December’s Lessons

I love December! There are so many topics that fit in well this month!

Obviously, the holidays can be tricky. The beauty of being in a small co-op is that I can adjust how much or how few holiday activities we do according to our current population! Parents are always invited to come in and share traditions. It’s important for children to learn that not all people celebrate the same holidays, nor do they celebrate them in the same way!

Typically, we start the month with evergreens! Just as we decorate with leaves and pumpkins in the fall and flowers in the spring, in December we take clues from nature and decorate with evergreens! Yes, there’s a big tree in our room. (It’s also appears as a lollipop tree in the spring, and a “forest” tree during camp!) What is on our tree? Animals and frosty pinecones, of course!
We also painted with evergreen branches!

What do Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa have in common? Candles! I choose one day to learn about each of the holidays. Yesterday, we made potato latkes and developed our math skills by matching candles to menorahs.

Each year we learn about candles, their use and how we handle them. That of course, leads to fire safety, and “Stop, Drop and Roll.”

Jack Be Nimble gives us opportunities to learn about letters, rhymes, and phonemic awareness (of course we get to jump a lot, too!)

We make our own “candles.” (Ok, they’re cardboard tubes with tissue paper on them but hey, it’s preschool!)

As he was making his candle, one of my threes exclaimed, “I’m doing so WELL!”

At the end of our discussion of fire safety I asked the children what we know about candles. One of the children replied,
“When your mom lights a candle on the dining room table, don’t jump over it.”

Very good advice!