Week #20 brought brand new quiet boxes which the students were excited about.  Some of the new boxes include rolling dice and counting bears,

 sorting candy hearts, and

 counting bubbles for fish.

 If a child chooses not to play in their quiet box, their other options are to work on a puzzle or read a book.

 The 4s classes finished their collage art projects this week by gluing their cut paintings onto a piece of paper.

 The 3s class worked on fine motor skills by tracing lines and

 painting snow pictures with water bottle lids.

 The 4s classes created some pretty watercolor hearts by first tracing the hearts with glue, then sprinkling salt over the glue, and finally painting over the salt.

 The 3s class enjoyed playing with play dough this week.

 During week #19 our letter was Nn and our number was 10. We read the book "10 Black Dots" and then each student created something in their journal using 10 dots.  We had a variety of ideas from a crooked tree stump to a snowman and a lot of things in between.

 We also started an art project by painting our papers. We will continue next week by cutting our painted papers into pieces and then gluing the pieces onto a second piece of paper to make a collage.

 We dotted the letter N and talked about narwhals. We also talked about heavy vs. light by clapping, stomping, and jumping.  We practiced counting forward to and backwards from ten with our fingers. 

 Week #18 brought a new center-Gingerbread Decorating.

 We read the Napping House in the 4s classes and then did some watercolor painting with the characters from the story.  We practiced making L which was our letter of the week. The 3s only had one day of school again this week because of some bad weather but we practiced tracing the letter L and also some lines. We also colored a ladybug with 9 black dots.

 Week #17 was another short week. Our letter was Jj and our shape in the 4s classes was star so we traced stars with glue and then covered them with glitter.

 Our number was nine and we practiced our cutting skills.  The students have come a long way with their scissor practice. The 3s class only had one day this week and we used it to get back into our routine, but we had fun while doing it.

 We had our Christmas parties during week #16.  We had fun playing games and eating treats. THANK YOU to all of the parents who helped make the parties a success! We beaded candy canes.

 We stacked snowmen with large marshmallows.

 We went fishing for candy canes and got to take home the ones we caught.

 We had an indoor snowball toss where we tried to throw cotton balls into clear plastic cups decorated like snowmen.

 We went ice skating in the hallway with paper plates.

 We played a memory game with Hershey Kisses that had stickers on the bottom.  Each student was allowed to find and keep three matches. Finally we tried to get through the hula hoop without making the bells jingle. 

 Although we started week #15 with a snow day, we were still able to fit almost everything in.  We were excitedly getting ready for Christmas.  The 3s class finger painted snowmen on Tuesday.

 Thanks to a couple of willing volunteers, we were able to have our Snowman Factory this week.  I laid out a tray with white play dough, buttons, string, and sticks and the children had a blast creating snowmen and other creations as well.

 The 4s classes painted wreaths on Wednesday using green paint and brillo sponges.  On Friday they used red paint and fingers to add berries.  They turned out so well.

 The 3s class had some free writing time in their journals and also enjoyed the snowman factory.

 I would have to say the highlight of our week in the 4s classes was baking and decorating cookies.  Our letter this week was Cc and what better way to celebrate the letter Cc then by baking cookies? Everyone had at least one turn stirring the batter and while they were in the oven we read "The Gingerbread Man." 

 

 After they cooled off, we decorated the cookies and finally we got to eat and enjoy them.  There were even extras that I took to the Jr./Sr. High teachers wishing them a Happy Friday from our Preschool classes. I think we are all ready to celebrate with parties on Monday and Tuesday and then enjoy a couple of weeks off with family!

 Wow, week #14 was busy, busy, busy! The 4s classes practiced cutting Christmas trees apart and then gluing them back together in numerical order.

 We also practiced out scissor skills by cutting straws.

 All three classes played in the rice table for the first time this year and all of the students loved it.

 With our letter being Mm this week, we read "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" in the 4s classes and then each child created a muffin cup monster and they were adorable!

 Our 3s class, was introduced to Quiet Boxes this week.  After snack time, each child has a Quiet Box that they play in until story time. Each Quiet Box is different and they are switched once a week.

 On Wednesday and Thursday, we had this green duct tape Christmas tree on our classroom floor.  The children enjoyed driving cars and trains on it and also walking and jumping on it.  We took turns placing the star on the top by only walking on the tree lines.

 The 3s class also decorated Christmas trees using Bingo Stampers. The morning 4s class used M&M candies to cover a M and then after removing the candies, covered them with Bingo stampers but we ran out of candy so the afternoon class only covered their Ms with the Bingo stampers. Regardless, we had fun and both classes did a nice job.