Pre-K 1 Happy Campers

Our themes during the month of December will be:
Advent
Gingerbread
Christmas

Looking Back...(week of 11/28/22)
Advent has begun and Pre-K students read about this special time of preparation throughout the week at school.  We read different versions of the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem before working on a Nativity craft in the art center.  We also completed an Advent wreath project after making observations about our classroom Advent wreath.  We worked on shining stars and silver bells after learning about some of these signs of the season.  We reviewed the story of the Nativity each day and learned two songs about Advent.

Our joyous letter of the week was Jj and we completed a J for Jesus art project.  We also read a story that helped us to learn more about God's son and the sound of the letter Jj.  We added Jesus and Joseph to our word wall and we practiced tracing and writing Jj on paper.  We also added jars to our notebooks and we voted to see which kinds of jam are our favorites.  Our math activities included a shape pattern game, shape building, and a shape picture book activity.  We also played a counting game with pegs in the art center and we made patterns and designs using our light table.

Looking Ahead...(week of 12/5/22)
Our upcoming week will be full of the scents of the season.  We will hear the story of The Gingerbread Man before comparing different versions and attending a puppet show version of this seasonal story.  We will create our own tree ornaments using cinnamon, applesauce, and glue.  We will work on gingerbread people and a gingerbread house craft in the art center.  We are looking forward to our next videoconference, which will take place next week.

Our letter of the week will be the kind letter Kk.  We will read a poem about a kangaroo named Kate before sorting picture cards by beginning sound.  We will match letters in the literacy center and practice tracing Kk on paper and in our notebooks.  We will work on a K for kite craft and students may bring in a Kk object for Show and Tell on Friday.  In math, we will work on a gingerbread counting activity and we will build shapes using modeling clay and wooden sticks.


Online Resources
*You can see a video about our school here!

*Fine motor activities are very important and will help the children to strengthen the muscles in their hands.  We do many of these activities in school and some of them can be done at home as well.  If you are seeking activities that can be done outside of school, you may like to refer to this list of fun and practical fine motor activities.

*Our class prays daily, including the "Our Father" and the "Hail Mary."  
Before lunch, we pray:
Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts,
which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, 
through Christ, our Lord.  Amen. 

After lunch, we pray:
We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits,
O Lord, who livest and reignest world without end.  Amen 

Before snack, we pray
Thank You for the food we eat; thank You for the friends we meet.  
Thank You for our work and play; thank You for this happy day.  Amen.

Additional Home Activities
You may be looking for ideas for activities that you can do with your child at home over the weekend.  Please remember to read together every day.  Here are some other activities you can do at home together at any time:

Puzzles
Building
Free Art
Drawing
Water play
Play dough
Watercolor painting
Cooking and baking