Happy Holiday Season

The holiday season is all about magic and warmth that comes from good faith and love.  The children have enjoyed learning about each of the December holidays. All are celebrated in their own distinct ways and different in every household as well, but they all are celebrated with thoughtfulness and giving that comes from the heart.  Your children have hearts the size of mountains and were so excited to give gifts that they knew would make other kids smile.  We talked about the children to whom the gifts would be given and how they are just like them and love presents, but may not be able to get any because their families had fallen on hard times.    We shared special stories of how good it can feel to give, sometimes even better than to receive.  The children were all smiles as they delivered their gifts to the gym on Friday last week.  Thank you for giving your children the gift of graciousness.  Thank you for your generosity!!

Please join us for a wonderful morning of celebration this Thursday.  The children will sing songs of joy that will make your heart leap for the season, at 8:30am in the Janet Root Theater.  Directly following the show, the children will gather for one final assembly in 2012 before sharing an exploring style party.  We DEFINITELY would appreciate your helping hands for the party.  Please plan to stay and play along with us.  There will be a noon dismissal that day.  
Enjoy the winter break.  Be safe and happy.  Have yourselves a Merry Christmas and together we will make it a joyful new year!
Lots of love,
Mrs. Carson

Delightful December!

I love this place!

Run, run, as fast as you can! 

Check out Shorecrest's JK land!!!

At Shorecrest we have so much fun.

Whether in the classroom or out under the sun.

The learning is endless with exploration and discovery

Happy children below, beside and above me.

Singing, dancing, counting, patterning

Hands-on activities for learning everything.

Gardening, story-telling, alphabet sounds

Children growing by leaps and bounds.

Making friends and learning how to keep them

Filling up "buckets" to help them to reap them

Each day is new and fresh and bold

Where the memories are more precious than silver or gold.

Shorecrest is the place but the people are the heart

So visit Shorecrest's ECC for the very best start!

The Gingerbread Man!

Well, run we did!  Last week the children loved hearing several versions of the popular Gingerbread Man story.  The week began with Jack Hartmann's "Gingerbread Man" song and a lot of spirited dramatic play and dancing! In the middle there were delicious discoveries made with gingerbread play dough, cookie cutters, beads and more during play.  The week ended with the children fashioning and baking their very own gingerbread boys and girls.  Seems we just weren't careful enough when peeking to check on them though, because they up and ran away!!! We took a rousing run around campus, following clues found by members of our fabulous faculty and even some family members to our students as well. Wouldn't you know that those little "gingies" wanted to enroll in Shorecrest too!  Mr. Murphy explained to them, however, that they were not meant to be students but were better suited to be their tasty snack.  Feeling quite worn out after their rigorous run, the gingerbread boys and girls decided to return to our classroom where we soon found them lounging around the gingerbread house we had made for them the day before! So sneaky!  SOOOO DELICIOUS!!!

First, those little rascals ran all the way to Upper Division land to visit with Mr. Dillow, Tadhg's daddy.

Then, they ran all the way across campus to the Lower Division Land and were found in Ms. O'Mulane's 2nd grade classroom. 

Next, it was for learning and reading with Mrs. Smay in the Library.

They loved reading so much they took off like a rocket to enroll in school with Mr. Murphy!  Who sent them directly back to our classroom to be a very tasty mid-morning snack! Yum!

Gingerbread men lounging after a very rigorous morning!

What a tasty morning!!!

Here's what the children heard....

(OVEN)

Ha ha and he he! You peeked and out we ran

Now we’re off to Upper Division Land!

We know a guy who is so cool

He is the head of that upper school.

We’re going to see him so don’t delay

If you aren’t quick we’ll slip away!

(Mr. Dillow)

Run, run, as fast as you can

We went down to Lower Division Land!

1+1 will give you a clue

We went to visit a teacher who’s a mommy too!

(Ms. O'Mulane)

Ha ha…you missed once more!

We saw you coming and hit the door!

We’re looking to read and get real smart

So that’s a hint for where to start.

You can check us out where you check out books

So run real fast and have a look!

  

(Mrs. Smay)

We loved reading and learning

and want to know more

We’re going to enroll in school

for sure

Better head to that place

But I bet we’re faster

We need a meeting with your Head Master

  

(Mr. Murphy)

The Headmaster said we may not enroll

Being snack for you kids is a Gingerbread goal

So we ran back to rest

after this long exhausting day

We’ll be in the home you made for us in JK!

THIS WEEK....

As the month of  December brings beautiful holidays the children will participate in activities and lessons to strengthen their awareness of how their friends and families around the world 

CELEBRATE!

Happy Hanukkah!

This week, the children will learn all about The Festival of Lights!



More fun in learning from last week......

enjoying holiday explorations (stacking dolls)

painting "candies" and "icing" for our lofty gingerbread house

making gingerbread play dough

playing with the Brio Train

spontaneous learning enrichment activities

building a snowman snack

Lots and Lots of smiles!!!

AND so much more.....

Dates to Remember:

*The holiday gift drive is from now until December 14.  Please see the list online.  Thank you for your generosity!

*We will sing for our neighbors at Winston Park this Wednesday, December 12.

*The Holiday Sing is on Thursday, December 20 at 8:30 am in the Janet Root Theatre.  Our exploring style holiday party will follow in the ECC.  There is noon dismissal that day.

Have a wonderful holiday season filled with joy, hope, peace and love!

:) Mrs. Carson

We LOVED November!

Goodbye November!

As we bid a fond farewell to November we look enthusiastically  forward to the Holiday Season!  Hellooooooo December!
It was a busy week last week, wrapping up the November calendar after a wonderful Thanksgiving break.  The children, as always, were busy exploring their world and learning from their investigations.

Using contact paper sticky side up, the children added snippets of colorful tissue paper, glitter, and other craft materials to make a stained glass window effect for our "holiday" windows.

Language-Rich Environment!

Learning to read involves many different learning skills that come together to make a wonderful reader.  Rhyming, telling stories based upon picture clues, making predictions, dictating stories to go along with drawings etc. and much, much more are fun and relevant skills for beginning reading.  In Junior Kindergarten we practice these skills every day!

Making representational drawings and writing stories about them.  This little one was writing a story about tadpoles....can't you tell! :)

Experimenting with watercolor paints, salt, evaporated milk and more to make amazing art and spark creative conversation!

Reading and Writing around the room! This friend found color words in the art center and wrote them.  The great thing is that she wrote them in the correct corresponding color....without prompt!

Play dough is not only a fantastically fun art medium, fine motor muscle builder and creativity creator, it's great for making words too!

Practice forming letters correctly helps children to write and experiment with words confidently.

A collaborative holiday mural in the Exploratorium promotes conversation and creativity.

Hands-on rhyming...stretch the band from one word picture to a word picture that rhymes with it. Such a great collaboration activity!

 Matching upper to lowercase letters with a fine motor puzzle

Can you find objects that begin with P like Pool or C like Cake?

Treasure Hunting for Numbers!

The children were thrilled to be able to dig through many different sensory bins filled with beans, corns, and packaging peanuts, all while searching for sets of numbers! Laughter erupted as the children pulled out one number after another. While working in pairs the children then had to place their numbers in numerical order from smallest to largest. While placing them in order some children realized that there were numbers still "hiding" and they had to go back and dig some more :) 

Fine Motor Fun!!!

The children delighted in discovering the leaves on the trees outside were beginning to change colors  and fall to the ground.  We decided to take this one last Fantastic Fall opportunity to do a little leaf exploration.  It was a beautiful fine motor lacing activity to collect and string colorful leaves to hang just outside our classrooms.

Obstacle Course!

There were no obstacles getting in the way of building our gross motor skills last Friday!

Triking works the legs, arms and mind inspiring agility and control.

The hippity hops get our bouncy friends bouncing!

 Scooting is just too fun!

Walk the line, up and across the bench using balance.

The obstacle course included climbing, walking on bucket stilts, scooting, hippity hopping, riding a tricycle along a designated track, stepping through tire hoops, and walking the "tight rope" for balance. The kids had a blast building their gross motor muscles and skills!

This week is all about GINGERBREAD!

To kick off the holiday season we will read many versions of the popular story, The Gingerbread Man.  

On Thursday the children will make their very own gingerbread man cookies.  Tee hee....sure hope they won't run away!  Betcha they will though!  Stay tuned!

Dates to Remember:

*The holiday gift drive is from now until December 14.  Please see the list online.  Thank you for your generosity!

*We will sing for our neighbors at Winston Park on December 12.

*The Holiday Sing is on December 20 at 8:30 am in the Janet Root Theatre.  Our exploring style holiday party will follow in the ECC.  There is noon dismissal that day.

Have a wonderful holiday season filled with joy, hope, peace and love!

Notable November Learning Fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is hard to believe that the fabulous fall is already winding down.  Thanksgiving is upon us and we had such a "friend-tastic" feast on Friday,  last week.  Time is flying by but memories we've made will stay forever.  Mrs. Cummings and I are thankful for these memorable moments with your children.  Please enjoy the pictures from our happy November month.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and enjoy your week together.

Based upon what they learned about the Seminole nation during the month of November, the children not only made lists of foods they thought would make a yummy feast but also foods they thought the Seminole may have cooked for a special feast of their own. Corn was a staple.  The children decided that corn must be on the menu. Here, they are preparing cornbread pudding. Yum! 

Mrs. McIvor helped the children to prepare a delicious cranberry dressing.

Yummy in the tummy! The children enjoyed the delicious food that was all prepared by them and set before them on the colorful placemats they wove themselves out of strips of paper.  The children shared some of the things they were thankful for and these were printed on rectangles in the weave of the mats.

                        We are all truly thankful for friends and family to share special days with!

Many thanks go out to all of those who were able to join us on Friday, lend a helping hand and share in all the smiles.

Seminole Study

Finding color in nature for painting and staining. Crushing flowers, berries, leaves and more to create paints.

Planting beans, a staple crop.

Weaving!

Using technology to look at pictures and watch videos of the colorful clothing and shields that were woven by the Seminole people. The children loved what they saw so much they asked for paper and crayons to try and duplicate the pictures.

Drawings of a Seminole shield

Painting what we see.....appreciating nature.  It was lovely to use our beautiful covered porch to take our classroom outside.

plucking dry corn from the cobs and grinding it into cornmeal using mortars and pestles 

Earth clay and nature exploration.

Pinch Pots, just like those made by the Native Americans, were fashioned by pinching a ball of earth clay from the center out. The children each made their own pinch pot and etched designs into it using small sticks.  The pots were then fired in a large tub lined with paper, pine needles, leaves, and sticks.  The smell was wonderful and the pots took on a lovely smoked look.  The children had the option of painting them or taking them home in their natural splendor.

Weedon Island Field Trip

We had such a great time on our field trip to Weedon Island! It was the perfect way to wrap up our study of Florida's first people.

Our guides Jeanne and Brian from Sensing Nature took very good care of us and shared their respect for nature and vast knowledge of plants and animals indigenous to this area, how people lived off the land, traveled and evolved over the years.

 Dugout canoes were hollowed out trees that were burned in the middle and then dug out to make boats. Lots of Florida waterways to get across!

Tools and hunting weapons were carved from bone, rock and wood. Some were even made from shells found on the beach.


Very Special Visitors

What a treat it was to get a special visit from our Ava's Aunt Marcie and Grandma Susan, members of the Native American Seneca Nation.  Being fantastic storytellers and very proud of their Seneca heritage, they had many beautiful artifacts and stories to share with the children, last Friday. Our Junior Kindergarteners were thoughtful listeners, respectful and completely mystified. We were so thankful for this wonderful opportunity for learning.

Be sure to ask your child about the artifacts in the pictures.  I have a feeling they can tell you the stories better than I ever could. :)

These activities and sooooo much more kept us busy from the beginning of November right up until our feast day Friday.  Be on the lookout for more pictures in the future.  There are far too many for just one blog entry. Until next time....have a wonderful week!