Squirreling Around: Five Little Squirrels Flannel board (Letter "Ss" Activity)

The super, stunning, sensational and snappy letter "Ss" is stuck on our minds during this unit. This sturdy letter became "king of the alphabet" during a past math activity highlighting Five Little Squirrels.

These slippery, acrobatic characters with their bushy tails and winsome expressions squirmed into our circle time through this squirrely flannel board story.

*Please note the following flannel board story can be found on the Addison Public Library website (addisonlibrary.org). I altered some of the words in order to make sure they they were always in the tree. They were even sunning themselves in the tree.

Subjects: Language Arts: Retelling a story through use of props and Math - Pre-subtraction skills

To Do: Read the flannel board story, Five Little Squirrels and remove each squirrel as depicted within the story.

Sing, Sing a Song: Our Holiday Sing

Holy Jingle Bells! Has it really been a year since we had our last Holiday Sing? After a few min-meltdowns, wiggly moments and deer caught in headlights stares, the children belted out holiday favorites such as "Let It Snow" and a kiddie-friendly version of "Baby It's Cold Outside".

Rudolph's nose would have glowed a little brighter and Santa's jolly old Ho, Ho, Ho would have been breaking the sound barrier if they heard how awesome the children sounded and looked. They even performed the hand movements (which is a feat unto itself) for our little peppermint sticks!

My co-teacher and I wanted to give the children a standing ovation for their incredible efforts. I feel we may even have a few musicians in the making and numerous little hams on our hands.

Our music teacher joined in on the seasonal mania by donning a rather dapper and jaunty green and red jiggle bell elf hat that made our Sing shimmer.

One Tree-mendous Ado over Trees: Decorating our Preschool's Christmas Tree

A yearly event at our preschool is decorating a petite, little evergreen with ornaments made by the students. This year,  due to multiple weather-related Christmas ornament malfunctions, we decided to decorate sturdy plastic lids and old CDs with multi-colored glitter as a step to avoid ornament meltdown and disintegration due to old man winter. 

I pondered as we walked down to decorate our tree yesterday as I asked the children to find specific Christmas decorations such as snowman:  the amazing wonder that Christmas has on children's spirits. 

 I was struck by how their faces glowed with such bubbly happiness over the sights of brightly-colored ornaments hanging from porches, evergreen wreaths haphazardly draped over doors and even a holiday Darth Vader thrown in the mix. 

Somehow, we lose sight of the simplicity of the effect that the season has on the children, and tend to reciprocate this feeling with overpriced toys, outings to gaudily-decorated zoos, and endless trips to the mall to visit Santa. 

Remember, as you traipse through the malls and wait in line with a grumpy heart at the commercialization of this treasured holiday the true meaning of the season: That sacred look of serendipity and pleasure over the holiday's most minute details in the eyes of young children. 

Photos of our tree coming soon! 

Blazin' Boards: December Skating Into the Holidays (Skating-themed Bulletin Board)

Does it feel a little chilly in here? A blast of winter's wrath has found its way into our classroom through this delightful December skating-themed bulletin board. Skate on down the page to view this icy sight!