Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! See you in 2011.

Thank you all for being willing to switch days this last week. Tuesday was a wonderful reunion with almost our entire family at the airport, many hugs and kisses, a big meal together and lots of catching up. I hope your holidays are filled with family, friends, good food, warm fires and maybe some snow. :) We will resume school on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011.

Here's what we did Dec. 15th and 16th. We:

• learned the "p" sound as in panda, pencil, pig, penguin, purple and pink
• made a page for our alphabet book
  
• decorated Christmas cookies (you might not have seen them, because most of the kids ate them immediately)
• completed our salt dough ornaments
• practiced writing our letters in shaving cream (in case you wondered why their hands smelled like men's cologne)
• sang "Ring, ring, ring the bells", "Guess who's beard is long and white", "We wish you a Merry Christmas", "Rudolph the Red nosed reindeer" "Once there was a snowman" and "Jingle bells"
• read "Horton Hears a Who" and "Christmas Mice" to follow our theme of compassion.
  
• completed the count down to Christmas Santa.
• practiced cutting by making strips for a construction paper chain.
• practiced shapes and colors (circle, oval, rectangle, triangle, square, star, heart, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, brown, purple).
• learned how to play dominoes with Toy Story III pictures on them

Miss Cindy teaches 3 and 4 year olds in West Boise, ID.

Alternate schedule for week of December 13-17

Remember we will be holding class on Wednesday (12/15) and Thursday(12/16) this week so our family can welcome home our missionary on Tuesday!

Here's what happened in preschool Dec. 7th and 9th! We:

• learned the letter "B" sound as in bells, babies, balloons and blocks.
• made another page for our alphabet book with paint and glitter.
• made edible Christmas trees from ice cream cones, icing and candies.
• played music with jingle bells and glasses filled with different levels of water.
• made count-down-to-Christmas Santas.
• read "The Night before Christmas", "With Love, at Christmas"(this one made me cry), "The Berenstain Bears learn to share" and "Little Racoon's One Big Question".
• painted our salt dough ornaments (they will come home next week after the clear glossy sealant dries)
• learned and sang "Ring, ring, ring the bells", "Guess Who's beard is Long and white?" and "Once there was a snowman"
• played Christmas bingo

Miss Cindy uses music, movement, stories and art projects to prepare 3 and 4 year olds for kindergarten.

November 16 - December 2

Wow! It has been very busy at our preschool. The week before Thanksgiving we dressed as Indians and Pilgrims and had a Thanksgiving feast. Ask your student about:

• dancing the Turkey Pokey and the Turkey strut
  
• singing "If you're thankful and you know it" and "Gobble, gobble, gobble, said the bird"
  
• chanting "Mr. Turkey big and fat"
• making a grateful turkey whose feathers listed our blessings
• making music with homemade instruments
• dressing up as pilgrims and Indians
• reading "The First Thanksgiving" and "Grover's book of Baby Animals"
  
• playing "Hide turkey hide"
• learning the sound for the letter "M"
  

Then this week Nov. 30 - Dec. 2, we:

• learned the letter "C" sound
• made a caterpillar for our ABC book
• read "The Kissing Hand", "The Cat in the Hat" "The Biggest Best Snowman" and "C is for Clown"
• reviewed the letters we've learned and begin making words like "cat, hat, sat, mat, fat and rat"
• played "Cootie" with a Santa face
• began making a Santa Advent calendar
• sang "Guess who's beard is long and white?" and "Once there was a snowman"
• began making salt dough ornaments which we'll paint this next week.