December Fun!

What a fun couple of weeks we are having as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior at Christmas!  As you can see below and have read on the pink sheet and emails, we are very busy!!

Please be sure to join us in our Christmas chapel celebration on Wednesday, December 19th!

The note about the classroom gift exchange was sent home a couple of weeks ago.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  We are going to be making a parent gift next week and Mrs.B and I will send a little something home (it's fragile!) for your child next week!

Merry Christmas!

 They are doing great with the Boom Cards app!

"Pilgrims Meeting Their New Friends"

Another cute video!  This one went on for 4 minutes but I cut it to 30 seconds so I could upload it!!
AE, EB and AH are the master puppeteers in this one!

"Games At The First Thanksgiving"

What a super special project!  They had to decide together what to talk about in their Thanksgiving skit, what characters they would need and then what the setting would be!  I think videotaped their play in front of a green screen and they decided on the background (setting) they would like to use.  So many wonderful things about this!  This project was on games they could have played at the first Thanksgiving and is presented by LD, BI, and BW.  ENJOY!!

Fictional Character Day

Such a fun day of dressing as a character in a book and sharing the book with our friends!  Thanks for participating!

 Scarecrow, Bad Kitty and Rainbow Fish!

 "Dorothy" came in and said, "I wonder if I can find the Tin Man or Scarecrow?"  And Mrs.Schoening was dressed as Scarecrow!!

"Pooh" and her dad ventured out this morning but because of the icky roads, decided to turn around.  But here is a picture of "Pooh"!

Green Screen Project - Planning Stages!

All the little ones are so excited to do their second green screen project!  I put them in small groups and appointed a leader for each group.  On Monday, they talked in their group about what they'd like to do a green screen project on (after much preparation, reading about Thanksgiving and discussion).  They then reported back to me what they'd decided and what props (story characters) and background (story setting) they would need for their project.  Yesterday (Tuesday), they had their props and started working on their skit/story that they would tell!  We talked about where they'd need to place their characters (above the table while they sat below the table).  Then they went to work as you can see in the pictures below.  Some of them even moved on their own to an area "with green!!" as they say and are excited to find in the classroom!  They are doing a fabulous job working together in a small group, learning to listen to a leader and the leaders learning to be great leaders by asking their team members questions on what they would like to do/be/say!!  It's all a process but they are doing a fabulous job!!  I can't wait to see the final products!! 

Isn't This Adorable?!

I just had to share with you our door decoration for this month!  So adorable!!

November Play

As you may know, I have a BS degree in elementary education with a minor in early childhood education.  Early childhood education remains my favorite area and I enjoy spending my days with these 5 and 6 year olds!  There have been many shift and changes in the early childhood education world in my 30 years of teaching.  I'm so happy to say that the importance of "play" has made a great comeback as educators realize, as many of us "oldies" still know, that play is a child's work.  The pictures I'm sharing with you show play in an educational form - the best way for young children to learn!  The playing of games together and learning to get along as well learning number order (TRASH game), and putting shapes into a puzzle (do you have puzzles on your Christmas list for your child?!  You should!!) and using keys (fine motor) to unlock a lock based upon the beginning sound (educational) the possibilities are endless in play as learning.  Block building? Your child may be an architect one day.  Kitchen area?  Your child may be a mommy or a daddy someday.  The stethescope?  Your child may be a doctor or a nurse one day.  The list goes on and on!  Last week in reading, our work was based upon a book about bugs.  So I dug out the bug catchers (yes, a little late in the season!) and we attempted to catch bugs at recess!  In all we do, I try to integrate play-based practices.  More importantly, I work hard to keep a good balance in paper/pencil work and hands-on activities.  And even more importantly, I keep Jesus at the center of our school day!  So whether we are learning about Moses leading the Israelites to the Promised Land, learning about rhyming words or CVC words or sight words, or counting money in math.....our eyes focus and remain on the ONE important things, Jesus our Savior!  Blessings on your week!

October 22

What beautiful fall weather God is giving us right now!  We observed "our tree" yesterday and recorded the changes in the leaves especially noting the colors.  Things like that always lead to other discussions and we had a wonderful conversation about autumn and the changes God gives to the world He created. 

We are learning about Martin Luther and the Reformation the next 2 weeks.  Little ones are very intrigued by this story and especially about God's grace and how Martin helped people to understand that "you don't have to buy papers" (indulgences!). 

There is most certainly a lot of reading going on in this classroom!  Between blending letter sounds to read words and the sight words that we are learning, I just stand back in amazement at how, only 9 weeks into school, these little ones are already becoming confident readers!  God is good!  They continue to practice number writing and number order and we just started learning about pennies. 

Thank you for all your donations to our "Morning Tubs" activities!  The little ones are so excited to use the tubs!  As they practice fine motor skills and strengthen those fingers and hands, they don't even realize they are learning and growing in so many ways!  (Social skills is my favorite learning with these tubs - okay, with about everything!)

Have a wonderful week in Jesus!

 "Starry Night Pumpkins" lesson based upon "Starry Night" by VanGogh

We Are Learning So Much!

Sometimes I think that if all these little ones remember from our kindergarten year is how important it is to love others then I've succeeded!  The pictures don't adequately show the love that my heart feels every time I take your little one to Montclair.  It starts the day before we even go when we discuss "tomorrow" and I tell them, "It's a Montclair day!' and they cheer and say, "YAY!"  Kindness and love, gratitude and joy are some of the attributes we work on daily for if these things become a habit for them at school and at home, it's easier for them to recall them as needed.

We continue to read through the Old Testament Bible stories and learn from them.  We are practicing lots of blending of words as well as sight words.  We are enjoying reading our own books and stories and love doing Literacy and Math centers which challenge the little ones as well as reinforce their learning and introduce them to new concepts.

WE MADE A GREEN SCREEN project this week!!  It was fabulous to work on a project together, taking turns reading or holding the illustrations in front of the green screen.  This helped make the reading "real" for the kiddos!  We worked together to choose the background for each story and then used an app to combine it into what you see here!  We will be making more green screen projects in the near future.

Have a wonderful week!
In Christ's Service,
Mrs. Dartmann