When we started school in September in the middle of a pandemic, I couldn’t even imagine school in December. We were all getting used to the new COVID routines and December felt an eternity away. But, alas, here we are going strong and December has arrived. For many children during the first months of school, the toys held their attention for a very short period of time and we were working frantically to keep up with the demand for new toys. Every day was a whirlwind of swapping out toys to be cleaned, bagging them and putting out new options. On many days now I am amazed watching the children play during our first hour. As the children are getting older, they are able to hold their attention for a longer period of time with the activities. They are using their imaginations to build in many different ways, or do puzzles multiple times. It is always a joy to see how much they grow, both in stature and maturity during their time in preschool.

We’re talking about shapes this week. We can see shapes all around us: on our clothing, on the walls, the shape of furniture, toys, almost everything we touch. The children have made collages with shapes, read books about shapes, learned poems about shapes, colored a shape picture, and practiced their cutting skills with shapes.

I have mentioned before that the children enjoy all my visiting friends (squirrels, scarecrow, turkeys) and singing our “Hello” song to them. This week is no different. My shape friends have been visiting and everyday this week we are singing the “Hello” song to each of them after singing for all the children and teachers. Just imagine, “Hello rectangle, hello rectangle, hello rectangle, I’m glad you’re here today”, etc. I usually start from left to right. Today, I started with the one on the right side, and one of the children yelled out “You did it wrong.” The children make note of my every move!