Welcome back to school!  I pray that you were able to rest and celebrate all of God's blessings over Thanksgiving break! 

After our morning routines, the friends noticed something different on the carpet!  

"It's a Christmas tree!"

"We put our Christmas tree up!" 

"We have two trees at my house!" 

"Do you know the lights use electricity?"

We discussed where we should put our Christmas tree in our classroom. 

"Well it needs to be close to a plug." 

"What about that corner?"

"No - then it will be in our way!" 

"What about the other corner?" 

"Yeah!" 

The discussion was rich and the friends exhibited their social skills as they waited for their turn to speak, listened to their friends thoughts and ideas and continued our discourse on topic. 

As the friends continued to discuss, they thought it would be fun to make a Christmas town in our classroom! We made a list of supplies that we need to make the Christmas town.  

"We need a music room so we can use our instruments to sing Christmas songs!" 

We then had a discussion about why we celebrate Christmas.  We learned that although presents, trees, Santa, etc. are all fun parts of Christmas we really celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! 

Look how independent our friends are!  

Sadly, the snow didn't amount to anything that we could play with.  However, the friends enjoyed walking to our "secret garden" on the back of our property.  We are so blessed to have so much outdoor space! 

We were very careful on the bridge because it was slick! We

"Where is the water going?" 

"There's trash in there!  How did that get there?"

"We need to get it out and put it in a trash bin!" 

The friends and I then discussed the importance of taking care of the earth with which God has blessed us.  

"Look at the bird nest way up there!" 

"Is it a beehive?  It looks like a circle like a beehive?" 

"I found a nut!" 

"It's a squirrel nut."

"No I think it is an acorn!" 

After snack the friends went to work in the classroom! 

"I think it needs some ornaments." 

"I will put our Christmas books on the shelf so we can read them!" 

The friends worked with good junk to make ornaments for our tree! 

Some friends wrote Christmas cards.  They used our alphabet book as a reference for how to write letters and remember their sounds. 

Working in the blocks 

The friends asked if we could make a sign for Christmas town.  They worked together to write the words using our alphabet book as a reference and then decorate the sign! 

There was so much excitement in our classroom when the friends noticed the snow! 

 

Happy Tuesday! This morning we sang and danced with the guitar.  We sang a song about being thankful and we practiced our bible verse, "Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good!" 

After snack we read this book about Thanksgiving and thanked God for His many gifts to us!  An encouraging note for parents: Even when it seems like our world is only full of disaster and evil, we can be confident that Jesus Christ is always good.  He died on the cross and rose again to save us.  When we feel very sad or discouraged by the world around us, look to the cross of Jesus Christ in confidence of His goodness! 

During free choice work time the "Rockstars" went to work playing music! 

The writing center was busy with friends sharing their stories. 

The friends worked together in the block area to build and create. 

Some friends continued to make instruments out of good junk. 

One of the friends noticed how tis particular rhythm stick vibrates as it rolls.  We took a minute to observe and share our observations with each other. 

Sometimes friends work together to write a book.  Today two friends chose to co-author and co-illustrate a hymnal book. 

After lunch the rain stopped enough for us to go to the playground.  Praise God! 

 

We have responsible friends! They hang up their jackets, take out their snacks, and put their rest items in their rest box!  It is important for children to have responsibility.  Want to know more?  Click here! 

After our morning jobs were complete and all the friends had written their names, we observed the guitar once again.  The friends sang along using the egg shakers to keep the beat. Some friends chose to stand up and keep the beat while others chose to sit and keep the beat. 

We then read this funny book that has many rhyming words. 

We enjoyed the sunny day outside! 

We then voted on our "band name" for our class based on our discussion from last week.  We counted and compared the votes.  Our new name is Rockstar! 

We then took the instruments to the hill to explore! 

After lunch we explored in the outdoor classroom. 

In the outdoor classroom the friends worked together to put water down the trough.  

"Put it higher!  It goes longer." 

"I need a stool so I can see." 

"Can the pumpkin roll down?"

"No! It's too heavy!"