Sign of the Week - Christmas, Santa Claus

This will be our final week of school before Christmas break so time to learn how to sign Christmas and Santa.

"Christmas" make a 'c' handshape. Lean it across your body then swing it in an arc in front of you.

"Santa Claus" both hands are 'c' shapes. place index fingers just below ears.
Bring both hands down to join in front at chin - like outlining his beard.

The song we will sing this week is from Super Simple Songs http://youtu.be/WSW-CepaASI

What Do You Want for Christmas?

What do you want for Christmas? Christmas?  Christmas?

What do you want for Christmas?

Santa’s on his way.

I want a train

I want a train

I want a great big train

I want a rocket,

               robot,

               teddy bear

What do you want for Christmas? Christmas?  Christmas?

What do you want for Christmas?

Santa’s on his way.

Santa’s on his way!

Ginger Kids

Ginger Kids are sprinkled with ginger

and cinnamon.

We started with painting with diluted glue.

A few children were quite generous with the glue so we 

quickly placed a piece of waxed paper underneath.

There was ribbon and sequins for decorations.

Next came the sprinkling of ginger

or cinnamon

or both.

Here's the one handed shake method.

Then there is the two handed-tap-the-bottom-to-get-out-as-much-as-you-can shake.

Either way they look and smell pretty.

Candy Castle

We finished our gingerbread creation today with our big buddies.

The children call it 'Candy Castle"

It was a lot of fun watching the children create all the pieces.

 Cannons,

 ladders,

 fire pit,

a dragon and archery targets.

Now it's time to donate it to our local Boys & Girls Club fundraiser.

Story - Had an Old Coat

This is another fun story or rather a story in a song.
I first heard it years ago on a Bev Bos recording.
The storyline is similar to Something From Nothing by Phoebe Gilman
Last year I told a similar story, The Blue Coat but did it as a cut and tell story.

I like this song because it encourages the audience to be involved with singing back a couple of lines.

Here are the words to "Had an Old Coat"

Had an old coat but my coat got torn
what did I do?    (audience - what did you do?)
Had an old coat but my coat got torn
what do I do?   (audience - what did you do?)
Had an old coat but my coat got torn
So I cut it off and a jacket was born.
And I sing everyday of my life (sing with audience)

As the years went by that jacket wore thin
what did I do?  (audience - what did you do?)
As the years went by that jacket wore thin
what did I do?  (audience - what did you do?)
As the years went by that jacket wore thin
So I called it a shirt and I tucked it in.
And I sing everyday of my life (sing with audience)

When the sleeves wore off from the east to the west
What did I do?  (audience - what did you do?)
When the sleeves wore off from the east to the west
What did I do?  (audience - what did you do?)
When the sleeves wore off from the east to the west
so I cut them off and I made a vest.
And I sing everyday of my life (sing with audience)


When I stained that vest with cherry pie
what did I do?   (audience - what did you do?)
When I stained that vest with cherry pie
what did I do?   (audience - what did you do?)
When I stained that vest with cherry pie
so I cut and snip and made a tie
And I sing everyday of my life (sing with audience)

When that tie was looking lean
what did I do? (audience - what did you do?)
When that tie was looking lean
what did I do? (audience - what did you do?)
When that tie was looking lean
I made a patch for my old blue jeans.And I sing everyday of my life (sing with audience)

When that patch was next to nothin'
what did I do?  (audience - what did you do?)
When that patch was next to nothin'
what did I do?  (audience - what did you do?)

When that patch was next to nothin'
I rolled it up into a button. And I sing everyday of my life (sing with audience)

When that button was almost gone
what did I do?  (audience - what did you do?)
When that button was almost gone
what did I do?  (audience - what did you do?)
When that button was almost gone
with what was left, I made this song. And I sing everyday of my life (sing with audience)

And I sing everyday of my life (sing with audience)

Here's the video
http://vimeo.com/32971329

Busy Packing

Our elementary school is permanently closing in a couple of weeks.

It comes with many positive and negative feelings.

The school community has been separated for almost four years:(

But starting in January we will be all together again in our new location:)

The process of packing has been underway by many and I closed today to get started.

Managed, with parents helping, to pack over 60 boxes.

I'll have two more days before the moving day to finish the job.

 The rooms are looking bare

but there is still a lot to pack.

My mind is busy planning the set up for the new room at the new school.

This is what it looks like at the moment.

A storage room.

It's a really nice big room.

With windows that let the sun in

and a door to the outside.

I'm not sure which is more exhausting...

the packing

or

the planning.

Who wants an end product?

It's always interesting, at the art/craft table, to watch adult and child interact with the materials provided.
The adult wants to know what we're making.
The child just wants to do.
Today was an example of that.

At the table there were available pipe cleaners, beads and coloured pasta.
When a child sat down they picked up a pipe cleaner and started threading the pasta and beads.
When an adult joined them there was talk of necklaces and bracelets.

When the children were left to their own they continued to thread, often taking off what they had and doing it all over.

Experimenting with how the beads fit beside or over top of other beads.

They figured out how to get the pasta to stay on the pipe cleaner.

And they talked about what colours they liked.

It was possibly my fault because in my weekly newsletter I suggested jewelry making.  Emphasizing that this activity is great for fine motor development and eye hand coordination.  Also mentioning the possibility of talking about patterning.

What did I learned at school today?
Don't put my thoughts and ideas of an outcome onto others.

Gym Play

We are fortunate to have the gym for a half hour every day.

We always start by having a good run

then we gather in a circle to sing Ring Around the Rosie.

Then we bring out equipment.

I enjoy watching the children and families use the equipment in very fun ways.

 Build it up and knock it down is a classic but here I liked how they stacked them on top of each other so it was a double knock down.

 A slide is very popular even when you don't have a traditional one.

 Mini pylons to be stacked and unstacked.

 Making music with what is at hand.

Establishing the rules of the play.

Core work?