Christmas Program

Just before Christmas, we put on a little program for the daddies. First the children sang our "Hello" song to welcome all the dads.  Then we had a showcase of what we have been learning about, doing, and creating during the first four months of preschool.  Each child and mom had a part.  We also showed a slideshow of pictures from all our preschool happenings.  Max, Delainey, and Joseph did a fantastic job performing for the dads.

Invitation

The Program -
Beautifully put together by Miss Sarah

The Scholars - Max, Delainey, and Joseph

Miss Emily and Delainey talked about our theme in November

Joseph and Miss Kathryn talked about our theme in December

The kiddos watching the slideshow

S is for Snowman!

Hooray for the Holidays!  

We started our Snowman-themed day by practicing our handwriting with a worksheet...

On the back of the worksheet, the kids read a story about Sam the Snowman, circling all of the Ss along the way!

During calendar time we read this silly snowman poem...

"The Snowman"

Once there was a snowman

Stood outside th door

Thought he'd like to come inside

And run around the floor;

Thought he'd like to warm himself

By the firelight red; 

Thought he'd like to climb up

On that big white bed.

So he called the North Wind, "Help me now, I pray.

I'm completely frozen, standing here all day."

So the North Wind came along and blew him in the door,

And now there's nothing left of him

But a puddle on the floor!

Poor snowman!

We also talked about Samuel the Lamanite and the signs of Christ's birth.

During music and movement, we sang lots of snowman songs.  While we sang "Snow is Falling," the kids had to dress up as snowmen as fast as they could.  They each had their own pile of snowman clothes...a hat, scarf, boots, gloves, and a (construction paper) carrot nose!

The cutest little snowpeople ever!

We also sang "Once There was a Snowman," and here are our melted snowmen lying on the ground.  

We read Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner, and made our own cotton ball snowmen with (more) contruction paper!  Whenever we do an art project, I love seeing how the kids make it their own!  Joseph's snowman is the very free-form fellow on the right!

After snack time, we did some math activities.  We sorted the snowman by the color of their scarves, and made patterns as well...

...put them in numerical order...

...and sequenced them from largest to smallest.

We certainly had fun on our S is for Snowman day!

“G” is for Giving & Gifts

(Delainey practicing her G’s)

Today at preschool we focused on the letter “G”.  We started off with some handwriting and coloring (“G” is for Gift).  As they worked on this I talked a little about giving gifts and told them we were going to make a gift for them to give to someone they love! After they finished their worksheets we went into the living room to decorate Christmas Ornaments with their pictures on them. These were in the shape of stars since the wise men followed the star to Baby Jesus , and that’s what we were going to be talking about today. After they finished decorating their ornaments, it was time for math stations!  They really enjoyed getting on their own carpet squares and completing their tasks.

(Joseph enjoying snack time)

We did math stations for about 10 minutes, and then we cleaned up for circle time.  Lainey said our opening prayer, Joseph held the scripture spotlight (3 Wise Men Matthew 2:11) and Max reported on the weather. We learned a new finger play rhyme for rhyme time:

The Wise Men traveled from afar,

Following the Christmas star,

When it stopped they jumped for joy,

And worshiped baby Jesus boy.

Then we did show and tell and I asked them to bring a picture of someone they loved. Joseph brought a picture of Jesus, Max brought a  picture of he and his cousins Ellie and Addie, and Delainey chose a picture from her room of Sam holding her as a baby.  We discussed that the Wise Men brought gifts to Jesus, and we also show our love for other people by giving them gifts. This was a good intro into having the children act out the story of the 3 wise men. But FIRST we went back to the craft table to make wise men hats out of paper plates. Once these were finished, I let them each choose a gift and then we “searched” for the star…Max found it first (atop our Christmas tree) and we all followed the leader to the Christmas tree. Then they kneeled down and I let them open their gifts. They each had a picture in their gift bags…a picture of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We looked at the pictures and discussed that these were the actual gifts that the wise men brought baby Jesus many years ago.

(Max eating some “gold”)

After we acted out the wise men, it was time to SING!  First we sang Jingle Bells with instruments, and then we worked on “The Nativity Song” that they will sing at their Daddy Program. We learned the 2nd verse with some pictures, and it was honestly such a tender moment seeing their eager eyes and sweet voices all singing about that night. I was so touched!  I know their dads will be too when they perform the whole song. After singing time we ran to the kitchen for SNACKS!  For snacks today we had cheese itz (gold), popcorn (frankincense) and raisins (myrrh). While they ate I read them a Christmas story.

(Look how wise they look in their hats)

After snack time we attempted to make a finger painting of the three wise men following the star, where their upside down handprints were the camels and then their thumb prints were the wise men, but that didn’t really turn out. : ) But that was okay…I tried to fit too many activities into our time today I think, so it’s ok that one didn’t work out.

(Wise Men Opening their Gifts)

After we cleaned up our hands from finger painting, the children played. Then we cleaned up, sang the goodbye song, and the mommies were here!  Joseph and Max were so excited to give their special ornament gift to their moms…sorry about the wet glitter glue ladies! : )

Today was by far the best day of Gilreath-House Preschool yet. All three kiddos were incredibly well-behaved…they played well together, they shared, they sang, and it was just a lot of fun.  I love preschool!

“N” is for Nativity

Today we started preschool with handwriting.  Joseph, Max and Delainey practiced writing capital and lowercase “N”.  They were all very focused on this task and each got a smiley face on their good work.  This was both a motivator and confidence builder for the children.  The loved getting a smiley face. 

The children transitioned right into playing math games on the carpet.  They first practiced putting stars in numerical order.  Max prided himself in doing this task quickly.  And he was quick!



They also played a sorting game.  They had to sort stars according to color and then size.  They all did this very well.  This had a blast playing the math games, which was also a confidence builder.



During our usual circle time routine we talked about the nativity story and the children shared things that being with “N” for show and tell.  Max shared a picture from his trip to New York, Delainey shared a picture of her Nana, and Joseph shared his “Nee Nee” (4-wheeler).
We also learned part of “The Nativity Song” song, made “Jesus in the manger” snacks, read a book about the Nativity story, and re-told the story with flannel board figures.  

Our final activity was an art project.  Max, Delainey, and Joseph colored a picture of the holy family and cut it out.  Then they glued it inside a stable made of wooden craft sticks, and put a star on top.  I thought they turned out cute. 







Everyone got two stamps today for a job well done.  I feel lucky to be have been able to teach the story of the nativity.  I had so much fun with it.  I felt the spirit as we told the story together.  I just love our little preschoolers, Joseph, Delainey, and Max.