December 14-18, 2015!

We are down to the final few days of the month.  Can you believe 2015 is almost over!?  What a truly amazing year it has been.  We are so thankful for all of the kiddos, the amazing families and all of the talented teachers who make this school so special! We could not think of a more inspiring and nurturing place to learn and grow.  Here's what we were up to this week:

The children were busy preparing a special holiday treat for their families.  At this time, most of our families received their gift.  If you are one of the patient ones who are saving your gift for Christmas, spoiler alert ahead!

The children whipped up a yummy batch of blueberry jam for the holidays! After reading "Jamberry" by Bruce Degan and "Bread and Jam for Frances" by Russell Hoban, the children were invited to the table to help measure and stir the ingredients in the bowl before the jam was placed on the hot plate to cook.  In addition to the jam, the children designed a card for their families using an art technique that included wind (aka blowing through a straw).  The wind moved the paint in all different directions to create a beautiful design.  All of the designs were incorporated into a card and each child proudly signed their name inside the card.  I hope everyone enjoys the allergy friendly blueberry jam!

On Thursday and Friday of this week, the children and teachers dressed down for pajama day! We had a blast listening to the story of the Polar Express, by Chris VanAllsburg, and we all enjoyed a group "breakfast" of blueberry pancakes and syrup! We just love this time of year!

Classroom update: Our new air plants must be loving their new home! They are starting to bloom! We hope to come back to school on Monday to beautiful flowers.  We will share pictures soon or come take a peek in the classroom to see!

Important Dates and Reminders:

December 24 - January 3: SEE closed for winter break

January 4: SEE back in session and tuition is due
January 18: SEE closed in observance of Martin Luther King Day
February 1: February tuition due
February 15: SEE closed in observance of President's Day

Pictures from this week:

Mixing up the blueberries and sugar

Stirring it up!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!
We'll see you all on Monday!
Joanna

Week of December 7-11, 2015!

This week was all about incorporating the holiday spirit into our classroom! The dreidels we spinning and the menorah was "lit" each day. We also wrapped up our vanGogh unit and introduced our animal of the month, the reindeer!  Take a look at the fun activities:

The children learned that another name for a reindeer is caribou! Who knew! The reindeer can migrate, (as the children call it, "move from place to place") up to 3,000 miles each year.  Reindeer primarily live in Canada and the northern most areas of Europe, Asia and Greenland.   Both male and female reindeer grow antlers which they lose in the spring just like a tooth. Reindeer's favorite food is apples.  In the winter, when food is hard to find, reindeer search for moss and lichen (a type of moss) that we found in our very own playground! Baby reindeer are called calves.  Reindeer are great runners and swimmers and the children added that some even fly!

For this week's class project, the children whipped up a batch of reindeer food.  The reindeer food can be spread out on the front lawn as a snack for Santa's reindeer.  It is also a yummy snack for our neighborhood deer too!

Mary Beth's Music and Movement class incorporated the reindeer activities.  The children learned to prance and practiced their prancing skills to the song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by the original musician Gene Autry.  The children then tested their reindeer skills by participating in the annual Reindeer Games!  The children took turns leaping over rooftops, tossing wreaths on reindeer antlers and pinning the red nose on Rudolph.  The kiddos has tons of fun!

A note from Ms. Heather's Pre-K class:

"On Monday and Tuesday, the children played Hanukkah games.  We started off with a game of Hanukkah Bingo and learned lots of Hanukkah vocabulary.  Now we all know that the helper candle on the menorah is called the Shammash.  In addition to all of the holiday fun, we also introduced the children to two more upcoming holidays, Christmas and Kwanzaa.  Today, the children created a holiday tree while practicing their cutting skills and name writing skills.  The direction was to design and cut out enough tree decorations for each letter of the child's name.  Once complete, each tree had lots of beautiful decorations!  They are being displayed on the office windows."

Next week the children will be making a very special holiday surprise for their family.  I can't tell you much, I don't want to ruin the surprise! And don't forget about pajama days on Thursday, December 17th and Friday, December 18th.  Wear your favorite pajamas to school and enjoy an allergy friendly pancake snack!

Important Dates and Reminders:

December 12: December Gathering at Panera Bread in Burlington
December 17 & 18: Pajama day and pancake snack

December 24 - January 3: SEE closed for winter break

January 4: SEE back in session and tuition is due

Pictures from this week:

A vanGogh Masterpiece!
Come take a peek at the classroom bulletin board!

The making of reindeer food

Shutterfly has finally been updated! Lots of pictures were added from November and the first two weeks of December! Don't forget to check it out!

Have a great weekend!
Joanna

Week of November 30 - December 4, 2015!

Happy December! The last month of the year is finally here! It has been one amazing year if I do say so myself! Here's what we've been up to:

New month, new artist! This month's artist is Mr. Vincent van Gogh.  The children learned that van Gogh was a great artist who loved to use light in all of his paintings.  This "light" that van Gogh liked to use could be in the form of a blazing moon, sunny sunflowers, one small light in a dark room or a big yellow house in the middle of the night.  The "light" was not always in the form of lamps or the moon but also brightly colored objects. The one similarity the children noticed was the "light" in all of the pictures was the color yellow.  Last year we studied van Gogh's Sunflowers, this year we are looking at his masterpiece, "The Starry Night" (1889).  The light in this painting came from the moon and stars.  The children also learned that van Gogh often used thick layers of paint in his art.  The think layers of paint made beautiful texture in his work.  In keeping with the theme of think paint, we whipped up a batch of "puffy paint" aka shaving cream, glue and paint.  The children did not use a paintbrush for this painting, they used a fork with four "prongs" to replicate the characteristic texture in van Gogh's work.  After the first layer of paint was created, the children sketched the tall tree, town and cut those items and a big yellow moon out of paper.  All was glued together and the final product is just amazing!  I can't wait to have them up on the bulletin board next week.  I also love that the children are still revisiting their Henri Matisse masterpieces from last month.  Each child is so proud of their work!  Definitely pop in next week to check it out!

A little side note on van Gogh:

An article was written a little over a year ago and published in Vanity Fair.  The article examines van Gogh's supposed suicide in 1890 and explores the possibility of it being an intentional murder.   Van Gogh had mental illness and was a bit of a strange character.  The people of the little french town where he lived, did not care for van Gogh and often ridiculed him.  Fast forward to current day, with further investigation, a leading handgun forensic expert agreed that there was no way it could have been suicide.  So interesting! Here is the article to read more about the people who posed the very interesting question, "was it murder?"... Vanity Fair Article

In addition to our van Gogh studies, the children are beginning to learn about holidays around the world beginning with Hanukkah!  Hanukkah begins this sunday at sundown.  Next week the children will spin the dreidel, learn Hanukkah traditions and learn the dreidel song!

Important Dates and Reminders:

December 11: Scholastic orders due at 12pm
December 12: December Gathering at Panera Bread in Burlington
December 17 & 18: Pajama day! More info to come soon!

December 24 - January 3: SEE closed for winter break

January 4: SEE back in session and tuition is due

Pictures from this week:

Creating texture with a fork

Putting on the final touches! These look so great!

Stay tuned for updated Shutterfly pictures coming next week and a sneak peek at the glass orbs hanging from the classroom ceiling with some beautiful air plants.  

Have a great weekend!

Joanna