Professional Development

In November of 2010, I was able to attend a State Conference for Early Childhood at Eastern Kentucky University presented by the Kentucky Association for the Education of Young Children (KAEYC).





As a member of the National Association (NAEYC), I was pleased to take advantage of this training opportunity just a few hours from home.




I attended several sessions focusing on Literature (which is a true passion of mine).




My favorites were presented by a wonderful speaker, Isabel Baker from The Bookvine. Ms. Baker was engaging and inspiring. I had the good fortune to meet her and speak with her personally.






I agree with Ms. Baker, that a beautiful book is one of the best gifts we can share with our children.

Christmas

Our Christmas week was only one day long, but we made the most of it. We celebrated the birthday of Jesus with a cake and candle.









After singing "Happy Birthday", we all shared in blowing out the candle.














We strung (and tasted) fruit loops to make wreath-shaped ornaments for our trees at home.

































Christmas gifts were quickly finished and carefully wrapped to take home to some lucky parents.

















We enjoyed being together at school one last time before a brand new year begins.




Stay safe and warm and have a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Treats

We spent our week working on Christmas treats. While you can't eat the ornaments and pictures we made, they still look delicious and we learned by working through the process.














Christmas stories found on our library shelf are an inspiration for fun this season. There are many versions of the Gingerbread Boy story. Consider choosing one and reading it with your child.







Using salt, flour, and water. We formed a basic dough.






We mixed, kneaded, and rolled.




Using a cookie cutter, we made our own Gingerbread boys.






Once they were baked, we painted them and took them home to hang on the Christmas tree.















Ms. Amy helped us paint our hands to create a Santa Claus.



















We learned a fun poem and recited it at group time with Ms. Lisa.



















We shared our family traditions with our Holiday Wreath homelink. Everyone enjoys having a turn to share in front of the group. We are learning how to be a polite audience.














Working together at the art table provides a time to talk and share with each other. Social development is a big part of our preschool day.











Cookie cutters are also useful for making prints with paint.

Christmas Trees

We began our exploration of the holiday season with Christmas trees. Our friends were quick to share if they were already in the process of setting up a tree at home.

















Our fine motor skills were exercised as we carefully cut along three lines to produce a triangle-shaped tree.














We read some terrific books about Christmas trees. Check out our list on this blog for some wonderful choices to share at home.
















We decorated and un-decorated our little classroom tree over and over.

























At the easel, we used large brushes and vivid green to fill a Christmas tree outline. Once the were dry, we embellished them with sequins and glitter and all things shiny.



















Using fresh-cut greenery as paintbrushes, we painted with shades of green to make our own versions of Christmas trees.

Turkeys

We played a game at group time, choosing feathers with movement instructions written on them. It was a fun activity that helped us practice some gross-motor skills.














At the art table, we made some very interesting turkeys with paper, glue, and feathers. Our birds turned out to have some comical expressions among them.
















We used feathers instead of brushes to paint some lovely abstract pieces of art.








Ms. Lisa guided us as we wrote the letter "Tt".













Ms. Amy helped us to make handprint turkeys and then we had a chance to do it all by ourselves.











Painting our hands was messy fun and we enjoyed the sensory experience.


















We used our tape dispenser this week with scissors. Many friends worked with the tape to create interesting take-home pieces. Some even made the letter "Tt" using tape!














We learned a new song at the flannel board, "Turkey in the Straw". This was a favorite all week with our musical group!















A real turkey feather was brought to school and generously shared with all our friends.

Squirrels and Nuts

We continued learning about this beautiful season we're in. One particular animal associated with autumn is the squirrel and one particular food associated with squirrels are nuts. Both of these topics made for some fun discovery this week.










Ms. Amy helped us to look at patterns of fall items and decide on what would "come next". It took a lot of looking to choose the correct item.











We painted squirrels with our dot markers and gave them "bushy" tails with cotton balls. These little guys turned out much more colorful than the real thing.











The most fun this week was using real hammers to open a variety of nuts.





We were very careful, wearing appropriate safety gear and using our tools with caution.











It was harder than it looked to crack the shells.
















Perseverance paid off and everyone experienced success.













We learned that squirrels have some mighty sharp teeth to do the job of finding yummy treats inside a nut shell.








A lot of work and a lot of fun!