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.

Our Thanksgiving Feast

F is for Feast!

This week at school, in preparation for next week's Thanksgiving celebration, we talked about FEASTS!

We got started by coloring some Thanksgiving placemats. I traced a proper table setting onto each child's paper in hopes that they might improve their manners while coloring. I'm not sure if my scheme worked!

Then we moved on to circle time, where we talked about Christ feeding the 5,000...feasting on fishes and loaves.

We also learned this cute poem by Ivy O. Eastwick:

Thanksgiving

Thank you

for allmy hands can hold-

apples red,

and melons gold,

yellow corn

both ripe and sweet,

peas and beans

so good to eat!

For show-and-tell we talked about our favorite foods. I think Goldfish crackers were mentioned at least twice!

Throughout circle time the children were treated to spontaneous visits from Owen. They were all very generous and shared their carpet squares. Thanks, Joseph and Delainey!

Next we had singing time were we danced to a few Thanksgiving songs (love Tom Chapin's "Thanksgiving!) This is my favorite picture I took all day...the kids were singing "Over the River" while pretending to ride in the sleigh to Grandmother's house. Delainey drove...and the boys were happy passengers!

We then read a few Thanksgiving books and talked about CORNICOPIAS!

We headed back to the table and colored, cut out, and assembled our very own horns-of-plenty!

During snack time the kids made sugar cone cornicopias by filling ice cream cones with rainbow goldfish crackers (hooray!) and fruit-shaped fruit snacks. Yummy and very healthy (wink, wink.)

Sadly, that is where my picture-taking ended for the day! After a late snack time, we finished our day by playing a fun counting game with Thanksgiving foods and practicing our handwriting.

We had fun! Can't wait to see you at our big FEAST next week!

“T” is for Turkey! (and Thanksgiving)

Preschool was a real Treat This Tuesday!  We focused on turkeys and being thankful, both of which start with the letter “T”!  We started off the morning playing with some homemade flubber just for fun…and then we transitioned into the living room for circle time!  Max said the opening prayer, Joseph held the scripture spotlight, and Lainey checked our weather.  We sang the days of the week song, did show and tell about with things we are thankful for, and then practiced the rhyme, “I’m a little teapot”.  Next we talked about what thanksgiving means, who gives us our blessings, etc.

After getting our wiggles out to some fun songs with instruments, we did the following at singing time:

I am Thankful
(sung to "Where is Thumbkin?")
I am Thankful, I am Thankful
Yes I am, Yes I am
I’m Thankful for my friends
I’m thankful for my kin
Yes I am, Yes I am
(Explain that kin is another word for family! )

 

Turkey Dinner

(Tune: Are You Sleeping?)

Turkey dinner, turkey dinner,

Gather round, gather round,

Who will get the drumstick?

Yummy, yummy drumstick!

 

Turkey Pokey
It was like the Hokey Pokey, only we did our right and left wings, our beaks, and our tailfeathers.  The kids all got a kick out of this…and I did too!  After singing up an appetite, we ventured to the kitchen to make our “turkey muffins.”  Really, this didn’t turn out as cute as I had hoped (I forgot the beak!) but…you can kind of see where we were going with this. A banana-cinnamon (egg-less) muffin, with a grape head, mini chocolate chip eyes, and apple slices for the tail. Joseph was really the only one who wanted to make the turkey…Max and Delainey were too hungry! : )

After snack time we read The Berenstein Bear’s Giant Pumpkin…it’s all about the real meaning of Thanksgiving. It’s a cute book from my childhood, and the kids were attentive during story time.  Then we went and made our craft…thankful turkey headbands!  Everyone did a great job gluing on the eyes, taping on the feathers, and thinking of things they were thankful for.

Then it was time to practice writing…we practiced writing T’s, and then we did another cutting and coloring activity. 

Then it was time to PLAY! We all ran outside since the weather was beautiful, and enjoyed some fresh air!  When we came inside, we sat in a circle and played “hot potato” thankful game…it went like this:

Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving,
What am I thankful for,
It's your turn to share with us,
1, 2, 3, 4!

Whoever had the ball at the end said something they were thankful for. 

Next we sang the goodbye song, and played until the moms came.

It was a wonderful day of preschool…I am so THANKFUL for Delainey, Joseph and Max! : )

“P” is for Pilgrim

This month we are focusing on Thanksgiving.  I kicked the theme off by learning about the Pilgrims. 

During circle time we talked about the pioneers who traveled a long way for religious freedom, just like the Pilgrims.  For show and tell the children brought items that they would take with them on a long trip on a boat.  Delainey said she would bring an oar (smart girl), Max brought his special blanket, and Joseph shared his snuggly lamb.

After some fun songs about Thanksgiving, and a yummy snack (goldfish, because the pilgrims at fish), we talked more about the story of the Pilgrims and Indians.  We used a felt board and felt board figures to tell the story, and found their location on a globe. 

One of the interesting things we learned about Pilgrims is that they lived in one room log cabins.  Using pretzels and glue, the children made their own log cabins.  They turned out pretty cute.  Then after a little handwriting practice the children were excited to play.  We built a log cabin with Lincoln Logs and played inside of a log cabin (tent). 

It was another fun day of preschool!