We spent most of the day preparing for tomorrow's program.  We sang the songs one more time, this time with the piano.  We put the finishing touches on our surprise.  We read the story How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas?   This is the story that was the inspiration for our Festival of Trees tree.  The tree has been moved to the Great Room and will be raffled off tomorrow.   The letter for today was Nn.
Snacks:  The morning class had Paw Patrol Grahams, carrots, and juice brought by Jai.  The afternoon snack was crackers, cheese, and juice brought by Jeremiah.  Thank you, Jai and Jeremiah!

We're looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Group Meeting:  The Gingerbread Man brought us an interesting experiment today.  He had lights from a Christmas tree.  The wires had been cut into sections so that there were only two or three lights together.  He also provided us with batteries.  The instructions were to place the lights wires on the batteries to see if we could make them work.  Here's a picture of some of the morning class children giving it a try.

Small Groups:  The children played a game during small groups today.  Each child had a paper with a gingerbread man printed on it.  The gingerbread man was divided into sections and each section had a numeral printed on it.  The children took turns rolling a dice.  Once the number on the dice was identified, the children colored the section with the corresponding numeral.  The children kept taking turns rolling the dice.  If the number was one that we had already colored, they had to say pass.  They kept playing until the gingerbread man was finished.

Story:  The story for today was Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett.   In this story, Matti is making a gingerbread man.  However, he opens the oven before it was finished baking.  A gingerbread baby pops out and begins to run away.  This story is similar to the Gingerbread Man that we read two weeks ago, but it had some elements that were different.  Ask your child to tell you how this story ended differently than the one we read before.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Mn.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was breakfast bars, Teddy Grahams, and milk brought by Jackson.  The afternoon snack was cheese slices and milk brought by John.  Thank you, Jackson and John!

Group Meeting:  We are counting down the days until our Christmas program.  Four snowflakes were waiting for us on the Message Board.  Each day we will remove one until program day.

Small Groups:  Our group activity today is going to have to remain a secret until Thursday.  Christmas surprises are always fun!

Story:  The story for today was The Gingerbread Man Loose at the Zoo by Laura Murray.  This is the third book in this series that we have read.  In this book, the Gingerbread Man's class is going on a field trip to the zoo.  The teacher has prepared riddles to help the children work their way through the zoo, visiting animals.  When a giraffe tries to eat the Gingerbread Man, he gets separated from the class.  By solving the riddles, he finds the class again and helps another animal find it's mother.  Ask your child to tell you which animal was lost.

Large Group:  The children did a Christmas Program rehearsal today in the Great Room.  They learned how to stand on the risers.  I think it's going to be a great show!

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Ll.

Snacks:  The morning snack was Chex cereal and milk brought by Finn.  The afternoon snack was grapes and milk brought by Jayce.  Thank you, Finn and Jayce.

Group Meeting:  The Gingerbread Man brought game boards for us to use during playtime.  The children had to roll a dice and move that number of spaces on the game board.  The goal was to see who could reach the gingerbread house first.

Small Groups:  The children decorated gingerbread cookies in small groups.  We ate the cookies instead of birthday brownies at snack time.

Story:  The story for today was Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney.  Llama is waiting for Christmas, but it is hard to wait.  There is so much to do at home and at school.  Mama is busy as well.  When Llama is feeling overwhelmed, Mama puts him on her lap and they enjoy their special time together.

Large Group:  The children from the Green Group brought items for Show and Tell.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Kk.

Snacks:  The children had Clementine oranges, the gingerbread cookies that they decorated, and milk. 

The children have Christmas Program invitations in their bags today. 

Group Meeting:  It was "Where is it Wednesday" today.  The Gingerbread Man brought 20 candy canes and hid them in the classroom.  We were able to find all 20.

Small Groups:  The activities for this week are listed in Monday's post.  The schedule for today was:
Activity #1 Green Group
Activity #2 Red Group
Activity #3 Yellow Group

Story:  The story for today was The Gingerbread Mouse by Katy Bratun.   In this story, a little mouse has just lost her home.  She sees a gingerbread house inside of a home in the woods.  She jumps on the Christmas tree that the family is moving inside.  She makes her home in the gingerbread house until someone comes along and gives her a new house.  Ask your child to tell you who that is.

Large Group:  The children practiced parts of our Christmas program.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Jj.

Snacks:  The morning class snack was Goldfish and juice brought by Emmett W.  The afternoon snack was waffles, blackberries, bananas, and milk brought by Gage.  Thank you, Emmett and Gage!

Here's a few more pictures of houses for our Gingerbread Men.

Group Meeting:  The Gingerbread Man has asked the children to make him and his friends a home.  The children were challenged to use anything in the block area to make a home for a Gingerbread Man.  I've attached a few pictures below.

Small Groups:  The activities for this week are listed in yesterday's post.  The schedule for today was:
Activity #1 Yellow Group
Activity #2 Green Group
Activity #3 Red Group

Story:  The story for today was If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff.  This book was written by the same author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and is written in the same format.  If you take a mouse to the movies, he will want popcorn.  If you give him popcorn, he will want to put it on a string.  Ask your child to tell you the last thing that the mouse asks for at the end of the book.

Large Group:  The children participated in a Count the Room activity.  I had posted pictures of Christmas items around the room.  The children had to find them, count how items were on the picture, and print that number on their paper next to the matching item.   Most of the children are just learning to make the numerals, so we weren't real concerned about how they looked.  We want to provide them lots of opportunity to practice.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Ii.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was muffins, apple slices, and milk brought by Emmett A.  The afternoon snack was mini-pancakes, applesauce, and milk brought by Evelyn.  Thank you, Emmett and Evelyn!

Gingerbread Hospital

Group Meeting:  The Gingerbread Man has noticed that we have a light table.  He is sharing his transparent parquetry blocks and Christmas patterns so that we can make pretty pictures on the light table.

Small Groups:  The activities for this week are listed below as well as the schedule for today.
Activity #1 (Red Group) The children played a beginning sound lotto game.  I had letter cards that I would identify and make the sound that it represents.  The children would find pictures on their cards that had same beginning sound.
Activity #2 (Yellow Group) This activity is a surprise, so I can't share details with you today.
Activity #3 (Green Group)  The children played a game using their sense of touch.  Several school items were wrapped in tissue paper.  Without taking the wrapping paper off, they had to try to identify what was in the package. 

Story:  The story today was The Gingerbread Man Loose at Christmas by Laura Murray.  This is another book in the Gingerbread Man series that we started last week with The Gingerbread Man Loose at School.  The Gingerbread Man has become part of a classroom.  The children and their teacher are making gifts to give to people in their community.  The Gingerbread man wants to do the same.  Ask your child to tell you who he is making a gift for and what that person gives to him.

Large Group:  The children learned two more songs for our Christmas program.  They are picking up the words very quickly.

Snacks:  The morning class had cheese sticks, Goldfish, and juice brought by Daphne.  The afternoon class had muffins, applesauce, and juice brought by Carson.  Thank you, Daphne and Carson!

Group Meeting:  The Gingerbread Man brought us our Let's Find Out magazines.  They were all about making Gingerbread cookies.

Small Groups:  After watching a video about winter holidays, the children took their Let's Find Out magazines to the table to complete the last page about syllables.  We worked on this paper together.

Story:  The story was Santa's Secret Helper by Andrew Clements.  Santa has a secret helper.  The elves prepare two suits, two sleighs and two bags of toys.  Will the children be able to tell that one Santa is not the real Santa?  Who is the secret helper?  Ask your child to tell you.

Large Group:  The children in the Yellow Group brought items for Show and Tell.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was grapes, granola bars and milk brought by Clara.  The afternoon snack was Ritz Bits with cheese and juice brought by Caden.  Thank you, Clara and Caden!

Group Meeting:  When the children arrived at school today, the gingerbread man was missing.  He must have known that it was "Where is it Wednesday".  We found him at the writing table.  He had brought a basket of Christmas cards for us to use to send to our family and friends.

Small Groups:  The activities for this week is listed in Monday's post.  The schedule for today was:
Activity #1 Green Group
Activity #2 Red Group
Activity #3 Yellow Group

Story:  The story for today was The Elves and the Shoemaker retold by Freya Littledale.  The shoemaker in this story has become very poor.  He has only enough materials to make one more pair of shoes.  He cuts out the leather and leaves it on his workbench to assemble in the morning.  In the morning, he finds the shoes already assembled and sells them immediately.  The same happens the next night.  Who is helping the shoemaker?  Ask your child to tell you.

Large Group:  Following the story, the children played the "Shoe Game".  This is a game of hide and seek using each others shoes.  A very simple game that was a lot of fun.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Ff.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and milk brought by Carter.  The afternoon snack was mini pancakes and juice brought by Brooklyn.  Thank you, Carter and Brooklyn!

Group Meeting:  The Gingerbread Man was back today.  This time, he brought us some dough to use at the art table to make cut outs at the table.  The children could roll the dough and use cookie cutters to make a shape.  After it dries and hardens, they will use paint, glitter, glue, etc. to decorate.

Small Groups:  The activities for this week were listed in yesterday's blog.  The schedule for today was:
Activity #1 Yellow Group
Activity #2 Green Group
Activity #3 Red Group

Story:  Today, I read the book The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School by Laura Murray.  When a class leaves for recess, their just-baked Gingerbread Man is left behind. But he's a smart cookie and heads out to find them. He'll run, slide, skip, and (after a mishap with a soccer ball) limp as fast as he can because: "I can catch them! I'm their Gingerbread Man!"  Ask your child to tell you why the class left the Gingerbread Man behind.

Large Group:  The children learned another new song for our Christmas program. 

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Ee.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was crackers, Clementine oranges, and milk brought by Brody.  The afternoon snack was graham crackers, apple slices, and juice brought by Brayden.  Thank you, Brody and Brayden!

Group Meeting:  A visitor came into our classroom and left a note behind.  I'm hoping your child will be able to tell you who it was!

Small Groups:  The activities for this week are listed below as well as the schedule for today.
Activity #1 (Red Group)  The children played Roll and Write.  They were given a letter dice to roll.  After rolling it, they identified the letter on the top and wrote that number in a square on the paper they were given.  They repeated this until all the squares were full of letters.
Activity #2 (Yellow Group) The children did finger painting to make a Christmas decoration for our classroom.  They selected a color of paint and added gold or silver to it on a piece of paper.  They placed a piece of plastic wrap on top and used their fingers to mix the colors.  After the colors were mixed, we removed the plastic wrap to create a texture on the top.  These papers will be cut into Christmas baubles to hang in the hallway.
Activity#3 (Green Group) The children made a pattern with beads on a pipe cleaner.  They added a jingle bell and bent the pipe cleaner into a circle.  We will use this in our Christmas program.

Story:  Our visitor brought us a book to read.  It was the Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth and Barbara McClintock.  This is the story of an old lady and old man who create a gingerbread man to eat.  As they open the oven, the gingerbread man escapes and begins to run away.  The gingerbread man manages to run from the old couple, a butcher, a cow, and a pig.  Will he be able to run from the fox?  Ask your child to tell you what happens.

Large Group:  The children learned two new songs that they will be singing in the Christmas program.

Letter Learning:  The letter for today was Dd.

Snacks:  The snack for the morning class was Teddy Grahams and milk brought by Arlo.  The afternoon class had grapes, mini pancakes, and milk brought by Avani.  Thank you, Arlo and Avani!