We started out by talking about what our families do to celebrate in December. All of the families at SON Shine celebrate Christmas, so the children excitedly told me about decorating Christmas trees, putting up lights, baking cookies, visiting Santa, and opening presents.We decorated our own Christmas trees, which will be hanging in the alley entrance way. I can't wait for you to see them! The kids were very creative, especially in the colors of paint they chose to paint their trees in.
First, they painted their trees.
Then they made their ornaments. This was a great chance for them to practice their cutting skills.
Glitter is our forever friend. We're still finding glitter everywhere in the room, and we haven't had it out since!
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we learned about Hanukkah. It's amazing to me how much the children remember about how people celebrate Hanukkah after hearing just one story. Their favorite part is that the Jewish people eat doughnuts in celebration of the holiday!
We made dreidels on Tuesday and played the traditional dreidel game. The kids had a blast with it! I was impressed with their sportsmanship too. If they spun the letter that meant they didn't get any of the "pot" of candy, they just waited patiently until it was their turn again. The earlier children learn life skills like this, the better off they'll be when they have to handle competitive situations in real life. While we were playing the game, I played some Hanukkah music for the children. That's where the title of this post comes from. In one song, the lyrics talked about making dreidels out of different materials, like mud, sand, and air. The kids laughed and laughed when the singer sang about making a dreidel out of air. What a ridiculous thought!
We started learning about the nights of Las Posadas, which is celebrated in Mexico, on Thursday. We'll continue on Monday, and I'm hoping to have a full blown Mexican celebration!
The children handled the classroom rearrangement beautifully! I feel this change is an incredibly beneficial one; I've already noticed a change in how they are playing. Here's my favorite example:
The children generally avoided the block area in the past. For the last two days, there has constantly been at least one kiddo in the block area. The play that comes out of that is fabulous too! Check this out: I walked over to the block center on Thursday to check out what a rather large group of children were up to. They had lined up our wooden buildings so the doors matched and they were attempting to roll a marble from one side to the other. I was blown away by their creativity! It was the neatest thing! (I apologize that the pictures are sideways. My camera was not cooperating with me...)
This is what the whole thing looked like.
Here's a different perspective. (P.S. I love this picture!)
Also, just for fun. Here's what happens when the kiddos catch me watching them read:
They make me love my job!
I hope you have a fabulous weekend! I'll see you all on Monday (or Tuesday).
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