We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones! We learned about the first Thanksgiving and the true meaning of the holiday by being thankful for our families and friends. The children enjoyed making all the fun Thanksgiving crafts and making pumpkin muffins and turkey cookies. We had fun becoming "Pilgrims" and "Native Americans". We pretended to sail on the Mayflower and land in America, where the Native Americans lived. The kids had so much fun exchanging their favorite cereal with one another. We all sat together, ate and had our own special "First Thanksgiving", sharing our friendship mix.

Tuesdays and fridays are our weekly science themed days. We learned about Matter (solids, liguids & gas). The children loved the balloon and water experiment. They learned what happens when gas (air in balloon) and liguid are mixed together. Their reaction to the bubbles foaming in the water was great!

This month is going to be an exciting month as we wait for the arrival of Christmas and a special visit from Santa here at school! We will start the month off by learning about people around the world and their holiday customs. We will discuss Hanukkah and learn about Kwanzaa and the meaning of friendship. At the end of the month, we will learn about different animals around the world including Antartica, Australia, Africa, Egypt and Brazil.

TEACHERS AUNDREANA, VERONICA AND CHERYL

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. The children had lots of fun talking about things they are thankful for. We had fun discussions about the Thanksgiving meal and table manners. We made place mats with pretend napkins, forks, spoons and knives. We learned about how the Pilgrims came to America and how they made friends with the Native Americans. We also made yummy strawberry short cakes for the Toddlers (who were the Pilgrims) and in return, we (the Native Americans) received yummy muffins. This year we made vests out of paper bags and headbands with feathers on them. We had fun singing and playing with our new friends! We also took a week to talk about the importance of family. During our week of exploring different weather ocnditions, we made umbrellas, discussed the difference between hot and cold weather and took turns asking each other what weather we liked the most. We also did wind painting with blue paint and straws.

This month we will pick out a few animals from around the world and talk about them. We will also spend a week discussing people around the world and compare different cultures, lifestyles and traditions. We have lots of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa activities to enjoy. We will continue to learn and recognize our names and possibly start to write them. The highlight of the month will be our visit from Santa Claus on December 17th at 10:00 a.m. We will visit with Santa, sing songs and have festive cookies.

Enjoy the holidays and have a wonderful and prosperous New Year!
Teacher Tresha

November was a fun month! We hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. We enjoyed our visit from Ms. Jennifer from the Santa Maria Library. She read "Trashy Town". It was fun to learn how the trash gets taken care of and the big truck kept everyone's interest. We also discussed other modes of transportation; airplanes, trains and cars. We did several activities centered around the changes in weather. We continue to work on our numbers, colors and shapes. We had fun learning about Native Americans, Pilgrims and turkeys during Thanksgiving week. Our food exchange with the Red Group was delicious. We made pumpkin muffins to trade and they gave us strawberry shortcake! Yum yum!

This month will be extra fun with lots of Christmas songs, activities and a visit from Santa! Have a safe holiday season and a happy New Year!

Teachers Chris and Karen