual table and making prints of their work.
here is proof that they were wearing paint shirts. i don’t think any of their clothes stayed clean, though:
t is for tape ball
so, the big tape collage was getting pretty round.
we turned it into a tape ball and suspended it like our pumpkin.
and YES, there is regular redirecting to not pull or hang or kick or swing…
k is for key
keys and locks (that really worked together!) and a lock box brought by a friend (thank you, micah!).
all sorts of things got locked up in that lock box. i think i’ll get one of my own.
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we used the same beads as last week plus some key rings and made key chains.
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we traced keys in our journals…woa, tricky.
a is for advent
it’s getting festive and friendly around here!
with only a few new props, play has evolved to santa, jesus, reindeer, trees, chimneys, mary and joseph…
and a couple days of spontaneous pageants with theology i wish i would have written down
b is for back door
i rearranged the family corner a bit. now we have a back door.
it’s well used.
j is for juice store
we’ve had this cash register for a couple of years. the locked drawer has always puzzled (and irritated) some of us. what is in there? is the key in there? is there still money in there? why would someone give away the cash register without a key? should we break it? should we call a worker?
we had mr. rob in for our turkey time. he had his tools. he opened the drawer.
now there is a little string to pull to open the drawer. just in time for our juice store.
would you like giant or small? we open at 20 thirty and every cup costs one hundred dollars.
thank you, mr. rob.
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i think this is the last round of too-small, low resolution photos that i salvaged from the trash!
t is for tower
this is one of those times that things look a little more dangerous in photos than they did in real life.
no one was hurt in the making of many tall towers. but it was so loud. great exclaiming to, “give me another block! and another!”
i think everyone felt like they made it happen.
and it seemed as exciting for it to go up as it was to come down.
j is for jewelry
children brought jewelry for show and tell (which we do daily) and there was jewelry making in the tub table.
(i was having more fun than it appears, trust me.)
and despite the fears that we were having plumbing troubles, we were just threading big beads on the end of a (new) toilet plunger. little beads were added to our play doh table (and the entire classroom floor…you had to walk carefully).
there was jewel paper cutting to glue on J shaped paper and a fancy mirror for looking at our fancy selves.
g is for group
this little mosaic activity is one i set up as an individual project. i wouldn’t have been surprised if two children decided to work together. i was surprised (and delighted) to find all four boys at once using up all the pieces.
j is for jump
a piece of fabric threaded through the ceiling tile (yes, carefully done and moved to make sure it wasn’t pulling too hard), handles made from duct tape, a trampoline borrowed from a family (thank you, otis, for sharing).
really good times.
really good static.
really contemplative figuring out of things (notice the mirror being used to see the fabric from different angles).
i don’t have photos of the little dollhouse figure that got many rides on the fabric. she had a blast.
t is for tape machine
i saw this, realized that it would require more precision than i’m good at, so i asked our families if anyone thought they could make one. i had over 10 responses and asked the first three responders to make us one. i am humbled and grateful (and thinking of more projects). thank you.
we have a whole table dedicated to tape.
the fine motor work is impressive. i am reminded of a workshop i went to led by occupational therapists who stressed the importance of working those finger and hand muscles.
this sure does it.
a little too well sometimes.
p.s. if any of your children come home and speak of tape over mouths (or arms or hands or feet), the teachers did not do it!!
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