December Themes:

We begin the month of December by introducing the color red, shape of the star and number four. In addition we explore letters and their sounds. Letters this month include N, A and E.

Our themes this month include “Nursery Rhymes," Celebrations around the World," and "Christmas." We begin the month playing with words and their sounds through modified traditional nursery rhymes. Students practice phonemic awareness which is an important foundation for good reading skills later on. Our second week, students learn about some of the things different groups of people do to at Christmas time around the world. These are big concepts for very young children so we keep it simple and fun. We count and organize candles on a Menorah (learning about Hanukkah) and hide a real almond in the sand table for children to find (based on a Danish tradition of hiding a nut in the Christmas eve pudding; who ever finds the nut in their pudding gets a special surprise). Our third and last week of the month include fun activities associated with Christmas and Santa Clause. We make presents, count cereal "ornaments" on trees, write a letter to Santa and have fun learning. Our week ends with a visit from Santa himself! The rest of the month includes two more furlough days (not school due to lack of funds) and Christmas vacation. From all of us at the Sundwall Preschool and Office of Student Services, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! School will resume on January 4, 2010. See you then!

As always all activities are developmentally appropriate for our students and include sensory exploration in a variety of mediums, fine and gross motor activities, color and number recognition, rote counting, pre-literacy and other pre-academic skills. In addition, individualized education goals and objectives for each student are embedded within the curriculum. All of our preschooler's needs are designed and contained in a fun filled environment we call preschool. We look forward to the wonderful month of December. Think red!