Happy Birthday to Jesus !

Today the kids had a blast with Jodie. We were all around until noon. So I got to see some of the fun. The kids made a birthday cake for Jesus in the kitchen and even decorated it . They walked to the flower shop and bought Randy and I a Christmas surprise. ( VERY sweet Jodie- thanks! ) They also played some learning games with Mary , Joseph and Jesus. They used cut outs of them to pattern and also made Happy Birthday Jesus cards.

The conversation I heard from the playroom was SO funny. Sometimes it is entertaining to listen to other adults try to explain or get out of sticky conversations. For instance :

Child - Ms Jodie how will these cards get to Jesus?

Ms J - Well, I guess you will take them to your mom or dad and they will mail them.

Child - To where, where is Jesus now ?

Ms. J - He is in the sky , in Heaven.

Child- In Heaven ?

Ms J - Yep !

Child- Can't we just give them to the post man ?

Ms J - Umm... Well, I guess we COULD..... uh...

Child - The postman delivers mail , he could take them to Heaven for us.

Mrs. Jodie also told me about this one :

William; Knock Knock

Malia -Who's there?

William - Banana

Malia- Come in Banana!

William You are SUPPOSED TO say... Banana WHO?

Malia - Come in Banana Who

William - ( grabs head and makes a very frustrated sound... )

Kids... I never get tired of listening to them learn to navigate life and their relationships.

I have had a wonderful little mini vacation with both of my kids here for Christmas. Thanks Ms Jodie for working and thanks parents for understanding I needed to be with my family. Merry Christmas to you all and I will see you Monday January 3rd.

The three wise men

Post will be sporadic this week. I tell parents all the time how important it is to put children first, so I am doing the same . My daughter is in town this week from Hawaii and only for a week , so I have Mrs Jody working. She loves spending time with the kids so it is a win win situation. Mrs . Jodie had to step out today to go to her daughters Christmas program at school so I got to sneak in a surprise Christmas gift for her with the kids. They loved decorating a plate for her !

Today the kids talked about " The Three Wise Men". They made crowns and decorated them. We watched a story about the three wise men that had camels in shoes and the kids thought that was hilarious. We talked about the significance of the the wise men bringing gifts and that is why WE give them !

Polar Express 2010

Here is a link to all our pictures today! HERE!

As the kids come in they sit in our makeshift train . We turn the tables the long way end to end and chairs down the sides. They are given a ticket. After everyone gets to school the conductor comes down and punches tickets. We start the movie and stop at various places to do an activity that goes with the movie. For example , after the hot chocolate scene Randy recreates the scene and delivers the kids breakfast. After the reindeer scene we stopped the movie and made reindeer. It was a good day.

Also, today is Friday Flicks day... We have three !

Randy doing the hot chocolate scene - tilt your head, I dont know how to fix it ! :)

Friends rooting Audrey on as she ice skates !

Lazy Day

We had more friends out today so we had a really lay day . We did the normal it just felt out of sorts ! We read " The Polar Express " to prepare for our Polar Express PJ Party tomorrow! SO excited ! WEAR YOUR PJ"S TO SCHOOL TOMORROW!

Count Down to Christmas

Last night was our Christmas Party ! This was the third party in the last week and a half that Randy and I have hosted - two of which were in our home. I am SO proud of my little elves, they did so great. We had 100% attendance and many extended family members came. What a great time of year to slow down and appreciate this season of love.

Even I got a chance to sit on old Santa's lap !

Today we had a fun time. I had a lot of things out for the kids to choose from. I have noticed the boys have started visiting the tables of activities more each day. I always see this happen - usually it is after Christmas. Before Christmas I am freaking out thinking I am gonna need to " pull out my old teacher directed hat to " make sure these boys are ready for school " and then it all starts to click for them, and I am thankful.

Today we played a game with Christmas presents. First I read Twas the night before Christmas. Small groups give me a better opportunity to point to the words ( or run my fingers over them ) as I read to show the kids the direction we read it and to emphasize again that letters make words and words put together make a sentence or a story in this case. After the book we each took turns rolling the dice . Whatever number was on top the kids would put that many small presents under the tree. They loved this game.

I love seeing the kids work together on things. Rosanna, Geneviette and Dillion colored a page together.

Cohen wanted me to take his picture with our classroom Christmas tree.

This is one of the ornaments the kids have made.

Party Day

I realized once again today that it always seems that the kids are crazy on party day and they not NOT . It is ME!!!! I am CRAZY on party day. My head is going a thousand different directions to get everything done and my patience level is affected. I am pretty sure... yep.. true story.

Today we made Rudolph puppets for the program tonight. Many of the kids were able to do their own and some needed help

But we had fun practicing our songs. I have them little elf hats and I am so glad I let them try them on this morning. You should have seen the heads shaking when they first put them on. So funny..