December Recap in a Flash!

Our December month was quite the whirl wind of activities! So many fun projects going on every day of preschool. Here is a recap of all the fun things we did this past month! 

Letter Ss

We loved letter Ss. We learned how to turn our arm into the shape of an S creating a striking snake, Ssssss! Ssssss! Sssso many Ss words, especially ssstocking, sssnow, Sssanta, and sspecial ssecret sssomethings so we can show them at the program.

We have been singing so many songs. Miss Kristin said, “Wow! I’m so surprised to hear how well they know the songs already!” They are doing a great job. I promised they could use the bells and canes as soon as I could hear the words of the songs and both

classes earned them early in the week! They love singing about Santa and reindeers and decking the halls. Who doesn’t feel happy while singing, Fa-la- la-la- lah-la- la-la- lah while jumping and singing?

We also had a fun discussion. I asked the children to tell me what they knew about Santa. Emily said, “Him brings presents.” Trey said, “He goes down the chimney!” Nixon said, “He flies in his sled!” Londynn said, “Santa loves children!” Isla said, “He writes a list! Brody said, “He checks on you twice!” Bria said, “He says, ‘Ho ho, ho’!” Karina said, “He’s gunna find out when you are naughty or nice!” Brig said, “He has reindeer that fly!” Tolson said, “He makes toys!” Madden said, “He sees you when you’re asleep!” Quinn said, “He sees you when you’re awake!” Brody said, “So you be good forever!”

Monday, we were making a special something and gluing a few cotton balls on it. Embree said, “This is the best day!” When I asked her why, she said, “Because this has cotton balls on it and they’re so soft! I probably need to look into more cotton ball crafts! Ha! Wednesday, we completed two more secret somethings. I can’t wait for the program. It will be so fun to display all these secret treasures.

It has been cold outside, but luckily, we have been so busy, we have not even had a chance to fit recess in our days. Thursday, we painted feet. When we do this, I kneel on the floor

and the children practically teeter on top of me as I pick up their feet and strategically place them where I want them. Walter watched and waited as Davis took his turn. He said, “Davis barely fills the page. I remember when my feet were little like his when we traced them. Now my feet are giant!” Then, Walter stepped forward for his turn. I picked up his foot and I’m sure my hair was practically in his face. He said sweetly, “My mom says blondies

are so stupid, but she’s not talking about you!” Oh, good! We also made a “Santa Countdown to Christmas” craft. I know you mom’s don’t need one more things to do during December, but hopefully you can put your child in charge.

I love the wonderful excitement in the air. The children seem to come in with an extra bounce in their step and they open up more readily and share many things that amuse us all. This week we got a healthy dose of that. I wish I had recorded everything I heard, but

the few I did manage to record were worth putting the paintbrush down or racing from instructing the children to jot it down. Ammon asked me how I liked his new jacket. After the proper praise and admiration, he divulged his secret. “My mom was going

to uh-prise me with it but instead, I found it in the truck!” Navy asked Miss Kristen, “Where are you guys beds? Where do you sleep?” Trey said, When Jesus comes back, He’s gunna make it so we can walk with tigers!”

We sent out some singing parts for our program. I told the children if they had their part memorized by Monday, they could reach in the candy jar. We would love to see everyone learn their special parts so we can practice on Monday. Thanks, moms!

Even though this is a short month, we double up on crafts and sing our little hearts out. We are busy, busy, busy. 

Monday is our big day to decorate candy houses. We crank up the Christmas music and decorate most of the day. It will be great fun. We hope everyone will make an extra effort to have your child attend. Decorating a candy house on the side of another project day

is not as much fun! We will also be painting T-shirts with your child’s hands. It will be a busy, fun-filled day you won’t want to

miss.

Letter Rr

Letter Rr was fun because we could talk about Rrrudolf, the rrrrred nosed rrrrreindeerrrrr and a bunch of other r words! We also made a lot of rrrrreally fun stuff to display at our program, too. Our candy houses were especially fun. I told the children, “We will

decorate all day. Do not be in a race. Take your time to do a nice job. Everyone will want to look at the houses to see how you decorated them.” So we cranked up the Christmas music and every once in a while I called someone out to come paint their T-shirts

with their hands, but mostly, we sang and decorated.

When we had some decorator racers pop up to say, “I’m done!” Miss Kristen and I would say, “What about this side of your house?” “What about the yard? Can you decorate your yard?

Tanner was especially in a hurry to be done, telling us every 5 minutes, “I’m done! I’m done!” I told him, “Tanner, remember when I said we were not in a hurry? We want you to make it

beautiful! We want you to take your time to decorate it all day!” to which he promptly replied, “My mom decorates and it doesn’t take her all day!” Well, now! Who can argue with that? I gave up and dismissed him to bolt off towards the tub toys to play by himself.

Funny boy! I have a son like that. He has always worked circles around the rest of us. I loved giving him job after job, while my others were satisfied with having just one. To this day, he visits my house, busying himself by finding and fixing things around, giving

himself projects to do.

Tanner, you will bless your family all the days of your life! On the other hand, Bria was building the Taj Mahal! Her house was almost twice as high as any other. That will be fun for all to see!

Our ginger{graham cracker} bread houses all set up for the program

Our songs are coming along nicely. I am very excited for you to hear them. Thursday, the volume got so loud in our little school, Niki had to hold her ears, “Mrs. McClure, it’s too loud in here!” I said, “I know! Isn’t it fabulous? Great job, children! Your moms

and dads are going to be so amazed!” And you will be.  This is probably the best thing we do all year. The children have a prop or hat or both for every song they sing. They are fun to

watch and adorable as they maneuver their canes and masks and things to the actions they have learned. You won’t want to miss it. Santa will visit with prizes for every child that sits on his lap and

Santa Claus and his Mrs. stopped by our special program with a special toy for each child!

Letter Mm and the Christmas Program!

Letter Mm was over shadowed by so much excitement in the air and the anticipation of singing. We did mmmanage to suck on an m&m until it mmmelted in our mmmouth, mmmmmm! It was mmmmmarvelous! We found lots of Mm words but, mmmmostly, we sang and sang and sang!

Christmas Program set up

Can I just say that those were the most adorable little snowflakes I’ve ever seen today? I was so very proud of each one of them. I loved watching them perform. For some, it was a very big stretch. But for others, it was an opportunity to strut their stuff! Such a fun time!

By our last practice, I thought the children were going to explode! They were so ready to sing on stage and especially sing their special parts. They couldn’t wait to show off their candy houses and talk about them. Ahhhh! Now they can!

Thanks to so many that brought treats and those that arranged them and those that switched out hats and props to help keep things running along. Thanks for folding and stacking chairs and everything else! We could not have done it without you! And especially, I am so very thankful for my sweet Miss Kristen, who stayed to the bitter end, mopping floors and loading my car to the brim. We celebrated with a late lunch at Sassy’s, thanks to the Davis family. So nice!

Yesterday, I was talking to the children in the afternoon class, reminding them that the program would be in the morning. Grace was very concerned, “But I have to eat breakfast in the morning!” I cannot get enough of these sweet children and their adorable concerns and feelings. They absolutely crack me up!

Tonight, I am filled with such a wonderful feeling of gratitude for appreciative parents and perfectly performing children. Thank you to so many that made Miss Kristen and I feel so loved. Life doesn’t get better than these precious moments of fulfillment and peace.

May I just take this opportunity to express my love for this glorious season? What an incredible gift Christ is to us all! How grateful I am for Him, the Savior of the world! I love the beautiful Spirit of Christmas at this time that fills our hearts and minds with greater desires to gift and serve one another and be so much more attentive to the poor. May you have a wonderful Christmas with your families at this time as we are apart! We will return to school on Wednesday, the 4th. We will also resume our Show-n-Tell time and anticipate lots of conversations of how it all went down with lots of new toys to share and talk about.

Love,

Mrs. McClure

It truly is amazing to see all of the work that goes into Mrs. McClure's preschool. This blog could never do her and Kristen justice. She spends hours every night preparing for the following preschool days. On a single day, they made hand painted t-shirts, hand painted ornaments, AND decorated gingerbread houses with almost 24 3, 4, and 5 year olds! And successfully got a teddy bear picture of each and every child. And then went and did it all over again for the afternoon class! I'm sure you could see from the program all the projects all over the place. Thank you Mrs. McClure for all your hard work for our children! The Christmas program turned out absolutely fantastic! Enjoy the video of our Christmas program below! I apologize in advance for the shaky filming and little baby noises! :) Have a Merry Christmas everyone, we will see you back on January 4th! 

-Kelsey

Thanksgiving Feast

We wanted to share a few photos of our Thanksgiving feast along with our fun Indian costumes that each of the children got to paint and design! They could decide on a sun or raindrops! Or some even decided to make rain drops from a sun! We had so much fun learning about the pilgrims and Indians and their first Thanksgiving, and of course, having a giant feast of our own on picnic blankets!

Our Handmade Indian Costumes Tutorial

We had each child bring 24 bite sized pieces to share with the class. So many yummy treats!

All of the little indians ready to feast for preschool Thanksgiving.

Sitting out enjoying the perfect weather on our picnic blankets.

Hey! No wild indians!

DIY Thanksgiving Pillow Case Indian Costume

Our Indian costume making day started off with each child getting to pick between a sun or rain decal to pain onto the front of their costumes. Or some even tried to get away with doing both!

For the main costume, we had most of it all ready to go. We tie-dyed the fabric beforehand. We added the orange fringing to the neck. You can either sew or hot glue it on. We also had it all cut and sized with the waist tie sewn on. The costume is a smaller sized pillow case with a head hole cut out of the sewn end, two arm holes that we cut some strips into, the bottom cut off and made into a tie around sash, and more strips cut into the bottom.

The head band was some more of the pillow case fabric with some elastic sewn on and feathers glued onto the back.

 We had the costumes set on boxes (milk boxes from Costco) and ready to paint into a sun or rain when the children arrived.

For the headband, we had them paper clipped to a flat piece of cardboard and ready to paint.

If you're wondering how we get just about 50 three and four year olds all painting  with almost no messes, we use this nifty hack! Just hot glue a cup down to a plate and put the paint inside! No knocking over cups! Then we used these handy "paintbrushes" to paint with.

 We think they turned out pretty great and made the perfect additions to our Preschool Thanksgiving Feast! Don't forget to see our post all about it!

{Tt} Turkey Week

I love getting into the Thanksgiving season to talk about giving thanks. I think we can never be too thankful. Talli started the week off perfectly when she asked, “Did you know that when kids don’t get out of bed and do what they should, that moms still love them?” Is that not profound? I loved being reminded of that! Thanks, Talli!

We talked about letter Tt and how T “Ticks To Tell The Time”. We listened to a ticking clock and heard it sound just like letter T; tuh, tuh, tuh! We found lots of Tt words, time, tick, tell, and turkey! We talked about the pilgrims sailing to America. In the process, I told them about the hardships of arriving in a land without stores, houses or restaurants to go to. I said, “They were having trouble growing food in the new land, but someone was in the forest watching them. Do you know who?” Katelyn guessed, “A squirrel?” No. “A bear?” No. Talli asked, “A fly?” I busted up!!! These kids are so fun! They were so surprised to hear it was an Indian, named Squanto. Ben asked, “It was a man?” That is the fun with preschoolers. I get to tell true stories in history to be heard for the first time. I love that part! I love that they are little sponges and they listen in amazement. At the end of the day, as a recap, I asked if anyone could remember the name of the ship that brought the pilgrims across. Tanner guessed, “Flower!” Talli shouted, “It was the Flower Boat?” Ben guessed, “Grandflower!” What else do you remember about the feast? “Marshall said, “They feasted for 3 years!” Ha! Three years…three days…so close! Too cute!

Monday, we turned a toilet tube into a turkey. It was tricky, but it turned out terrific. Especially the tail! I’m loving these Tt words! Ha!

Wednesday, we turned a big paper bag into a turkey face and made a turkey tail hat. Oh, my goodness, were they cute, as they all lined up wearing that big bag on their chest perched all in a row! 

Here are a few fun pictures of our preschoolers working away on their turkeys.

Thursday, we constructed a turkey feather game, matching number words with numbered feathers. It was a lot of work but everyone managed to get them all done, thanks to Miss Kristen and all the older helpers that rallied around others after finishing their own. It will be a great game to play at home to practice those number words.

Monday, we will learn about letter Ii and work on our Indian costumes for the feast. Please remember to send 24 small, small somethings for our feast Tuesday. We look forward to that. We will not need backpacks on that day, just a paper plate or baggie with 24 somethings.

We want to tell all of you how very grateful we are for each one of you and your precious children that we have the opportunity to hang with and rub shoulders with, up close and personal, each school day. We love them and the amazing perfected state they are in at this age. I tell people all the time that I believe that this is the age that the bible talks about where Jesus Christ admonishes us all to become like children. These are them. This is the age of perfection. They are simply the very best people I know. Everyday, I wish I were more like them!

Bear {Bb} Week

Bear Week was great fun as we learned all about bears and letter Bb. We spent a lot of time finding Bb words. There were bunches of them. But, mostly we had fun with bears.

Monday, we colored a brown bear book as best we could (like a 5 year old!). That is the standard. “Try to color like a 5 year old, not a 2 year old!” or I say, “Wow! You are staying in the lines just like a 5 year old! Good job!” or, “Ah oh! I hope you’re not making that look like a 2 year old scribble job!” It is always a big insult for a preschooler to be compared a 2 year old. They always dig in and work harder to avoid that!

Wednesday was our PJ Day and teddy bear picnic. We had a lot of children wear pajamas and bring a teddy bear or stuffed animal. We named them and everyone welcomed each animal by name to our school. I told the children about the things bears like to eat. I told them we were going to try some bear food at our picnic. “Bears like to dig for beetles and worms under logs. We will eat some worms.” The smiles dropped to twisted, scrunched up faces. “Bears are great at scooping fish from a stream. We are going to try some fish today, too!” More scrunches. The children were all relieved when they found that Miss Kristen had loaded amoung other things, gummy worms and goldfish crackers in their bear bags. We did get to taste some real honey on a stick. (A pretzel stick, that is!) The weather was beautiful and we picnicked on blankets on the front lawn with our bears and enjoyed our snacks.

Thursday, we had great fun making a paper polar bear. He was kind of gluey, but so cute. Miss Kristen got a few pictures to post in our blog.

Next week is Tt Week and we will be talking about turkeys, tails, and telling the story of the first Thanksgiving.

Please remember the day before Thanksgiving, we will have a schedule change and have school on Tuesday. We will have a feast on that day and dress up as the 99 braves that came to the first Thanksgiving feast.

Also, please remember to send 24 bite-sized somethings. We will feast on the lawn again. It will be great fun!

Christmas is just around the corner and we will not be having Show-N-Tell until after Christmas. We will use that extra time for music practice. The end of November and up into December, these weeks turn into an additional musical program preparation along with letter instruction and projects, leading up to our big Christmas Program. Every song has a prop or hat, coupled with dance steps and actions to get a bit of experience performing and being on stage. We love our musical programs and dressing up these little ones. It is one of my favorite things to do; a lot of work, but totally worth it. Watching them perform is the cherry on top! Be sure to calendar it in your schedules in December. It will be at a church building so we can use the stage and cultural hall. You will not want to miss it!

We had a few cute moments to record and share this week. Madden said he saw a dinosaur at the “New-see-’em!”

Yesterday, Quinn said, “Green caterpillars turn into frogs.” When I explained that caterpillars turn into butterflies, she said, “Well, then, the caterpillar would have to be pink, then, it can be a butterfly!” Ha! Quinn has it all figured out!

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful support and assistance, sending treats in and also the collection of items for our crafts. We love all the e-mails and positive feedback we continue to receive. If you have a concern or comment, we welcome your input. Thank you so much.

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