Faith Lutheran Preschool eNews: Newsletter 12/11/13

Important Dates to Remember:
December 20 – Noon Dismissal; Christmas Service at 6:30PM
December 21 – January 5 – Christmas break, no preschool

THIS WEEK’S LITERACY EXPERIENCES
Morning Books
"Where Is Home, Little Pip?" by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
"This Is the Stable" by Cynthia Cotten
"Llama Llama Holiday Drama" by Anna Dewdney

Afternoon Books
"Hickory Dickory Dock and other Nursery Rhymes" by Carol Jones

PLANNING & RECALL
This week during planning and recall time, we used a silver star with each point of the star representing a different area in the classroom. When it was each child’s turn to plan, they placed a clothespin on the area in which they planned to work. Recalling activities involves social interaction on a very personal level. Children have to find the right words, actions, and gestures to convey their meaning to others. The process of talking about their intentions and actions helps children actually create or construct meaningful memories.

BIBLE LESSON
This week we jump ahead in our Bible lessons to prepare for the Christmas season. Our lesson this week is “God’s Special Message for Mary.” When it was time for God’s son Jesus to be born, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary telling her that she had been chosen for the special task of being Jesus’ mother. Mary was surprised at the news the angel brought and was confused because she was a virgin and not yet married. Gabriel assured her that all things are possible with God, and that the child conceived in her would be from the Holy Spirit. She would give birth to a baby boy and his name would be Jesus. He would be the Savior of the world and the fulfillment of the promise made long ago to people like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Mary believed God’s words from Gabriel and said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” After the angel’s visit, Mary became the wife of a man named Joseph. God had also appeared to Joseph in a dream, letting him know that the baby conceived in Mary was the promised Savior. Together, Mary and Joseph waited for the Savior to be born.

MUSIC
Keeping a steady beat is the focus of our music songs again this week. We enjoy using the rhythm sticks to practice keeping the beat. We also have been taking turns keeping a beat on various parts of our bodies such as our knees, feet, tummies and heads. This week during small group time we made jingle bell shakers to go with our new song “Jingle Bells”. We will be using our shakers to keep the beat to that new song, as well as reviewing some of our familiar songs. Some other songs we’ve enjoyed during music time include, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”, “Don’t Throw Your Junk in My Backyard”, and “Do You Know the Muffin Man?”

MOVEMENT
During movement time we warm up with a song called “Circus Dance”, where we practice our tightrope walking skills and add tricks like swaying, turning around, kicking, leaning forward and back, and reaching low and high. We are also continuing to move with bean bags this week. Instead of marching to our parade song, we are using our beanbags to touch various parts of our body, balance them, use them to draw shapes in the air, and place them on the floor as we navigate around them in various ways (hopping over, walking around, jumping over, galloping around etc.). The song “Popcorn Calling Me” was a big hit last week, so we conclude movement time with that song again. Ask your child to sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, POP like the song says. They make some great popcorn kernels!

SMALL GROUP TIME
This week during small group time, we’re focusing on several KDIs: fine motor skills, art and part/whole relationships. As with many activities, several KDIs may be touched on in a single experience. This week we started by making jingle bell shakers, we used paint sample cards to practice our scissor snipping, we played with gingerbread play dough, made pipe cleaner candy canes with beads, and on Friday we worked on a winter themed step-by-step drawing. Through all these experiences children have a chance to be creative and artistic while also developing those fine motor skills as they thread beads on pipe cleaners, hold a pencil, or manipulate play dough. When children add jingle bells to make a single shaker, snip a card into smaller pieces, or divide play dough into smaller chunks they are also exploring the concept of parts making up a whole.

AFTERNOON EXPERIENCES
After rest time, the children explore the KDI alphabetic knowledge. Children learn best through hands on experiences rather than rote memorization or drill activities. When children are repeatedly exposed to a rich variety of literacy and print, they will gradually learn the uniqueness of each mark. If children are simply taught the names of letters by rote, they may have difficulty grasping the idea that letters are associated with sounds. However, once children learn the sounds associated with a few letters, most are able to deduce the alphabetic principle and begin to apply it to other letters. Some of the activities we are doing in the afternoon to increase this exposure to print include placing buttons on letter cards, manipulating pipe cleaners to make our name, reading books, and working on large alphabet floor puzzles.