The day that SANTA came...

On Tuesday, December 22nd the kids and I had planned a holiday concert for all that could attend at 4:00 pm.  This was so exciting for the kids to plan and prepare for!  Little did they know that I really had Santa set to arrive at the house to surprise them!  We started out Tuesday finishing up our song props.  The kids planned on singing "Jingle Bells" (with our bells Mother Goose provided us), "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (with our deer headbands Mother Goose provided us), and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (with Santa's made from paper plates).

Here K is painting her plate red for her Santa body...

 Coloring Santa's body...

 Next, the kids wrapped their Christmas tree ornaments that they made for their parents for their Christmas gift.  I set out brown paper bags, ink pads, Christmas stamps, and Christmas stickers.  I encouraged the kids to decorate the bags any way they desired and then make a card as well.

 These kids LOVE being creative!

 Once all the song props were ready...

 ...and all the gifts were wrapped...

 ...I called Santa to confirm!  He was definitely set to arrive at 4:00 pm!  I was SO EXCITED!!!

 The tables and chairs were set with a few Christmas foam crafts I purchased from Oriental trading.  One craft was a Santa frame!

 The parents started to arrive around 3:40.  Everyone got started on their crafts and helped themselves to cookies and milk. 

 Santa arrived and the kids were all a buzz!  It was a perfect surprise!  Out of 20 children, only 4 cried, and 3 of the 4 eventually warmed up.  I would say that was a pretty good turn out for a preschool event!  I was worried that keeping it a surprise may have been too scary for some preschoolers.  It is understandable that some children this age are not yet comfortable with the big guy in a red suit quite yet.

 The kids settled down and sat in front of him right away...

 They all sang Jingle Bells right away!

Then Santa read "The Night Before Christmas!"

 Next, every child had a chance to sit on Santa's lap and share what they wanted for Christmas!

Next, Santa gave each child a Rudolph nose.  We all sang "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." Lastly, Santa gave all the children the gifts that I prepared for him to pass out.

It was such a fun time!!!  Thank you to Andra for taking photos, to Abbie for the help with the cookies and crafts, and to EVERYONE for your help with the kids!  It made me so happy to see the kids so happy!!!

Thank you all for a memorable 2015!  May 2016 be a year of new beginnings for Sweet Smiles Preschool!

Mouse...

"Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse!"
On the Monday before break our Mother Goose lesson was all about mice...

During circle time I set out these colored houses.  I placed our letter M (mouse) phonic card under one of the houses as the kids closed their eyes.  We said, "Little mouse, little mouse, I think you are hiding under the (color) house."  One child at at a time got to guess which house the mouse was hiding under.  The kids really liked this one!

Our circle time song...

The kids worked on the letter M page from their journal.  "M is for mouse and and macaroni!"

Each child was given their own mouse math activity.  This was really great!  I was very happy that Mother Goose provided the kids with the math equations, and that each math problem resulted in either 7 or 8.  This made things a lot easier for the kids.

Next, the kids were given their own "I Can Read" book titled, "Rat-a-tat-tat!"  They had fun reading and rhyming!  Please practice reading at home with your child.

Buddy reading...

Mother Goose provided us with this new Cat & Mouse board game.  After playing one time though, I had to switch out the gray pom poms for one black, one white, one gray, and one brown.  This made it easier to tell the difference between the players as the game was being played.

We also received new monthly sight words and sight word arrows!  I love these!  The arrows are always kept in our library reading area, and the other words are laminated and given magnets of the back of each one.  We keep them as a reading center at our magnetic whiteboard room divider.

Our book for the day...

On this day I set out a Santa workshop dramatic play area. The kids had a BLAST!

I also gave the kids this gingerbread packet of learning activities to keep them busy in the afternoon.

Gifts for the kids this year...full of fun little toys for each child!