Reindeer

Even though our reindeer week was cut short by snow days we still packed in a lot of fun! We started out the week reading "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". I was surprised that most of the kids did not know the story or the song! After reading the book we did a pin the nose on Rudolph game. The kids loved this! I blindfolded them and then lead them towards the Rusolph head with a red nose in their hand. It was funny how far off most of them were!

The one that is the closest is mine haha. 

Durning centers the students got to make their own Rudolph using their foot for the face and their hands for the antlers. They turned out really cute! 

We also had some Pom Pom color sorting in our centers each day this week. 

Thursday we read a book about some wild reindeer that were tamed and become Santas reindeer. During centers we made some reindeer food out of oats, red and green m&ms, and red and green glitter. The oats were for all the reindeer, the m&ms were for Rudolph because he loves chocolate, and the glitter was so the reindeer would see it glittering in the yard! The kids were told to take it home and on Christmas Eve they could sprinkle it in their front yard for Santas reindeer! 

The kids were getting restless inside so we decided to take an adventure out into the ice! We went into the backyard area and played for awhile in the ice. The kids had a ball sliding on the ice, picking it up, breaking it, digging in it, ect. 

This week we had been talking about the letter R. During centers Friday the students made reindeer out of a capital R and a lowercase r to help them remember what sound it makes. 

We also got to play with some shaving cream Froday! The kids loved this and made a few letters in the shaving cream. They mostly loved getting messy! 

Our little elf "Happy" was around our classroom again this week! 

He wanted to have a snow day too! 

He made himself a little swing! 

He was tired from his long trip to the North Pole last night! 

Fairy Tales

We had such a fun week learning about Fairy Tales! We started out the week reading about the Gibgerbread Man. During centers the students painted their own gingerbread and then gave him a mouth, nose, eyes, and buttons using a que tip and paint.

The next day we read a different book about the Gingerbread Man and compare it to the one we read the previous day. During centers the students got to decorate their own gingerbread man cookie! I told them that we had to wait until after lunch to eat them. 

While they were in lunch I hid the cookies in the closet and left a note on the table saying the gingerbread men had run away! 

The kids freaked out when they came back to the room and found that the gingerbread men were missing! I left clues around the building that the students had to follow to find the cookies. 

They LOVED the gingerbread man hunt! And they loved eating them when we finally found them! We had some special guests come to visit Tuaeday. A group if drama students came to tell the kids some stories!

The next day we read "The Three Billy Goats Gruff". After reading the story I had the students act the story out. They had SO much fun with this! Some of them are little actors and actresses! During centers we did some cutting and gluing practice. I have them strips of paper that had squares and triangles to cut out. 

Here's a few finished products! 

They also got to make play dough gingerbread men! 

Thursday we read the story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". After reading we discussed small, medium, and large. During centers the students did a small, medium, and large sorting activity. 

They had fun this week with the new sunglasses and apron in the home living center! 

We had a special someone join our class this week, introducing Happy the elf! 

Happy comes to our classroom everyday and at the end of the day he flys back to the North Pole to tell Santa who has been good! Every morning he ends up in a new place and the kids have to find him. One morning we found him reading to the beanie babies! 

The next day we came it to a classroom full of snowflakes and found happy hanging from one of them! 

Stay tuned for me Happy the Elf pictures! 

Thanksgiving!

This week was all about Thanksgiving! On Monday we read the book "Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks". I went around our circle and let each child tell what they were thankful for. At centers I wrote down what they were thankful for and then they made a turkey with them. 

On Wednesday we learned about the first thanksgiving with the pilgrims and the Indians! We read a book called "The Pilgrams and Me" and learned about the Mayflower. During centers the students got to paint the Mayflower on the ocean! 

They turned out pretty great! 

On Thursday we read "The Thanksgiving Treat". It is about a little boy who really wants to help prepare for Thanksgiving but no one will let him help. At the end his grandpa lets him help collect some chestnuts to roast of the fire! I went around our circle and let each student tell us about what they can help with at home. During centers we made pasta necklaces. I let them color the pasta with a marker and then string it on the yarn to make a necklace. This went along with our study of the letter N this week! 

Here's one of them showing off her necklace! 

Before and after nap I let the kids try a big ocean puzzle. They did surprisingly well and were determined to finish it! Here they are with their finished product! 

On Friday we read "Countdown to Thanksgiving" and then counted how many days we had left till Thanksgiving. During centers the students did some counting of their own! I had them do some "corn" counting with beads and pipe cleaners. They had to count to the numbers 10, 11, and 12. 

Turkeys

This week we learned about Turkeys, getting ready for Thanksgiving! The kids learned some turkey facts and now know that a male turkey is called a Tom, a female turkey is called a Hen, a baby turkey is called a poult, the red skin under their chin is called the wattle, and the red skin above their beak is called the snood. They are so smart! On Monday the students made a turkey with their hand! I traced their hand to make the body of the turkey and then let them cut out their own feathers. 

This was good cutting practice for them. 

On Tuesday the students got to make what I called a "Mr. Turkey Head". We used a pine cone for the body then I gave them 4 feathers, a paper beak, and paper eyes to put on their turkey. There was no glue involved, I just had them stick the items into the pine cone. 

They were pretty funny looking but cute! 

On Wednesday we made some awesome turkey hats! 

The kids loved these!

In another center we had some turkey pinning where the students gave the cardboard turkeys some feathers by marching up the numbers. This activity helped with number recognition as well as fine motor skills! 

On Thursday the students got to practice tracing their name, using fingerprint! Those kids love getting thier hands dirty! 

Friday the kids did some letter T activities. They did a T dauber page and then traced the letter T with a que tip dipped in paint. They did a great job with this! 

Apples and Autumn

This week we learned about apples, autumn, and the letter S. On Monday the students got to choose their favorite color apple and sponge paint a page that color. After the paper dried, I cut them out into an apple shape. 

On Tuesday I let the students do a taste test with green and red apples. They each got one slice of red and one slice of green apple. I then let them come up and put a sticky note on which apple was their favorite. 

We had a tie! We also made a booklet called "I See Apples!". 

I had them read it to me after they were done. They loved this! 

On Thursday we read the book "Why Do  Leaves Change Color?". We then went in a leaf hunt outside and picked up lots of different leaves! During centers I dumped out the bag of leaves we had collected and let the students pick 5 of their favorite leaves. We then did a leaf rubbing of them! 

They turned out pretty cool. 

Friday we worked on some fine motor skills in centers. I had the students transfer packing peanuts from one container to another using tongs. Some of them struggled at first but finally got the hang of it and loved it!