School Break

All of us in the Orange Classroom wish you a joyous time during this holiday season and a Happy New Year. I’m looking forward to relaxing and sleeping in for the next 1 1/2 weeks. Did the children who were at school on Monday tell you about our gingerbread man who ran away? After Mrs. Dotivala decorated him I read another gingerbread man story. Unfortunately, during that time, people kept going in and out of our classroom leaving the door open. Someone would try to be quick and shut the door. But when it was time for snack, I removed the paper towels from the tray and the gingerbread man was GONE! Mrs. Dotivala and Mrs. Gillis ran as fast as they could and caught him running to the playground. Finally the children got to eat him. It was a fun time for all. On Wednesday, we had gingerbread cookies for a final snack before vacation and I read the book “Stop That Pickle”. Ask your children about the pickle.

It’s that time of year when the children begin to have difficulty selecting a spot on the rug for Circle Time because of a number of reasons. Sometimes there is no room next to a desired friend, sometimes more than one person wants a particular location. This can cause grumbling making it hard to focus during this time. This week I introduced the vinyl circles you can see in the photo. The children stand on the line-up squares (you can see their feet at the top). I then call them one at a time to sit on a designated color. It has allowed nice spacing, no more fussing, and a much more focused Circle Time.

As the children arrived on Wednesday, they were surprised to see a birthday name tag on me. They are used to seeing them on children, but not the teachers. A lot of comments were made about it and I enjoyed the singing of the Happy Birthday song before snack.

I’m looking forward to seeing the children in January.