JACOB & JACQUELIN, OUR NEW TWINS

This is our final week of celebrating Christmas at preschool with our Bible emphasis being "The Angels Tell the Good News to Shepherds and Wise Men." To finish our "Christmas Is. . ." books this week, the children will be making a hand-print wreath with finger print holly berries. You will then be able to take these home, wet paint included. In the center, we have a special picture of each child. During our opening time, we will continue our music and movement time with Christmas songs and playing our jingle bells. We will also decorate a Christmas tree with 16 different Christmas rubber stamps. We will sing "The First Noel," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Away in a Manger," "Jingle Bells," and "The Great Kings" (fingerplay). Our snack will be cheese crackers or maybe a special Christmas treat if parents would like to bring these. Story time this week includes "The Christmas Star" which tells the birth of Jesus with a light up star. "I've Been Workin' on the Railroad" story/song should be fun as I will bring along our train whistle. If time and attention allows, we will also read "Llama, Llama Red Pajama." I am also bringing back the xylophone for another carol sing-a-long for fun.

Be sure to see our snowflakes hanging in our classroom. A couple weeks ago, the children made pine needle paintings, and I cut these into snowflakes.

I pray you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year. Oh, if any of you are sending family photo Christmas cards out this year, I would really appreciate having one. Thank you so much.

Mrs. Shelly

Jack was a monkey for our Fall party and . . . . . . Katelynn was our zookeeper!

I hope you are enjoying the holiday season. This week, our Bible story will center on Baby Jesus is born. We will be making pages to add to our "Christmas Is . . ." book by making a Shining Star with yellow paint, star sponges, and glitter. We will also decorate a candy cane with red stripes. We will continue to sing our Christmas carols, "Joy to the World," "Away in a Manger," "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and "5 Little Candles." We will also sing "Twinkle Star" and "ABC Song." We will work on board puzzles and have Christmas music for our opening time with twirlers/bells and bubbles. Our snack this week will be animal cookies and raisins. Our room now has a Nativity Set with "Little People" characters which we will place in our mystery bag. The children will take turns selecting a character and trying to identify who it is. Our storytime this week is "Christmas in the Barn," a Margaret Wise Brown book about Jesus being born in a barn with all the animals present. Our second story is "Guess Who's Coming, Jesse Bear." The children enjoyed "Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?" so much a few weeks ago, that I found a sequel and hope they enjoy it as much. If time and/or attention allow, we also have a story/song "Hush Little Baby" (don't say a word, Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird).

We were excited last week, as our room and playground has received many nice toys from the K-State Developmental Center, kind of like an early Christmas present.

We were also excited on Friday evening to win the "Best Youth Float" in the Mayor's Spirit of the Holidays Lighted Parade. We so appreciate all the parent support and the nice weather which made for a fun, memorable evening. Make sure to check out our trophy as you check in your children.

Have a blessed Christmas season,

Mrs. Shelly