Sharing the Holiday Spirit!

On Monday the Alpha students walked next door to Winston Park to sing beautiful carols and spread holiday cheer!

The children sang Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza favorites loud and clear as Mrs. McIvor played her guitar and Mrs. Gootson directed, bringing warm smiles of joy from our friends at Winston Park.

Back in the classroom, the boys and girls were busy wrapping gifts for their parents in the colorful bags they had decorated.

After opening the bag, they wrapped their hand print tile in
tissue and then pulled the ribbon from the spool before cutting
it!

On the playground, some enjoyed singing their favorite holiday tunes while playing musical instruments!

Others spent time measuring and baking breads and muffins in the sensory table with flour.

Then we celebrated a very special birthday, sharing pictures, stories and memories!

Critical thinking and visual discrimination skills were put to the test, with the introduction to a new shape and color board game. The children practiced taking turns by rolling dice, one to determine color and the other for shape. Next they selected that colored shape and found it's match on the playing board. They even learned a new shape, the pentagon!

Some enjoyed writing their names on dry erase boards, using their name cards to reinforce letter formation.

Following the Holiday Sing in the Janet Root Theater, the Alpha children enjoyed many activities at the  holiday party! They made gingerbread houses with graham crackers and icing and decorated it with gumdrops, licorice and M& M's.

Some parents even joined in the fun!

Have you ever seen a "Florida Snowman?" The boys and girls used pincher fingers to place sequins, beads, glittery snowflakes, a carrot nose and one "special item" in a small water bottle.

Then they added a scarf and a hat!

What ???? ... a clothes relay to include hats, boots, jackets, mittens and even a tie!

Playing with penguins in the snow ):-

Making hot cocoa mix was lots of fun, measuring cocoa, marshmallows and chocolate morsels in to a funnel took a little concentration.

After a spoon was added and the bow was tied, the children made their own name labels.

Thank you to the many parents, grandparents and friends that helped make our holiday party even more special.    I hope that you and your families enjoyed the holidays and best wishes for a happy, healthy new year in 2013!

Upcoming Dates:
1/3 Classes resume
1/8 Fire Station Field Trip
1/21 Martin Luther King holiday
1/25 Grandparents and Special Friends Day - Noon Dismissal
2/14 Valentine's Day Party 10:00

Diamonds, Stars and the Holiday Gift Drive

This week the boys and girls cut a diamond shape from the beautiful paper they created by mixing watercolors in shaving cream and then transferring it. After cutting it out, they folded the diamond in half to discover two triangles. Then they cut their diamond in half on the creased line. Next the question was asked, "What can we make with the two triangles?"

So, the children turned the triangles around and around, remaking their diamond and creating other shapes. Finally, the two triangles were turned in to a star of David by placing one triangle upside down on top of the other. Then with the help of the teacher, they used all of their strength to staple it together.

Two little friendly frogs were travelled to Utah and Colorado with their families this week and enjoyed snow skiing and building snowmen!

"Oh my goodness, the water is GREEN!" Scooping, funneling and pouring green water between containers was so cool.

Dipping golf balls in cups of glittery paint and then rolling them back and forth over five point stars was quite a creative and exciting way to paint "rock and roll stars!"

Those friendly frogs have become so quick when listening to the clues for guessing the mystery reader! The children loved hearing the Dora story, "Sleeping Boots." Our mystery reader was impressed at what great listeners they were.

Over the past two weeks Alpha students have enjoyed learning about holiday traditions specific to Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanza. Through literature the children have grasped the importance of giving to others in need. Each day the boys and girls would add to the huge Holiday Gift Drive bins in the classroom that were overflowing. On Friday, they each carried a gift to the gym for our families to help make sure that they too, would have a happy holiday.

Friday's Exploring was full of holiday fun! The children spread icing on an ice cream cone before adding candies and sprinkles to make a yummy holiday tree.

Some built gingerbread houses of foam blocks and added pom-poms as gumdrops!

The children colored a drums, dreidels and other holiday symbols before stapling them to decorate their holiday headband.

Adding candles to the menorah.....

Trimming the tree....

and playing with ribbons and figurines in the doll house, were some of the activities enjoyed.

The children loved making music with Mrs. McIvor on the keyboard.

Squeezing paint bottles of holiday colors on to pieces of plexi-glass strengthened fine motor skills, was an experiment in color mixing and made beautiful prints on paper.

Some books read this week:

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed reindeer" by Robert May
"Chanukah Lights Everywhere" by Michael L. Rosen
"Counting to Christmas" by Nancy Tafuri
"Are You Grumpy Santa?" by Gregg and Evan Spiridellis

Upcoming Dates To Remember:
12/20 - 8:30 - Holiday Sing in Janet Root Theater/Holiday Party/Noon Dismissal
12/21- 1/3 - Winter Break
1/8 - Fire Station Field Trip
1/21 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day/School Closed
1/25 - Grandparent's Day

Gingerbread Men, Holiday Trees and Hanukkah

 Many shades of green were made when the children mixed a little blue and a little yellow paint last week in Exploring. After making designs in this new color they made print transfers, making beautiful holiday trees.

This week they decorated their trees by gluing on colorful stars with and adding colorful balls with paint dotters!

After reading the delightful story, "The Gingerbread Man," by Barbara McClintock, the boys  and girls chose a gingerbread boy or girl to decorate with buttons, pom-poms, rick-rack, small foam shapes and googly eyes! First they learned about symmetry, and some children chose to make their gingerbread man symmetrically!

The children really used their creativity when determining how they wanted to decorate their large star with a various colors and sizes of smaller stars.

Attaching train cars to make a holiday train can require teamwork and strengthens fine motor skills, as well!

Spending time in the Exploratorium gingerbread house making holiday toys with hammers and blocks
is popular place to be!

In Exploring on Friday, Mrs. Gootson told the children about how the shamash candle is used to light the candles on the menorah each of the eight nights of Hanukkah and about a favorite dish called, latkes.

First, the children shredded the potatoes.

Next they mixed the shredded potatoes, flour, eggs, salt and baking powder together, before Mrs. Gootson cooked them in hot oil.

Finally, hot latkes were enjoyed with applesauce, and many asked for more!

The children had lots of fun learning how to play the dreidel game!

Making jingle bell necklaces with bells and beads was a treat, and the boys and girls will be "jingling all the way" when they wear them to sing at Winston Park and the Holiday Sing.

The children loved watching the colors blend as they squeezed droppers of sparkly water color in shaving cream.

Then they were amazed at the results when they placed their paper on top of the shaving cream and then scraped off the remaining shaving cream, revealing the gorgeous mixture of colors!

Some books read this week:
"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Kwanza"  by Rex Perry
"One Snowy Night" by Christina Butler
"Hanukkah" by Emily Sper
"Madeline's Christmas"  by Ludwig Bemelmans

Upcoming Dates:
 
12/3-12/14  Holiday Gift Drive
12/14  Exploring
12/17  Sing at Winston Park
12/20  Holiday Sing in Janet Root Theater (8:30), Holiday Party (10:00)
12/21-1/2  Winter Break
1/3 Classes resume
1/21 Dr. Martin Luther King holiday
1/25  Grandparent's Day