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!
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| 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
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| 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!
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| Christmas Program set up |
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
