Our unit with Clothes is approaching its end, and we are very excited to plan a little celebration next week. As part of this celebration, students will have their very own fashion show! This activity is not just about fun but also about learning. It will extend how clothes are made and how much fun children can have decorating outfits. We will also reflect on what clothes are, how to take care of them, and how people might be intentional when it comes to clothing – depending on their workplace (nurse, cook, etc.) and personal purpose (a vacation to the beach, dressing for a ski trip, or supporting a favorite sports team). You are welcome to join us for this special event on Wednesday, December 18th, at 2 pm at the Preschool House of Haute Couture! 🙂

As we go through the week and wrap up Clothes, children learn to apply essential cognitive and language skills, such as explaining, reasoning, predicting, comparing, and contrasting. They can communicate, ask questions, express their thoughts and opinions, and count and sort. We will also create a tally chart to record people’s thoughts/choices. This chart will provide additional visual support to students and help them understand the data collection and representation concept. 

The last two days of our week will also be very special. We will focus on winter celebrations and their uniqueness. While we will not have a classroom party involving food on the last day of school before winter break, we have planned several activities for children to enjoy that Friday. These activities are designed to be engaging and fun, and we hope they will add to the excitement of the upcoming break.

We will have winter break between December 23rd and January 6th. Students’ first day back will be January 7th. We will spend this day renorming our expectations for preschool – almost like it’s the first day of the school year. You would be amazed how much children can forget over a longer break, and this would be a way to ensure that everyone is aware of the routines and expectations in place. We want to ensure that children readjust to the school environment and feel confident about returning. Please use the time during winter break to be intentional about keeping our routines in mind – providing plenty of quiet time between 12-12:40 speaks to our Rest Time and can be a reasonable period for an optional nap, even at home. Also, remember that winter break is a good opportunity to solidify potty training and work on instilling preschool toileting habits into children. 

Once we return to school in January, we will start a new unit called Buildings. I am sure you’ve noticed that children often ask questions about buildings. They are fascinated with how tall they are, what houses are made of, and how strong they are. Their ongoing interest in buildings helped us realize that buildings would make a good study topic. As we study buildings, we will learn essential concepts in science, social studies, technology, literacy, math, and the arts. We could also use your help as we gather pictures and models of all kinds of buildings! If you have a picture of a building or a model of a building you think we could use for our study; please send those when you can. We welcome photos from any source, such as newspapers, magazines, postcards, the Internet, or your family’s photo collection. Please include pictures of buildings in other parts of the world, too! 

As always, your support is beyond appreciation. Thank you for your partnership and care!

Kindly,

Annie