We read the book Guacamole by Jorge Argueta, and decided that we would make our own!  The children followed the recipe in the book and everyone took turns helping. They tasted it and almost all of them liked the finished product. I love bringing a book to life and activities like this help with their comprehension of books.  Children who engage in frequent activities with books have larger, more literate vocabularies.   

The tooth fairy stopped by for a visit to PreK!! She talked to the children about the importance of taking care of their teeth. She told them they should be brushing twice a day for two minutes and they should limit sweets to once a week. She taught them the importance of flossing and how to properly brush their teeth, and sprinkled everyone with a little fairy dust on her way out. Thank you  to Drs. Glass and Bunch for providing this presentation to our school!

We made Valentine repeating patterns to go in our windows for Grandparents' Day. The children got to choose which type of pattern they wanted to make, e.g., AB or ABC. Guiding children to understand patterns is a foundational skill in mathematics. As they learn to label patterns by having one name stand for something else, they are creating an algebraic representation.

Both PreK classes took a field trip to FwdFit for a yoga lesson. This went along with our focus question and was a great ending to our exercise study. The children had some pretty good yoga moves. A big thank you to Amanda Willis and FwdFit for making this happen for us! Activities like this help with regulating emotion and behaviors. In order to manage emotions and regulate his or her behavior, a child must learn to control impulses, tolerate frustration, cope with strong emotions, follow limits and expectations, and delay gratification. Children have to develop a basic understanding that actions have positive and negative consequences, know what behaviors are acceptable, be aware that they are capable of controlling their behavior, and know they have the power to manage their emotions.

We are moving on to the box study!  Check back at the end of the month to see what we have been doing!

The older students helped our Pre-K class make lego Christmas ornaments in Technology.  Activities like this is what I truly love about St. James. The students had so much fun creating their own ornaments!

We had our Christmas party and Santa made a special visit to our classroom and brought each child a gift.  It was heartwarming to see each child get so excited to see and tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. After the gifts were opened the children painted a Christmas tree on canvas and then decorated their own cookie.

The new year brings a new study……..excerise!  Our bodies are made to move. Young children are in nearly constant motion when they are awake.  Moving makes children feel capable and confident, releases tension, and builds strong bodies and minds.

A study of exercise not only offers opportunities for children to explore a topic that interests them, but also enables them to gather information, become more aware of the world around them, and solve problems.  Children will explore many types of exercise, observe people while they are exercising, and learn about the mechanics of movements and how to use special equipment to stay safe when exercising. They will also learn about nutrition and jobs related to exercise, and the connection between exercise and healthy bones and muscles. 

We have turned our home living center into a gym.  We borrowed a trampoline from Coach Nicole and the students have loved taking turns jumping!  

It is easy to get caught up in the rush of the Christmas holiday and lose focus on what is the true meaning of Christmas.  We are beyond blessed to be able to teach our students about Jesus’ birth and talk openly about God at St. James. The PreK classes joined together and performed the Nativity story.  The children were very dedicated to learning the songs and movements for the program. How impressive these children were! They memorized songs, lines, duets, trios, and moving parts.  All of which required a tremendous amount of focus and commitment. It is not easy to perform in front of a large audience, especially when it is full of your loved ones. However, these children blessed everyone there with their stellar performance.

Pumpkin Math and Science

Pumpkin math and science was a big hit with the children. Skills such as estimating, tallying, classifying, and measuring circumference (we used yarn to measure our pumpkin, a great introduction to different forms of measurement).

First, the boys and girls used their yarn to measure the circumference around the largest pumpkin. Next, they estimated the number of lines on the pumpkin. Various answers were given, and Madelyn was our winner with an estimation of 30. After that, estimations were recorded in regard to the pumpkin's weight, Arthur came closest with his estimation of 31. Finally, we tallied the number of people who thought the pumpkin would float in water, and those who thought it would not float. To our amazement it floated! Hands on learning is always the best!

Opportunities, Inc.

The Pre-K children at St. James Day School are taught to be caring people and good citizens. On Halloween, the children dressed up in their costumes and visited Opportunities, Inc. for our annual community service project. While at Opportunities, Inc., the classes sang fun Halloween songs to the students. Our children always look forward to singing to the students at Opportunities, Inc. and making their day a little brighter.

Halloween at the Curtis farm

The Curtis family hosted our Halloween party with games, food, and a hayride!!

Field Trip

The PreK classes took a field trip to Sullifarm to celebrate the ending of our pet study. The children were able to experience pets up close and personal. They were able to hold puppies and chickens, feed the cows, and look at the pigs. A special thank you to AnneMarie Sullivan for bringing this pet study to life for us.

Roads Study

Why investigate roads?  Roads are all around us.  Roads take us to school, to the store, and to visit family and friends.  In the classroom, roads become a key feature in the block area.  

A study of roads provides children with an opportunity to learn how roads are made, where roads take us, how we can stay safe on the road, and the features that make up a road.  

In this study, children will explore different types of roads.  They will investigate the features of roads, how roads help us, how roads are made and repaired, how we can make a road, and how to be safe on the road.

We added gravel, rocks and all kinds of truck to our sensory bin!

Our block center has cones, race car and train tracks, hard hats, and a construction worker uniform.  

Show and Tell

The children had to bring an item that began with the letter R. Show and tell teaches children that conversations involve back and forth exchanges. Children are also learning the social rules of communicating. This involves being polite, speaking so the listener understands, and turn-taking. We had a robot, rocket, Rapunzel hair, remote, a recruiter from the Marine Corp, reindeer, rainbow pillow, razorback, and a box of raisins. They all did a very good job as you can tell by the smiles on their faces.

Technology

The children are learning how to code their robots and make them move! They had such a blast with this activity.