The Public Library and the Classroom

The public library is an indispensable resource for me when I plan lessons. My school uses emergent curriculum so my lessons are based on the interests of the children in my classroom. These interests change and vary and can incorporate anything from trucks to trees. For this reason, it would be impossible to have on hand at the school, enough books on every imaginable topic to fill the book corner with a nice variety of reading material for the children. This is where the public library comes in handy. In every city's library system, there are enough books, on pretty much any given topic, to stock a preschool reading area. 

I know that many cities are cutting funding to public libraries so that branches have been forced to cut hours or close altogether. I am lucky enough to live in San Diego where the libraries are amazing. I can go online, choose the books I want, and then pick them up at my convenience. Others cities don't have these luxuries but you can befriend your local librarian who is often willing to help out. When I lived in Philadelphia, I would email the children's librarian at the branch near my school and he would gather a stack of books on the topic I specified and have them waiting for me. 

My class is currently interested in safari animals. Here are some of the books I checked out on this topic.

There are several more books that I haven't picked up yet but as you can see there is already a good variety. The children will be able to read books about all of the different safari animals as well as the  aspects of African life.

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Classroom Menorah

Here is an easy, child friendly Menorah to use in the classroom. The best part is that the whole class can help make it. 

You will need five card board paper towel rolls or nine toilet paper rolls for the candles and a cereal box for the base. To make the base, cut the cereal box in half lengthwise. 

Tape the two pieces together. 

And wrap them up with white paper. 

Let the children paint the paper towel rolls, then glue them to the base. 

When ours was finished, the children each "lit" a candle with a piece of yellow tissue paper. 

Happy Hanukkah! 

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Ornaments

We have been making lots of different ornaments this month. Here are five of my favorite ornament ideas.

1. Pine cone Christmas trees. 

We put a glob of air dry clay on the base of the pine cone so that it could stand up. Then we squeezed on some glue. 

And added some colorful craft beads. 

2. Popsicle stick snowflakes.

The teachers glued the sticks together the day before. When it was time to decorate them, we gave the children glue, buttons, pom poms, and little jewels to decorate with. 

3. Bejeweled star. 

4. Glittery star of David. 

These last two we also glued together the day before and then let the children decorate them. 

5. Ornament bags.

I found this little poem in an old issue of The Mailbox magazine.

 I made one bag for each child and put the ornaments in as we made them. This is a nice Christmas gift for parents. 

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Christmas Tree Stumps in the Block Area

Update: I wanted to update this post because I did the same thing again this year except with a few differences. First, the Christmas tree people gave me the stumps for free. Hooray! Second, they let me pick out my own stumps, so I got a better variety.

I picked out lots of small ones for inside play. The children built with them and put the plastic animals on them.

I also picked out some bigger ones for outdoor play. The children stacked them, they made circles with them, and put animals on them, of course.

When I went to get my Christmas tree this year, I noticed that the tree sellers were also selling the stumps that they cut off the ends of the trees. They were selling big boxes of them for only $5 and I later learned that some places give them away for free. Presumably people use these stumps in their fireplaces because they smell nice. I bought a box to use for building in the block area.

The stumps were a big hit and they made the classroom smell great!

One of the stumps had a hole in the center of it that was just the right size for our toy nails. The children loved hammering the nails into it so I took some of the other stumps home and drilled holes in them too.

Some of the stumps still had branches on them that we broke off and used for painting.

Those were five well spent dollars!

 

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Baking Cookies

I wanted to make a batch of Christmas cookies with the class this week. At first I planned on buying a package of pre-made sugar cookie dough at the grocery store but after some thought I decided it would be fun to make our own dough in the classroom. So today I brought my Kitchen-Aid mixer into the classroom. Before beginning the activity, I talked to the children about being safe when using kitchen appliances. We discussed who can turn the mixer on and off and when it is safe to touch it. When I was sure they understood the rules, we began the project.

Everyone had a turn to add an ingredient. 

We all watched while it mixed everything together. 

When the dough was ready, we rolled it out and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. 

We put all the shapes on cookie sheets.

Then we took a walk to the kitchen where I put the cookies in the oven.

Unfortunately, we cooked them a little too long because I forgot to set a timer, but the children didn't notice.

We had lots of fun decorating the cookies and eating them. 

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Glitter Glue Christmas Ornaments

Just before Halloween we made Jack O Lanterns by squeezing glue onto round plastic lids. Today we used the same process to make Christmas ornaments. The only difference is the color of glue that we used. For this project you will need round plastic lids, red and green glue ( you can make this by adding food coloring to white glue), glitter glue, and glitter.  I set out all of the materials on the art table and the children went to town. 

The children enjoyed squeezing the glue so much that I had to stop them before the lids over flowed! Once the glue was dry I peeled the ornaments off of the plastic lids, attached a string, and they were ready to hang on the tree. 

Besides being fun to make, these ornaments also help toddlers to work on their fine motor skills. As they squeeze the glue bottles they strengthen the muscles in their hands and fingers. 

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Decorating the Christmas Tree

I found a small artificial tree at Amazon.com for twelve dollars. It was just the right size for toddlers! I also found a box of plastic mini ornaments at Target for only five dollars. 

I brought these into the classroom along with a string of Christams lights and we spent the morning decorating the tree. 

The ornaments were just the right size for little hands. 

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Cotton Ball Rabbits

For this cute little rabbit you will need a cotton ball, two q-tips, a little pink or black pom pom for the nose, and two googly eyes. Cut the q-tips in half so that you can use two halves for the ears and two for the feet. 

Glue all the pieces together to make a cute little rabbit. 

These were a bit too difficult for the younger children to make because the pieces are small and hard to work with. The older children had no problem. Everyone had fun though, even if the finished product didn't look much like a rabbit. It's the process not the product that is important. 

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Snowy Owls

After reading Owl Moon by Jane Yolen , we made this easy paper plate owl. I used two paper plates per owl. I cut one plate in half and stapled the pieces to the uncut plate like in the picture. We added eyes and a beak (I cut mine from construction paper) and we had a beautiful snowy owl! 

I hung the owls around the classroom while the children were outside. When they came in, I left the lights off and gave them flashlights so that they could go owling just like the child in the book did. They walked around the room making owl noises and shining the flashlights on the paper owls. This activity really brings the story to life!

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Thanks for Thanksgiving

Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes is my favorite Thanksgiving book. The illustrations are beautiful and it reminds us of all things we have to be thankful for. After reading the book today at circle time, we went around the circle and each child said what he or she is thankful for. I wrote what they said on feathers that we put on our class turkey. 

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Handprint Turkeys

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without hand print turkeys. 

We smeared ours with glue and added colorful feathers. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

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