Look at these hard working boys and girls. Even on our feast day - the learning never stops. We were working on a "color by letter" activity and I couldn't resist taking pictures of their serious faces. We love to work and learn in our classroom - even on our "Thanksgiving Day."
I am not sure if you are able to read these priceless words. Our class is so thankful for everything that we have been given, but today - these were our thoughts.
Today was our class feast. We were all dressed for the gathering and had a great time celebrating God's blessings with the other four year old students. The room was alive with laughter and talking as we shared in this bounteous meal. (Mashed potatoes from Mrs. Cary's class, muffins from Mrs. Cindy's class and applesauce from our own little hands. We also added some dried beef jerky and cheese cubes.) It was lots of fun to see the children trying foods that looked different and to see some of them actually enjoy them. This was a festive day full of love and friendship. The children showed us their very best manners as we celebrated the very first Thanksgiving of our country.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. It was a wonderful day.
Here are our little turkeys, complete with feathers. They did such a wonderful job singing and reciting. Although, some of them were not very happy about the itchy hat and feathers, they put on smiles and performed like the "almost kindergartners" that they are. It is very important to share, however, that some of our children had the idea to preserve their costumes for Thanksgiving Day. We recently read a book by Eve Bunting called, A Turkey for Thanksgiving. The boys and girls thought it would be funny to the turkey actually sitting at the table (like the turkey in the book) rather than on the table for the meal. Gobble, Gobble, Gobble....
As you know, we had an art show. The children did a great job on their projects and we hope that you enjoy them. The wall art will come home with your child on Monday. Our "Seasons Trees" had many dimensions. We traced hands, stamped hands, used fingerprints, and even added some other items for texture. They have been sprayed with a protective sealant to try and preserve them, but you never know with glitter. The cornucopia paintings started with some corn painting. When we learned about the Native Americans and the gift of maize - we rolled corn in paint. It made a colorful background for the cornucopias that we stamped with a basket pattern, cut and glued to our corn prints. We ended this project by stamping with real fruit and gluing on fall leaves. My personal favorite is the Mayflower painting. The children were shown various paintings of the Mayflower and then asked to paint their very own version. It was going to end there, but their stories about the Mayflower were just too priceless not to share.
The "pine cone turkeys" were inspired by the beautiful giant pine cones found in my backyard. Everyone makes them and I have a personal collection from my children that I have to display each Thanksgiving. The children enjoyed holding these pine cones and measuring with them. It was amazing that some of their hands were actually smaller than the pine cone. (Yes math & science happen everywhere.) The pinch pot and corn beading were part of the Native American unit and our "Thanksgiving Book" just provides the simple story of the first Thanksgiving and what it means to be thankful. There were some priceless responses to the "thankful page" at the front of the book and on the "how do you cook a turkey" on the last page. Please take some time to look at your child's work with them and praise them for everything that they created. As a mother of now older boys, your time is passing faster than you really know. Public school cannot provide time to talk about God's blessings and this is the most important part of the Thanksgiving story. "Songs of Thankfulness and Praise, this to you our God we raise..."
To be free to worship God as they wanted. Happy Early Thanksgiving from our class. The children have been learning the messages of this season, but there is just so much to learn. Thank you pilgrims for your bravery. Did you know that they sailed for 65 days with 102 passengers to the new world? The children were most impressed with the fact that there were no bathrooms or showers available and that they didn't even really exist at the time. To them - this was the biggest sacrifice. (And that there were no Game Boys, Nintendo DS or Leapsters to make time pass quickly.) Once they arrived, however, making friends with the Native Americans was assumed. The children said that everyone can be a friend in Jesus. God's love truly does abound in our small classroom. Thank you parents for these wonderful boys and girls.
We have been making some really fun hats for upcoming events in our preschool. We are preparing for our class feast by making some Native American apparel complete with nature inspired names. Of course no Thanksgiving is complete without a turkey hat.
We are getting ready for Thanksgiving and our Fall Art Show. (Sorry - no pictures because our work will be a surprise on Thursday.) If you are coming - it will be so fun and cute. Your children have been working so hard learning our songs and the Thanksgiving acrostic poem. (They really memorized some big words.) Even though it is the big Thanksgiving week - we are still learning our letters and this week was E. To help with our lesson - we read Elmer by David McKee. It was a funny story about an elephant who didn't really look like an elephant at all. The children really enjoyed it and the message of appreciating each other's differences. Look at these friendly faces. We are such good friends.
Today we talked about my son's big adventure at the Emergency Room. Marshall, my 5th grader, loves to play outside and do all things "out of doors." For several years he has been an amateur wood worker and truly respects the craft of making bows and arrows. Well, yesterday, we had our first big injury - which resulted in 6 stitches to his left hand. I am posting this because, during circle time, we talked about the safety concerns for sharp objects. The issue came up yesterday as we looked at Native American artifacts which included a real arrow made by a Cherokee Indian. The children wanted to know why we didn't pass this around and why they should not play with these types of items. Marshall's injury seemed the perfect lesson. The children really seem to learn from other children's mistakes and this one was no exception. Throughout the day they asked questions about Marshall's injury and verbalized an understanding of why safety is so important. So - if you hear this story - it is true and my son is just fine. He also learned a very important safety lesson and will be much more cautious in future endeavors.
As we continue on our journey to the very first Thanksgiving, we appreciate the friends in our class. Here are some cute photographs of our room at work and play. We really are growing so much and are learning to appreciate every one's differences. It is so humbling to see your children offer unsolicited encouragement and praise to classmates. God works tirelessly in the hearts of these boys and girls and we are so blessed to be with them this year.
Even though we don't really understand the madness of our military, we can still say thank you! If you have gone through your child's papers for the week, you may have found our very patriotic turkeys. We made these to help us remember Veteran's Day. The turkey means thanks and the colors symbolize our country's freedoms. It is such a blessing that our children live in a safe and peaceful world and that they don't have to know what this all really means. They just know that all "army men" are great and super cool. My nephew and Mrs. Laurie's son are proud to serve in the military and this post is specifically designed to thank all of those who work to keep us safe. We have been spending this week talking about the first thanksgiving and our Native American brothers and sisters made this nation great before we even arrived. Keeping us safe and free is far out of reach of these little one's minds - but to say thanks we offer this salute. If your children also salute anyone in military attire, this is our small way of saying thanks and we love you.
It was an amazing day in our classroom. Have you ever seen a tee pee or played in one? The children had no idea what this funny looking tent was all about. It was funny to hear them speculate about why it had arrived in our classroom. This tee pee is placed in our home living center and the children are so excited. This week we are learning about our native American brothers and sisters and the very brave pilgrims who made the long voyage to America. It is so exciting to see the children learning about our country's history and thinking about what it means to be living in America today. Keep your ears tuned in for some very interesting conversations as this week goes on.
Yes, it is November and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. If you haven't seen your child's door art for the month - here it is. Since our class feast will occur at the end of the month, the children will dress up as a participant from the first Thanksgiving. To help them remember what they chose, they made a friendly face of their character. Our Pilgrims and Native Americans greet us each day that we arrive at school.
Can you see the essence of "fun" in these pictures? This preschool playground is the best place to see your children playing, sharing God's love and just being a little child. There is no pressure to do anything else - just run and play with friends.
We are so lucky to have boys and girls that truly love each other and play so well together. Friendship is another blessing that we love to count.
Today we talked about counting our blessings. This is rather big concept for the children, but it relates to our unit on thankfulness. We read a really good book about the Berenstain Bears and talked about things that we are very thankful for in our lives. Of course since the weather was picture perfect the biggest blessing of the day was going to the playground. You can see God's blessings everywhere ...Even our friend below was standing watch to make sure our playground was safe. (He is really Batman and he was carefully watching Gotham to make sure all was well this afternoon play time.)
Here is our letter this week all dressed up like a queen. Some of the faces that the children added were so cute. Lowercase q is hard to write because it is so tricky. Today we talked about Q being quiet. These weekly letter projects are so much fun and the children really enjoy creating them. They will make a really neat alphabet book at the end of the year.
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