Wow! It's been a busy few weeks and today's concert and winter break parties were the perfect culmination to 2011! We've done lots of cooking and baking, continued to experience, discover, and learn, made gifts for our parents and brought in gifts for those less fortunate than ourselves. In just three short weeks the children, working with Mrs. McIvor learned Christmas, Hanukah and Kwanzaa songs  to do concerts for our neighbors in the adult community next door and for their parents in our theater! Check out E-Bytes, our Shorecrest online newsletter for pictures and videos of those performances. Here's just a small representation of what's been happening since my last entry:

Mrs. McIvor really got into the spirit of our Holiday Gift Drive,

The response of our generous school community was overwhelming!

Our open art center leads to great creativity. These boys got great joy out of creating beards and mousetaches!

Both visual perception and fine motor control were involved in fitting these wooden shapes into the appropriate spaces.

Our budding architect is using symmetry and experimenting with balance.

Playing music with tambourines and bells works well with seasonal music.

These girls were decorating the snow booth that was later used at the winter party.

Jumping rope is a hard skill for 4 year olds but our children love to practice.

Look at the broccoli and tomato we grew!

Music makes us all happy!

We made decorations for all the holidays we and our friends celebrate at this time of year.

 The following pictures are all from our winter break parties in Alpha and Junior Kindergarten. The children had a blast and so did the parents. We are so grateful to our parent community for all their support and help!

 Decorations were made using shells and more to imprint self-drying clay. The children then painted and their designs with sparkly paint.

JK made reindeer cupcakes that were fun to make and really delicious.

Winter bingo reinforced shapes, numbers and holiday symbols.

Homemade sundaes were a real hit in Alpha!

Throwing snowball bean bags at a target was a great gross motor exercise and a favorite spot to go during the alpha party.

Parents and children worked together to create snowflake decorations - You can never use too many sequins!

The children measured hot chocolate mix, marshmallows and chocolate chips into a cellophane cone, then tied the top with a ribbon to create a treat to take home and enjoy later.

Making gingerbread houses is also a creative outlet.

The children had very definite ideas on how they wanted to decorate their snowflakes.

Even grandparents came to help!

the train set always presents opportunities to learn to work together collaboratively and cooperatively.

I wish you all a happy holiday and new year! Watch for more news about our activities in 2012!

It was a great Thanksgiving!

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday and vacation!

We had so much fun during the week before the holiday learning about living off the land, about the history of Thanksgiving, and about Native Americans. The children had dramatic play in the Native American chickees and tepees and enjoyed playing the drums with rhythmic beats. Lots of cooking went on as the students prepared the food for their feasts which were the culmination of the week.The menus were decided upon by discussion with the children and each child picked which foods they wanted to eat. Many thanks to all the parents who pitched in to help with the exploring activities and plating the food according to the children's individual menus! Here are some pictures that illustrate what a great time everyone had participating in all the goings on!

The Alpha students picked the yellow squash they'd grown in their garden, then scrubbed it clean,  cut it and cooked it for the feast

They also cut strawberries which are one of their favorite types of fruit.

The Junior Kindergartners got a lot of exercise shaking cream into butter to put on the bread and corn bread that they baked.

They also cut oranges and sprinkled them with honey for a Seminole-style fruit.

In Alpha, mashing potatoes worked those upper body muscles!

Our playful parent volunteers were of great help and had their own fun.

In addition to the cooking activities, the JK children made "Native American style" clothing by coloring, hole punching and stringing beads onto paper bag vests.

The Pow- Wow room was a favorite place to visit. The children kept their beating rhythmic and in time to the music!

 

Yummy turkey snacks were created by combining crackers, peanut butter, pretzels, and a piece of candy corn.

Using flubber with fall manipulatives is an experiment with an interesting and stretchy type of matter is always exciting.

For the feast, each child was served a plate of the food they had chosen on their individual menus.

The feast was served and a thankful song sung before everyone began to eat.

It was wonderful to have so many parents with us to share the fun!

These happy faces were a reflection of how everyone felt at this communal gathering!

Halloween happenings and more

It's hard to believe that it's November and this month promises to be as busy as October was. The last few weeks were full of fun and learning. Halloween provided an opportunity for math and  literacy activites.

Alpha learned a lot about spiders including that they have eight legs and lots of eyes. Using other materials with play dough gave the children the opportunity to make spider models and to practice counting to 8 using one-to-one correspondence.

Some children preferred to use their dough and props to make unique creations. We always encourage imagination and creativity!

These students dictated stories about Jack-O-Lanterns and drew pictures to go with their stories. It wass delightful to read the stories as each was totally original.

We didn't eat all this candy. The children used it instead for sorting and graphing.

Making pumpkin muffins involves reading the recipe and measuring the ingredients. It also provided a nutritious snack! 

Besides the seasonally themed activities, there was lots more going on---

These boys used the wood pieces from our Handwriting Without Tears program to create the tallest Mat Man yet! The big and little lines and curves are also used to form the upper case letters.

We have some very prolific painters and they are using their paint and brushes with more and more purpose, creating unique and exciting works of art.

The more interesting materials and tools we add to the art center, the busier it becomes. Here the teacher explains how to use a paper crimper. This tool creates interesting paper while strengthening finger muscles.

It takes dexterity and coordination to fashion chains using paper and tape. The children used seasonal colors to create chains to decorate their classroom.

Large pattern blocks are perfect for creating original spatial patterns.

A trip to First Fruits Hydroponic Farm taught us a whole new way to grow produce. The children made a card to thank the people there who provided the children and teachers with such a worthwhile experience.

Our new iPads are generating a lot of excitement and providing great opportunities to learn in every area of the curriculum.

The culmination of the week was  our annual Halloween parade and Fall Festival. Our students stood on the sidelines to watch the older students pass in their costumes and then joined the parade.