Learning Sign Language

The preschoolers are learning some sign language. We learned how to sign 11 colors. Once a week, Doreen from AEA comes to the p.m. class and teaches the class some other signs. It will be fun to see how many signs we know by the end of the year.

Christmas Parties

Games

Stories

Presents

Snacks

Crafts

The preschoolers were anxiously awaiting the Christmas parties. The a.m. class played a present unwrapping game and heard a fun story. The p.m. class decorated trees and stockings. Both classes ate yummy snacks and opened presents. We thank the parents that planned and provided for the parties. Everyone had a great time!

The Gingerbread Man

Mixing up the cookie dough.

Decorating the gingerbread cookies.

Those tricky gingerbread men escaped from the oven. Good thing they left us notes so we could find them. They had us chasing them all over the school.

The best part -- eating them.

We have been doing many activities around the story "The Gingerbread Man". The preschoolers loved hearing the story as well as other gingerbread related stories. We ended our unit by making gingerbread cookies. The children mixed up the dough, decorated the cookies and put them in the oven. When we went to get them out of the oven, they had escaped! We chased them all over the school following the notes they left behind. We finally found them back in our classroom. We ate them up quickly, so they couldn't get away from us again.

High School Helpers

High school students from Mrs. Olsen's Child Development class have been visiting our room the past few weeks. They come on Monday and Friday mornings. It is nice to have extra hands in the room, and the children are enjoying getting to know the high school girls.

Dental Health

The Newell-Fonda School and Early Smiles have joined efforts to improve dental health for the preschoolers. The children were given the opportunity to receive free dental screenings, fluoride varnishes and sealants. The children also received a bag with a tooth brush, toothpaste, floss, etc. We really appreciate this service to improve the dental health of our preschoolers.

Decorating a Tree at the Library

Each year, the Newell Library chooses a theme for their Christmas tree display. This year, the theme is "An Old Fashioned Christmas". The preschool and transitional kindergarten children decorated a tree for the display. The TK students made paper chains, and we all made cookie ornaments out of salt dough. The librarians gave us a tour of the library and read us some Christmas stories. Come check out our tree if you get a chance.

Library Story Time

On Monday, the preschoolers walked to the library for "Story Time". We heard some Thanksgiving stories and made a turkey craft. We thank Angie and Sherrie for inviting us to the library. The kids really enjoyed it.

Halloween Parties

Yummy Treats!

Dads turning into "mummies"!

Fun Games!

Great Costumes!

We had a great time at our Halloween parties. The preschoolers have been waiting for these parties all month. The a.m. class walked through the elementary classrooms to show off their costumes. The p.m. class participated in a costume parade in the gym with the rest of the elementary students. After the parades, we ate yummy snacks and played games. A big thanks goes to the moms and dads that helped with the parties.

Carving Pumpkins

While learning about the color orange, we did some pumpkin activities. We drew pictures of our small pumpkins, estimated how many seeds were inside and then counted the seeds. There were a lot more seeds in those little pumpkins than anyone thought. We cleaned and carved our big pumpkins.

Bats

We have been learning about bats in preschool. We have been singing songs, doing bat activities on the computer and reading books about bats. We ended our unit with Katie, the B.V. County Naturalist, coming to talk to us about bats. She brought some stuffed bats for us to see and one of them we could even touch. It was very soft and furry. We thank Katie for sharing her bats with us.