SEWING-PART 1; PRACTICE

For the month of January, we focused on sewing.  We had dabbled a little with sewing in December with some embroidery thread and felt.  The children really enjoyed it, so I thought it would be great to focus on sewing for a whole month.  Sewing is such a grounding activity.  A few of the children's grandparents sew and it can be such a bonding activity to do.  It is also great for building fine motor muscles in their hands which will help the children as they start writing more and more.  We started practicing putting yarn in and out of embroidery hoops with burlap.

After practicing on the embroidery hoops with yarn, we moved to meat trays with embroidery thread.  The children drew a picture on the tray and then stitched the picture.  It was tricky to poke the needles through the trays!

This child made part of his family.

One of our challenges was knowing where to put the needle in from the bottom!

CHRISTMAS CRAFTS

Tracing her hand for antlers :)

The children traced and cut their hands out to make some Rudolf the Reindeer puppets!  They glued red pompom noses and added eyes and a mouth with markers.  Then they decided to have a puppet show all on their own.  Such a creative group!!!

We had such fun tracing our hands for our puppets that we thought we would try again and make some beautiful wreaths.  They came out great!!  Everyone traced their own hands and some of the kids cut out the hands on their own too.  So tricky, great fine motor practice!

The next project we worked on was to make Christmas trees.  Each child was given 5 triangles from big to small.  The children could choose to arrange the triangles however they liked, but  before they glued, they needed to lay out the pieces and make a plan (I did quickly show them how they could put the pieces from big to small, but I love that they chose to do it the way they envisioned).   Then they added circle ornaments and stars.  They also used glitter glue for decorating. 

While they were busy working, I remembered I had a bunch of ribbon, so I took it out.  They have really been into lacing, weaving, and tying the past few months so they immediately got the hole punch so they could tie their ribbons right into their pictures.  I really liked how this child chose to run the ribbon up the side and then put it across to the top of the tree.

The children really became engaged in this project and I just love how each tree was so individual.

Working with ribbon and adding the finishing touches!

STAINED GLASS ORNAMENTS

For this activity, we sorted jolly rancher candies by color, then each child chose a color to unwrap and smash with a hammer or mallet.  Then we put the smashed pieces into cookie cutters that were on a piece of parchment paper on cookie sheets.  We popped them into the oven for 5 minutes and they melted!  

We put them in plastic bags so the pieces wouldn't fly all over.

First we used rubber mallets...

Then we tried smashing with mini hammers.

Unwrapping candy.

Smashing candy with a hammer.

Placing the smashed candy into the cookie cutters

Smashing candy with a rubber mallet.

I may have left them in the oven a little too long...oops!  The children absolutely loved smashing the candy and seeing what it looked like after melting it.  

SEWING

This December, we tried our hands at sewing.  I put out some felt and real needles with embroidery thread.  The children really enjoyed putting the needles through the felt and sewing.  They were very excited to make things and said they were making quilts.  The first step was just getting used to putting the needle and thread through the felt.  Some kids made felt balls and decided to give it to their cats for toys.  As they practiced, a few of them started asking me about how to stop the felt from bending.  I explained how they could make smaller stitches closer together and that would stop it from doing that.

Just look at her concentration!

Working together and helping each other.

We also had some plastic sheets and plastic needles to use for sewing practice.

Making a felt ball cat toy.

Practicing smaller and closer together stitching.

HANUKKAH

Some classrooms choose not to learn about holidays, but I really enjoy sharing holidays with my preschoolers.  I think it is really important to help children be aware that not all families celebrate the same way.  Each family has their own traditions, celebrations, and holidays they celebrate and some choose not to celebrate any holidays.  Being a teacher who is Jewish, I teach the children each year about the major Jewish holidays in addition to some of the other holidays throughout the year.  I want to be the first teacher to introduce and expose them to the Jewish Holidays.  I love to share things that are important to me with my preschoolers.  Last year, when I took the driedels out, they loved them so much that each time I tried to put them away, they begged me to keep them out.  Dreidels are great for fine motor strength and for being introduced to Hebrew letters that are printed on each side.  

We found this at the grocery store and had to bring it home for the children to do.  A spin on a gingerbread house, I love it!!  Putting together a Hanukkah house made of vanilla sugar cookies!

Adding blue and white sprinkles and candy balls...

Adding the finishing touches!

Dipping dreidels into blue and yellow paint and spinning them on paper to see the different designs they make!

Rice and fillable dreidels.

Spinning fillable dreidels

I brought the Menorah out before Hanukkah started and some of them remembered it from last year.  The children love setting up the menorah with the candles and flames and pretending to cook potato latkes.  We made real latkes later on in the week!

An AB pattern that feature colors of Hanukkah, blue and white!

The children are playing with a Little People Hanukkah set that includes a mom, dad, grandma (bubbe), grandpa (Zayde), a kid, baby and dog.  The table is set and ready for a Hanukkah feast!     

This child is using her finger to position two triangles, one right side up and one upside down to make a Star of David to decorate the paper plate menorah.

Now, for some candles and a base on the menorah...

This child is finished making his menorah, now he is writing his name.

STONE SOUP

As a culmination of our community unit, we read the story Stone Soup.  There are many variations of this story, but I have found one that I prefer that stars a town with animals who are visited by two pigs.  In the beginning of the story, the townspeople are super grumpy and locking their town up from the visitors.  They aren't willing to share.  Then, as the story unfolds, the pigs come up with a plan and show the villagers how to share.  It is amazing to see how the animals faces go from grumpy, mean, and angry to smiling and happy once they learn how to work together and help each other to make stone soup together.  Everyone ends up contributing as part of the community and the story ends with a great feast and party with the villagers and visitors.  Once the children hear the story, they love to help with retelling as the week goes on.  We do book-related activities throughout the week and at the end of the week, we get to work together and help each other make our own stone soup!  

The children made a list of what ingredients they wanted in their stone soup and they went "shopping" for the ingredients!  Preschoolers really are imagination experts!!  They took turns shopping and checking their friends out of the market.

Of course, the highlight of the week was actually preparing the stone soup!  Here, a child is using a butter knife to chop some pears to put into the soup.

The children also chopped some apples.

And some potatoes...

They scraped their chopped fruit and vegetables into the pot and also added some frozen mixed veggies and elbow noodles.

We couldn't forget to stir it all up before putting it onto the stove to simmer!

It was sooo yummy, we all ate bowls and bowls of it!