Christmas Party!!

We had so much fun at our Christmas party on Wednesday! The girls were really excited to visit their teacher's house for this event. :-) We baked and decorated cookies, watched a Christmas movie, enjoyed homemade pizza for lunch, played some games, and of course, sampled some of our yummy cookies. :-)

Watching Miss Follett mix up the cookie dough

Mixing, rolling, and shaping the cookie dough!

Watching a Christmas movie while the pizza was baking!

Enjoying our homemade pizza while listening to Miss Julianna tell about the animals she has seen in Africa. She definitely had their attention! :-)

Having fun exploring Miss Follett's room!

The cookies, icing and decorations are all ready - now time for chaos!!

We played a fun matching game with the Christmas presents I had for the girls. They had to turn over 2 boxes at a time to find the matching item.

Our finished cookies!

~Cally~

~Alyssa~

~Ayme~

~Sarah~

~Ella~

~Hope~

Princess Sarah

Today we celebrated Sarah's 1/2 birthday! Of course, she got to wear the princess crown. She and I were talking about how she is a princess 4 times - because all girls are princesses (smile), she is wearing a princess crown, Sarah means "princess", and she also has a princess book at home!

The girls came over to my house today for a Christmas party (pictures coming later!), so in this picture Sarah is sitting on her "throne" (her car seat :-)) while eating the birthday treat she selected from the snack machine.

Did you notice that cute little gap in her smile?! She was quite excited to show me that this morning. :-)

Christmas Tree "Hot Potato" with Grace

Grace was my teacher helper today. She did a Christmas tree "hot potato" blend game with the girls. With Christmas music playing in the background, the girls passed Christmas trees cards with blends on them around in a circle. When Grace stopped the music, if they had a certain blend, they had to shout "Christmas Tree!" She then turned the game into a "musical chair/spoons" experience. She would put the Christmas trees in the middle of the circle and then the girls would have to grab them when the music stopped playing. Whoever didn't get a blend would have to leave the circle. Hope eventually won that game through the process of elimination. :-)

Princess Alyssa

We celebrated Alyssa's 1/2 birthday today! Celebrating a 1/2 birthday basically means that the real birthday is during the summer months when there is no school. Alyssa got to wear the princess crown and receive a few special treats today so she was all for celebrating being 5 1/2! :-)

Christmas Present Word Hunt with Juliana

Yesterday Juliana was my teacher helper. She hid Christmas present letters in the hallway and the classrooms across the hall. The girls were each given a card with a word on it, and they had to hunt for the Christmas present letters that made up the word on their card. My girls always enjoy scavenger hunts!

Our Christmas Program - Part 2

Yesterday my girls and I joined the Elementary students at a nearby retirement community to do our Christmas program for the residents there. They told us later on that they really enjoyed hearing these students singing the "traditional" Christmas carols. It was such a blessing to be a blessing to them this Christmas season!!

My girls getting ready in their front row seat!

Singing "Away in a Manger" - even the teacher is "laying down her sweet head"...haha

Getting our sheep hats on!

My girls stealing the show again with their cuteness :-)

Hope & Cally were up front and center during the last song. Forgetting their shyness, when they realized the microphone made their voices louder, there was a competition to see who could get closer to it....oh my :-)

Singing "Joy to the World" as our grand finale

Our Handprint Christmas Wreath

In order to give you all a better understanding of our handprint Christmas wreath project on Monday, I figured I would do a quick slideshow of the girls' progress. Yep, it was a M-E-S-S-Y adventure!!!

 

Once the girls cleaned up their green hands, it was time for red hands for the wreath's handprint bow!

Today our finished wreath was finally hung up in the classroom, and my "little sheep" posed in front of it during our Christmas program practice.

Christmas M&M Words with Leah

Today Leah was my teacher helper. She gave each girl a cup of Christmas M&Ms. The girls then tried to form 1 or 2 words with the M&Ms. Of course, they were quite anxious to enjoy the delicious little chocolate bites, so while some munched and some finished up forming their words, Leah did a quick blend review with the girls.

"Stepping Stones" with Stephen

Stephen was my teacher helper today. Honestly, I didn't plan for the game to alliterate so well with his name! I gave Stephen cards numbered 1-50, and he created "stepping stones" throughout the hallway and one of the other classrooms. The girls had to follow the "stones" in the correct numerical order. They did it all together the first round, but then they each had their separate turn.

Stephen giving instructions...

Following the yellow brick road...errr...number cards!

They counted out loud as they followed the stepping "stones". Of course they wanted to see how quickly they could get through all the numbers!

Christmas Tree Painting & Decorating

This week we have been busy getting the classroom decorated for Christmas!

On Monday the girls painted Christmas trees....

On Wednesday the girls painted the ornaments for the trees...

Today the girls glued the ornaments on their trees!

 The finished products!

Our Christmas Program

Tonight my girls were a part of our school's Christmas program. They had a few "solo" parts, and then they joined the Elementary students for the last song. It was a great way to start off the Christmas season!

Singing "Away in a Manger"

 

My little sheep singing "While Shepherds Watched" & quoting the poem "If I Were a Shepherd"

Singing "Joy to the World" with the Elementary students

Do-A-Dot Number Painting with Abbi

Abbi was my teacher helper during Numbers class today. The 70 family was being introduced, so Abbi wrote 70-79 on paper, and the girls used their do-a-dot paint to trace over all the numbers. They then arranged the numbers in the correct order on the floor. Abbi mixed them up one more time, but the girls still did great putting them back in the correct order!