Drawing kin, holes in the pumpkin, a lonely bear and power posing: TUESDAY K WEEK

Welcome to K Week! Here are things we’re doing this week you can look for in photos, videos, backpacks and conversation.

Coping Skill: Power Pose! Learn more in the Coping Skill section below.

Story Time books: Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear! and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. We will compare the books (there are many common illustrations), look for the key, talk about kin and notice the leadership qualities in the mouse.

Dirt Pumpkin: This has been a very exciting addition to the classroom. After a couple of weeks of no action above the dirt, we are up to many plants-and one that even broke through the rind of the pumpkin!

Kin drawings: Children are drawing their families this week while practicing the word “kin.” With a wide open invitation to think of their kin, some children drew a few people and others drew many. A family is a family! Kin is kin!

Kings: We are using the fictitious story of King Keenan (a kind ketchup loving king who shares the key to the castle) to explore leadership qualities. We have crowns to wear and to color in our journals.

Kenny the K: Kenny is getting covered in ketchup (it’s actually paint in a ketchup bottle which makes for a fun joke so that’s where Joey the Jokey J is hanging out) this week and we pretend that they love anything red (because they think it’s ketchup!). Oh silly Kenny.

Kris Kringle: We have books and dress up clothes about who we’ve been referring to as “Santa”…this week we say Kris Kringle! There are other names for him too like Papa Noel, Father Christmas, St Nicholas, St Nick.

Kitchen Play: We moved our Family Corner kitchen appliances to the Play Dough Corner for some pretend Christmas cookie making.

Keys: Using a lot of fine motor skills, we’re working with real and pretend keys this week.

Kitchen Sink Water Play: We have real kitchen tools in the water table this week!

Christmas Wreaths: The layers of paint are dry and this week we’re adding leaves, berries and pine needles!

Poem of the Week: 2 Little Red Birds: We’re adding real red feathers to the birds that go with our poem (this is done with two hands acting as birds who take turns going behind our backs):

Two little red birds sitting in the snow
This one is Mary, this one is Joe
Fly away Mary, fly away Joe
Come back Mary, come back Joe

Photos and videos of our day:

Here are 3 questions to ask your child:

What did you eat for snack today? In the morning we ate snowpeople (really they were made with donuts, candy and pretzels) and very yummy apples from Charlie. In the afternoon we had rice krispie treats with sprinkles and the “biggest best grapes” ever from Cade. Thank you, friends! Some church friends left us carrots and celery too.

Why was the Little Mouse crying ? After the Little Mouse found out that the bear never got any presents, he cried. Then he used the key to unlock the presents…bonus question you can ask your child: What did Little Mouse do with the presents?

Who did you draw a picture of today? Our kin! Our family! These children know their people! Check your child’s backpack if you haven’t seen their drawing yet. Remember that young children’s drawings of people start by resembling a tadpole- with arms and/or legs attached directly to the face. The face may not have any features. Next children start to add features (eyes and mouth). It is usually not until after the age of 4 that children start to draw a separate body.

Bonus Questions where the answers are all YES:

Did Ms Kristin pretend to be Grandma Vicki since she and Grandpa Norm were gone today?

Was Ms Emily in the afternoon class since Ms Brenda was gone with Grandpa Kelven?

Did Grandpa Kelven’s surgery go well?

Did we cut two holes in the Dirt Pumpkin and find more plants inside?

Did we meet at the fence for a very low drama fire drill?

Did we get new sensory toys donated?

Coping Skill of the Week: Power Pose

This week we are standing tall! Just like our fictitious friend, King Keenan, we can stand tall and with confidence. Research has showed adopting powerful postures can make us feel more powerful and be more successful.

Practicing this pose by intentionally alternating with a stooped posture and exaggerated “sad” or “scared” facial expression can really help our bodies feel the difference.

Try it…do you feel a bit royal, perhaps?

A hip getting fixed, crushed candy canes, the baby is back and doing jumping jacks: THURSDAY J WEEK

This week was all about welcoming December, jingle bells, candy canes, baby Jesus and jumping! The classroom is decorated and the Dirt Pumpkin continues to grow! We are up to 11 sprouts! We ended both sessions with big swing time (it’s one of the best group activities especially when I sing made up verses to Jingle Bells and take breaks to clean up any messes the children can spy from the swing). Read on to learn more about our play today.

We have several Story Time books this week in our ongoing search for baby Jesus’, jingle bells, candy canes and stars. In fact, many Christmas children’s books will have at least one of those items. You can find out which your child likes the best!

Today we found the same baby from our Feast for Ten book is back for the Christmas for Ten book! Sweet baby. In the Thanksgiving book she fell asleep, in the Christmas book she played a drum (we pretended to be her playing a drum).

J Week Activities

Here are some J things for the week you can look for in photos, conversations and backpacks!

Jingle Bells: We finished up our jingle bell sticker work (great fine motor work with an emphasis on one-to-one correspondence as they put a bell sticker on the end of a drawn string).

We still have jingle bells in the Cloud Dough along with magnets, including a tub for any broken bells which slows down the play as children pause to shake and listen for the sound.

Candy Canes: Oh that silly letter J takes of their hat and turns themself into a candy cane! There is a little poem you might start to hear at home: You might think it’s just a J from our alphabet song, but really it’s a candy cane about to be gone! We have a copy of it in our journals and can make the candy cane disappear by closing the journal!

We have our Alphabet Friend, Joey the Jokey J who is dressed up as a candy cane. Today children could make Joey the J babies and take them home. They are so sweet.

We have pretend candy canes in our Water Table with mint water. There are beads and pipe cleaners for candy cane J ornaments all week.

Baby Jesus: We have 12 of them in the classroom.

They all have their own swaddling cloth and love to be held. Over the years they have acquired names including one who is simply known as Jesus because she was Jesus in a church play once. Here they all are:

  • Newborn Girl (anatomically correct female)
  • Toddler (may be small but looks older)
  • Jesus (she was in the church play as Jesus once)
  • Baby with Low Muscle Tone (very floppy)
  • Real Baby (her textured hair is very realistic)
  • Curly Girl (for her long red hair)
  • Sports Guy (he came in a basketball outfit)
  • Big Baby (our biggest)
  • Heavy Baby (weighs about 5 pounds)
  • Newborn Boy (anatomically correct male)
  • Famous (she was on KWCH 12 news once in a Safe Sleep segment)
  • Sleepy Baby (the eyes open and close)

Jumping: in addition to our daily practice of this week’s Jumping Jacks Coping Skill (read more below), Jumping Land is back! This happens at the Circle Time rug and uses all the pillows and blankets we have.

Christmas Wreaths: our project for the month is adding layers to our Christmas wreath. This week we are painting the base layer with different shades of green and different types of paint.

Color of the Month: December’s Color of the Month is red and we’ve switched things out: the playdough and tools, the Tiny Things, the books, items in the Family Corner, puzzles and dress up clothes.

Here are 3 questions to learn more about our day:

What did you eat for snack today? We are so thankful for our new snack trays! Children carry them to and from the kitchen with ease!

In the morning we had fruit cups (and drank the juice with a straw first), crackers with peanut butter and cheese. In the afternoon we had Joyful Jello, jack fruit and colby jack Cheezits from Malcolm…thank you!!

What candy canes did we use for the game??

Today was a game of “What’s Missing” with 6 different candy canes: Shorty, Tall Guy, Greeny, Bluey, Broken Pink Rainbow and Crushed. I am sorry that I didn’t get a picture of them all!

I can attest to a GREAT set of memories! These kids didn’t miss a single missing candy cane.

Who is getting his hip fixed?

Grandpa Kelven! We worked hard on his Get Well poster today and made up songs about him to the tune of Jingle Bells. Fun fact that the children know: Grandpa Kelven and Ms Brenda are married so she will deliver him his poster.

Coping Skill of the Week: Jumping Jacks

This week we are practicing jumping jacks! Jumping in any form can be a coping skill for children to release and manage intense emotions, such as excitement. 

Jumping can also be a therapeutic tool that helps children develop gross motor skills, improve proprioception systems, and boost the lymphatic system. Jumping involves complex motor planning, which requires coordination between muscles, timing of movements, and spatial awareness. These cognitive skills are important for tasks that require precise movements and adaptations to different environments.

Candy cane stripes, jumping into pillows, a climbing porcupine and doing jumping jacks: WEDNESDAY J WEEK

This week is all about welcoming December, jingle bells inside and out, candy canes, baby Jesus and jumping! The classroom is decorated and the Dirt Pumpkin sprouted 3 more pumpkin plants over night! We get out the big swing sometimes when requested and this afternoon was one of those days. Read on to learn more about our play today.

We have several Story Time books this week in our ongoing search for baby Jesus’, jingle bells, candy canes and stars. In fact, many Christmas children’s books will have at least one of those items. You can find out which your child likes the best!

J Week Activities

Here are some J things for the week you can look for in photos, conversations and backpacks!

Golden Letters: We’ve got 4 Golden Letter friends…maybe you know some of them!

Jingle Bells: We are doing jingle bell sticker work (great fine motor work with an emphasis on one-to-one correspondence as they put a bell sticker on the end of a drawn string).

We have jingle bells in the Cloud Dough along with magnets, including a tub for any broken bells which slows down the play as children pause to shake and listen for the sound. We also have a set of outdoor jingle bells and magnet wands.

Candy Canes: Oh that silly letter J takes of their hat and turns themself into a candy cane! There is a little poem you might start to hear at home: You might think it’s just a J from our alphabet song, but really it’s a candy cane about to be gone!

We have our Alphabet Friend, Joey the Jokey J who is dressed up as a candy cane. We have pretend candy canes in our Water Table with mint water. There are beads and pipe cleaners for candy cane J ornaments all week. Joey loves all of those areas!

Today we made candy cane stripes in our journals:

Baby Jesus: We have 12 of them in the classroom.

They all have their own swaddling cloth and love to be held. Over the years they have acquired names including one who is simply known as Jesus because she was Jesus in a church play once. Here they all are:

  • Newborn Girl (anatomically correct female)
  • Toddler (may be small but looks older)
  • Jesus (she was in the church play as Jesus once)
  • Baby with Low Muscle Tone (very floppy)
  • Real Baby (her textured hair is very realistic)
  • Curly Girl (for her long red hair)
  • Sports Guy (he came in a basketball outfit)
  • Big Baby (our biggest)
  • Heavy Baby (weighs about 5 pounds)
  • Newborn Boy (anatomically correct male)
  • Famous (she was on KWCH 12 news once in a Safe Sleep segment)
  • Sleepy Baby (the eyes open and close)

Christmas Wreaths: our project for the month is adding layers to our Christmas wreath. This week we are painting the base layer with different shades of green.

Color of the Month: December’s Color of the Month is red and we’ve switched things out: the playdough and tools, the Tiny Things, the books, items in the Family Corner, puzzles and dress up clothes.

Here are 3 questions to learn more about our day:

What did you eat for snack today? We are so thankful for our new snack trays! Children started carrying them today from the kitchen to their spot at the Big Table.

In the morning we had Juicy Juice boxes, jelly jam filled muffins and colby jack cheese from Millie. In the afternoon we had Christmas fruit snacks, freeze dried strawberries and 2 kinds of Christmas goldfish crackers from Owen. Thank you so much friends!

How do you think Little Porcupine got down from the tree?

During Story Time we read about Little Porcupine “saving the show” by being the star but we never find out how he got down!

We decided he could have jumped, climbed or gotten a ladder. We imagined if he had jumped and then had the option of jumping off the table like he would have from the tree! Ms Kristin demonstrated first:

Did you jump in Jumping Land?

Some friends chose to watch only and some friends chose to take a turn to jump. You can watch it with a song on Instagram or with humming your own tune here:

Coping Skill of the Week: Jumping Jacks

This week we are practicing jumping jacks! Jumping in any form can be a coping skill for children to release and manage intense emotions, such as excitement. 

Jumping can also be a therapeutic tool that helps children develop gross motor skills, improve proprioception systems, and boost the lymphatic system. Jumping involves complex motor planning, which requires coordination between muscles, timing of movements, and spatial awareness. These cognitive skills are important for tasks that require precise movements and adaptations to different environments.

12 baby Jesus’, four baby plants, looking for stars and doing jumping jacks: TUESDAY J WEEK

This week is all about welcoming December, jingle bells, candy canes, baby Jesus and jumping! The classroom is decorated, our running track is back and the Dirt Pumpkin has sprouted four pumpkin plants! Read on to learn more about our play today.

We have several Story Time books this week in our ongoing search for baby Jesus’, jingle bells, candy canes and stars. In fact, many Christmas children’s books will have at least one of those items. You can find out which your child likes the best!

J Week Activities

Here are some J things for the week you can look for in photos, conversations and backpacks!

Golden Letters: We’ve got 4 Golden Letter friends…maybe you know some of them!

Jingle Bells: We are doing jingle bell sticker work (great fine motor work with an emphasis on one-to-one correspondence as they put a bell sticker on the end of a drawn string).

We have jingle bells in the Cloud Dough along with magnets, including a tub for any broken bells which slows down the play as children pause to shake and listen for the sound.

Candy Canes: Oh that silly letter J takes off their hat and turns themself into a candy cane! There is a little poem you might start to hear at home: You might think it’s just a J from our alphabet song, but really it’s a candy cane about to be gone!

We have our Alphabet Friend, Joey the Jokey J who is dressed up as a candy cane. We have pretend candy canes in our Water Table with mint water. There are beads and pipe cleaners for candy cane J ornaments all week.

Baby Jesus: We have 12 of them in the classroom.

They all have their own swaddling cloth and love to be held. Over the years they have acquired names including one who is simply known as Jesus because she was Jesus in a church play once. You can read all their names in the question segment below. Our sound cradle let one friend pretend to be baby Jesus and one of our dolls came to snack too.

Jumping: in addition to our daily practice of this week’s Jumping Jacks Coping Skill (read more below), Jumping Land is back! This happens at the Circle Time rug and uses all the pillows and blankets we have.

Color of the Month: December’s Color of the Month is red and we’ve switched things out: the play dough and tools, the Tiny Things, the books, items in the Family Corner, puzzles and dress up clothes.

Here are 3 questions to learn more about our day:

What did you eat for snack today?

We are so thankful for our new snack trays! Children started carrying them today from the kitchen to their spot at the Big Table.

In the morning we had Jello Js, party muffin Js and jungle animal crackers from Arthur and Julian. In the afternoon we had decorated Christmas cookies and cheese sticks dressed up like snow people from Annie. Thank you so much, friends!

What doll do you like best for Baby Jesus?

After looking at different babies being Baby Jesus in our books, we looked at our 12 dolls that can also take turns being Baby Jesus. Here they are:

  • Newborn Girl (anatomically correct female)
  • Toddler (may be small but looks older)
  • Jesus (she was in the church play as Jesus once)
  • Baby with Low Muscle Tone (very floppy)
  • Real Baby (her textured hair is very realistic)
  • Curly Girl (for her long red hair)
  • Sports Guy (he came in a basketball outfit)
  • Big Baby (our biggest)
  • Heavy Baby (weighs about 5 pounds)
  • Newborn Boy (anatomically correct male)
  • Famous (she was on KWCH 12 news once in a Safe Sleep segment)
  • Sleepy Baby (the eyes open and close)

What color paint did we use today?

Green! This is the first layer of our Christmas Wreath project. We had four shades of green available and will add something new each time children come.

Coping Skill of the Week: Jumping Jacks

This week we are practicing jumping jacks! Jumping in any form can be a coping skill for children to release and manage intense emotions, such as excitement. 

Jumping can also be a therapeutic tool that helps children develop gross motor skills, improve proprioception systems, and boost the lymphatic system. Jumping involves complex motor planning, which requires coordination between muscles, timing of movements, and spatial awareness. These cognitive skills are important for tasks that require precise movements and adaptations to different environments.

During Story Time we looked for stars in the books and then had our own bodies move between star pose and skyscraper pose (you can watch my video below)…these are the jumping jack moves!

Falling asleep at the table, disappearing turkeys, eating favorites and scribbling: THURSDAY I WEEK

This week we are using ink in a variety of forms and a lot of I statements. Our Coping Skill is scribbling-a perfect outlet for young children! We had a very busy classroom and playground with every corner getting used. There was a lot of puzzle work, a lot of block building, a lot of swing work. Take a look at how we played today:

We will be learning about favorite foods this week during Snack Time and Story Time. In Feast for Ten a family shops, cooks and prepares for a big meal. In My First Thanksgiving, a little mouse has such a big day they fall asleep at the table. In More Spaghetti, I Say, we see just how much one character loves spaghetti!

I Week Activities

Here are some I things for the week you can look for in photos, conversations and backpacks!

Ink Masterpiece: children are using ink pens this week to create an ink masterpiece with instrumental music in the background. We sure feel like we’re in an art gallery!

Ink Pads and Stamps: We have an entire table set up with washable ink pads and a variety of stamps. We’ll use the ink pads for Journal Time this week too.

Ian the Inky I: He got his eyes, smile and name tag today!

Ice Play: we have ice in the Water Table this week to hold, feel, observe and try to get it to melt! We also have ice cube trays in the Tub Table to pretend that Cloud Dough is ice!

Inch blocks: today we had paper inch blocks available for gluing onto paper.

I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas: along with this being our Song of the Week going through each vowel, it also fits in well to our daily conversation about our Favorite Foods.

Instrument Play: while we have instruments available all year round, this week they got a little extra focus along with new instruments available during Outside Time.

Last Week of November: Since we don’t have school next week, today was the last day with brown as our Color of the Month. We got all the playdough mixed up and had a beautiful dark brown for our cookie making.

Here are 3 questions to learn more about our day:

What did you eat for snack today?

In the morning we had french fries, grilled cheese, party mix, cheetos and grain bars. Delicious!

Grandma Vicki and a friend discovered that if you close your eyes and say mmmmm you can really taste the food. So precious.

In the afternoon we had french fries, tomatoes in fall colors (not only red), strawberries, donuts, donut holes, fancy cookies and yogurt smoothie drinks. Thank you for the feast, friends!

Who fell asleep at the Thanksgiving table?

Baby mouse! After a full day of shopping, cooking, visiting and eating, Baby Mouse fell asleep. But as children are quick to remind: we don’t ever take naps for real at preschool. In fact, in all three of our Story Time books, there were characters who fell asleep: the Little Mouse, the baby and the grandpa turkey.

Where did so many of the turkeys go?

Home with their preschooler! All week we’ve had turkeys go home and today is the day that they all went home. Thank you for spending time in our classroom, turkeys!

Remember when they had NO feathers at all? We started making these weeks ago!

The afternoon class was our big clean up crew and we had a lot of team work.

Coping Skill of the Week: Scribbling

This week we are scribbling! This is a skill that young children usually find satisfying. If they don’t have the strength to press hard enough for pencils, crayons or pens, provide markers so even the slightest movement can create marks.

After a week of getting covered in ink with lots of scribbles, Ian got to come outside and play with us. We decided he liked it.

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