Snow days!

This week in the pre-kindergarten room we have been learning about snow. We had a snow center in our room. We were very excited to play in the snow and make mini snowmen.

We have been busy with our winter theme! We colored the animals to put inside our 3-D Jan Brett mittens that we painted with patterns.

We were excited this week that it was finally warm enough to go outside. We waited quietly in the hallway and put on our boots all by ourselves.
Our car had gotten so full of snow, we had to dig it our before we could go for a ride!

On Wednesday when we went outside we learnt how to make snow angels in the snow. On Thursday it was finally warm enough to make a snowman outside. We rolled 1, 2, 3 balls of snow and stacked them up high.

On Thursday we were practicing our math skills at circle time by counting to five. We used pictures, numbers and words to describe what the number five looked like. We then used counters to give our different numbered snowmen the correct number of stones for their mouth.

Making patterns and catching a rhinoceros...

  We have been learning about mittens in pre-kindergarten. In mittens you have a place for your thumb and all your fingers are together. In gloves there is a place for your thumb but all your fingers have a place of their own and are apart. We read Jan Brett's "The Mitten" and then laced mittens of our own.
  We learnt that a pattern repeats three times and we used the three primary colors red, yellow and blue. We then painted a striped pattern onto our 3-D mittens.
   We wore our own mittens at circle time and made a graph that showed how many of us had mittens that were the same color. The black mittens won! We also played mitten tag in the gym. It was lots of fun.
  Today we had a zoo in our classroom. It had fences made of trees and troughs made of cut tree rings. The animals all lived in twos in their pens. The rhinoceros had escaped so everyone was searching for it around the classroom. A tour of people then came to visit the zoo. The zookeepers tried to sell one of the people a giraffe but it wouldn't fit in the cage in their backyard. The monkey was for sale too because he bites. A biting monkey isn't good to have in a zoo.  We had a great storyline and dialogue going on in our zoo play today. Remember to ask your child what is happening in their playtime at home. You may be surprised by their elaborate answer!

Dancing into the new year...

  This week we were excited in our classroom as we received some new items! Our hopscotch mat was a huge hit and everyone has had fun playing on it this week.
We practiced dancing with scarves both individually and in groups with our larger dance canopies. Everyone loved all the colors and how the scarves floated in the air for a moment when you let them go.
  Some of the students loved to make waves with their dance canopy while others used them to hide underneath and have them float down on top of them.
  We retold the story of "The Mitten" by Jan Brett using puppets. "The Mitten" is a story about a boy who has lost one of his white mittens in the snow. The forest animals then find it and all try to squeeze inside. Everyone loved how  all the animals fit into the "GREAT WHITE SHINY MITTEN" until it was so full that the bear sneezed and everyone flew out!  We then enjoyed lacing our own mittens.
  We had our first assembly this month and I would like to congratulate everyone who has been reading!!! Keep up the great work. We are up to 4 520 minutes after the months of November and December!!! Way to go Pre-K!
 

Happy New Year!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
We are off to a great start in the pre-kindergarten classroom. We are starting our theme of snow and winter and are looking at the author and illustrator Jan Brett.
We talked about how the season has changed from fall to winter and that a new year has now begun. We welcomed 2011 by making some very colorful party hats. Check out our great creations:

The boys were having fun playing together cooperatively on the carpet.

                                                         Making tea for everyone!

Bakers baking....

 Learning how to play color bingo using different colors and shapes.