gung hay fat choy

Happy Chinese New Year

Gung Hay Fat Choy means "Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year." 

People around the world are celebrating the lunar new year. For 2012 it is the year of the dragon.

To learn about what Chinese New Year means to the Chinese we have been reading books, signing songs and make some fun crafts. We also watched a brief video of a parade so the kids could process the fact that the dragon and loin are like "costumes"  / puppets in which people hide inside.

Below is one of the kids favorite songs .. sung to a tune very similar to the Jeopardy Theme Song :) 

Gung Hay Fat Choy, Gung Hay Fat Choy
Sing Happy New Year, Gung Hay Fat Choy

The new moon tells us, exactly when
To celebrate with family and friends 

Clean up the house and get out the broom
Sweep out the old year, bring in the new

Bring out the apples, the oranges too 
Their colors bring us joy and good luck too

The dragon dances, the lanterns light
The firecrackers light up the night 



Learning about the traditions has been a two week process. We also made lanterns, dragons and red envelopes (which the Red Birds cut out themselves). Friday we will enjoy traditional rice pudding for snack and open fortune cookies :) 

Decorating Lanterns

Cutting Envelopes

All folded up with a surprise inside

Winter Counting Books

The Red Birds have been working tirelessly on their Winter Counting Books. Although they may seem simple I wanted to share with you all of the steps needed to create these little books.

Hole punching snowmen ~ 55 snowmen per book! 

 

 

 

 

 

Cutting on the dotted line to make 10 pages and a cover

Lay each page out, write the number and add that many snowmen

 

 

Each child needed lots of room and time

Collect each page in order and staple it all together

Lulu was so proud of her book she brought it back for her friends to read and then asked to sleep with it! 

 

 

 

 

Wait until they see the ones for Valentines with red and pink hearts! :)

On the Shelves This Week

Here are some of the free choice activities available to the Blue Birds (and the Red Birds when they are not having their group time) this week. Most will be out for a few weeks so the children have time to practice and master each "task". 

Nuts and Bolts

Twisting apart small containers

Matching "game"

Pouring Lima Beans

Sorting small farm animals

Group Floor Puzzle

4 year old Red Birds: Beginning Sounds

We all know that kids need to learn to relate a sound with a letter in order to read. The schools do this by giving the kids worksheets and having them color the picture of the word that begins with that sound ... easy right? Well, no! I have to admit that I have been having a hard time helping Galen (Kindergarten) with this very task. The pictures are not easily definable and it's BORING .... a new letter each week.

Many of our older kids know how to read and write their letters but are just learning to correlate a sound with the letter. On an on going quest to not only make learning fun but also practical the red birds have been doing a "game" where they take a letter card and go find an object in the room that begins with that sounds.

 It's much more meaningful to learn that C is for candle than "ceiling" or "canary"

Most of the 3 year old Red Birds are still mastering letter identification and that is not only OK but perfectly developmentally appropriate :) The next few weeks the kids will be making tactile letter boards to help with this process (Salt on the letter S and Yarn on Y).

Teaching Kids to Do it Themselves

Kids take pride in doing things for themselves. Its often challenging to find ways to encourage independence but dressing themselves is a great first step.

Putting on a coat is tricky for even a preschooler to do by him/herself.  But this technique makes it a cinch! Although I think I have posted a similar video before I think its worth repeating, especially this time of year.

Misc ..... This Week

 Change is often challenging  but at the same time it's also good and healthy! Anna and I are finding our rhythm and getting to know each other.  I am so glad that I found her and am happy to welcome her ideas into the classroom.

A few notes, reminders and achievements

• First and foremost ... Ian is now a Red Bird and very proud of himself.  We have a smaller older kid group on Wednesdays and Fridays and so we let him "try" to sit in and he did wonderfully! Anna will be working with these kids (3 and older) daily from 9:30 to 10:10 am.

• Anna will be doing her own blog posts (weekly) to share current curriculum and activities.

• We will be closed Monday for MLK Day

• Finally ... Galen, Ariana's 5 year old brother will be here 3 afternoons per week from 1:45 / 2:00 pm until pick-up. State licensing requires that parents sign a waiver when a school age child is in care. In an effort to  stream line the paperwork process I will ask that everyone sign a form (in your sign in sheets next Tuesday / Wednesday) regardless if your child will be here during those hours or not. The waiver states that I can have one kindergartener in my ratio when no more than 2 children are under 2 years old. Because we only typically have a max of 6 kids for nap this will bring the allowable number to 7. Please let me know if you have any questions. Galen was in the program before and most of the kids know him from being with Rachel when she picks up.

Welcome Miss Anna

We are excited and happy to welcome Anna Garcia. She will be replacing Brandy and will be here 5 days per week. Anna is an experienced preschool teacher who specializes in working with 2 to 6 year olds. Her work experience has been in Montessori programs and I am excited to have her share some of those ideas with us.

 Parents,

Allow me to introduce myself and tell you a little about me. First and foremost, I am so excited to be working with your children! As a teacher I am constantly reminded of why I chose this profession, through the new found curiosities of the children and their love for learning. Thank you for welcoming me into your program.

I recently came to Sonoma County from Placer County with my husband, who took a job that required us to relocate. I am thrilled to be in a new place and on flat land! 

 I have worked in the Early Childhood field for over 6 years.  I have 12 Early Childhood Education units from Sierra Junior College as well as a Montessori Teacher’s Certificate from Sacramento Montessori Teachers College. At the college I learned the proper use of the Montessori materials as well as the philosophy. I whole heartedly believe that young children flourish in a nurturing and prepared early childhood environment. 

I am excited to be working with your kids and strive to build a strong community base as well as culture. I am happy to incorporate some of my personal interests and talents such as art, gardening, sewing and my love of the sciences.

I look forward to getting to know everyone better.

 

My husband Michael and I at the beach