Concert Preparations and New Year Notes!

We have been practicing our songs a lot this week in preparation for our sing next Tuesday at 5:30pm.We even watched a video of last year's class at their holiday sing. Seeing the stage got us really excited!!! We have included an RSVP form in the red folder this week. Please let us know if your family will be coming and how many people, so that we have enough chairs set up. Also, please do not arrive more than 5 minutes early...the kids are waaaaay too excited to sit and wait for any length of time. Remember: The concert location is St. Joseph Church. lower, level.

There are still some mittens on our wishing tree. Please see our wishlist in the left sidebar if you would like to contribute a gift to our class. Thank you so much to those who have already brought in gifts...the kids can't wait to open them next week!

Our last day of class before break is Tuesday. We hope you have a safe and happy holiday vacation and look forward to seeing you in 2012!

FYI- We will not have a newsletter next week so below are some things you need to know for January:

• Our first day of class in 2012 is Monday, January 2nd
• Your child may bring one gift that he/she received over break to show the class. Please be sure that it is labeled in some way (i.e.-masking tape with name, ribbon with name, pinned on name). We will likely receive some of the same gifts as friends and we don't want any mix-ups!
• Remember to pack all outdoor gear and shoes for inside too...and an extra set of clothing in case we get wet.
• Instead of the Color/Shape Bag, we will have a Letter Bag, each week has a new letter as noted on the calendar. Please help your child gather items that start with the week's letter.
• January's Show & Tell Theme is: Something I Did and/or Received Over Winter Break

St. Nick was Here! We have an Elf!!!

We made stockings on Monday and St. Nick left candy canes in them on Monday night! 

St. Nick left candy canes in our stockings!

He also left us our very own Elf on the Shelf...if you haven't read the book, the story says that the elf watches us and each night magically goes to the North Pole to report what he has seen to Santa. See our "Elf Watch" section in the right sidebar.

We received an Elf on the Shelf from St. Nick!

We made a wreath for St. Lucia on Tuesday by tearing paper. This makes us use the muscles in our hands in a new way and gets us ready for writing words! Can you make a paper tearing project at home? Paper mache maybe??

Wednesday we worked on letter Y for our JOY projects. We made a reindeer with a bright red nose like Rudolph. We also glued all the projects from the week together to spell out JOY.

Can you see the J-O-Y?

On Thursday we made a gift for parents! SHHHHH! We can't tell you what it is but you will love it!!! We also had the option to paint a triangle tree during playtime.

Don't forget about our Holiday Sing on Tuesday, December 20th at 5:30pm at St. Joseph's Church, lower level.

Music to Our Ears

Our week seemed to fly by! On Monday we re-read the Abiyoyo story and made our own ukelele. 

Tuesday was our trip to Hann's Christmas Tree Farm. It was VERY cold for our morning class, but warmed a bit for the afternoon class. We saw Mr. Hann's "babies" (trees planted this year) and learned that trees that are ready to be cut for Christmas are about 8-years-old. We also saw how they make wreaths out of evergreen branches.You can visit Hann's Tree Farm on Facebook to see details on how Christmas trees are grown. See all the photos on our gallery page!

AM Class

PM Class

Wednesday we watercolor painted to classical music. It was very relaxing! These beautiful pieces of work are now decorating our classroom.

On Thursday we made love trees...you will have to wait to see these adorable creations until closer to Christmas...

Please be sure to send all outside winter gear now that it is getting colder outside. We do go out everyday (unless it is raining). Also, a complete change of clothes should be in your child's backpack in case he/she spills or has a bathroom accident. Thanks!

Also, for those parents who drop their kids off at school, we are going to start enforcing the district policy that states that children may not be dropped off more than 5 minutes prior to class. So if you arrive before 7:55am/11:55am, please know that you will need to wait outside or in your vehicle until the doors are unlocked prior to class. Thanks for your help in starting our day smoothly!!!