During weather we have learned that Christmas Trees are actually Evergreen Trees until……

Christmas Time!

As we round out our farm month, Ms. Lori took the opportunity to have the children create the letter H using pieces of corn.  With Ms. Lori’s help the children dotted glue along the letter, and used their fine motor skills to place the corn on the dot of glue.  Starting from top to bottom and working from left to right, the children created their own H masterpieces!

As a preschooler, numbers and matching are two skills they will become very familiar with.  Today, we merged the two by having the children use number puzzles.  Each child had puzzle pieces with numbers and had to match the number to corresponding pieces with pictures on it.  The children enjoyed the challenge of the hunt and practiced those number recognition and counting skills.

As we usher our way back from a restful holiday break, we got back into the swing of things by practicing our rhyming skills and matching upper and lowercase letters.  When rhyming, the children discovered that it does not matter what the first letter is, as long as the ending of the words sound the same.  When we found words that matched, the puzzle pieces fit together.  As the children matched the capital and lowercase letters, they had to find the picture that began with that particular letter.  If the letters match, the puzzle pieces fit!  The children did an excellent job exploring the letters.

We experimented with gelatin today by using a dropper and squeezing a variety different liquid water colors inside the gelatin.  It created an “explosion” of color within the gelatin that looked liked veins of color running throughout the mold.

We read the book, Celebrating Thanksgiving:  Giving Thanks during group time today and shared what we were thankful for…

Ms. Courtney’s sister joined us to make a special Thanksgiving Turkey out of popcorn, tissue paper, and a medical glove.  It’s amazing what little creativity to create!

In preparation for a successful future in writing children must, regularly, be using the small muscles in their hands and fingers to strengthen them.  We used small blocks today during small groups along with shaving cream and wooden spatulas to help build these muscles.  Children are also acquiring knowledge and skills which will provide an important foundation for later learning.  From the wooden shapes, your child solves problems and gains confidence.  Building with blocks helps children learn what numbers stand for, and it encourages children to practice scientific, trial-and-error thinking as well as critical-thinking and decision making skills.  And of course…it was a lot of fun!

Thanksgiving is just days away and we have already begun cooking in the Creative Tots kitchen!  Today our little chefs whipped up a delicious pumpkin pie.  As a chef, it is important to know what ingredients you are using, and how much to put in.  Each child helped to measure, pour, stir, and even crack eggs as we made our pie filling.  After pouring the filling into the pie crust, we popped it in the oven and enjoyed the sweet smell.  Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate all of the good people and things in your life.  We read a story about the first Thanksgiving, and discussed what we are thankful for and why.  We hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!