Nursery Rhymes

From the Teachers: November 28-December 2 3’s/4’s Program This week we talked about Nursery Rhymes.  We read The Three Little Pigs story,  and then read the True Story of the Three Little Pigs, then we made pictures of the three little pigs houses.  On Tuesday we talked about Jack and how he jumped over a candlestick. We learned to say the rhyme, and then made our own candlesticks  and took turns jumping over them. On Wednesday we learned The Itsy Bitsy Spider, we sequenced the story and then made our very own Itsy Bitsy Spider pictures.  On Thursday we learned about Humpty Dumpty, we learned the rhyme and then we had to put our Humpty Dumpty together to make a picture. We also had a humpty dumpty sensory bin with eggs and a wall.  On Friday we learned Mary Had a Little Lamb, then we counted cotton balls and made our very own pictures. Ms. L visited us from Letter Land this week and we learned the sound, how to make L, and the sign for the letter L.  Mrs. Galloup and Ms. G put up our Christmas tree in the Dramatic play center, and the students enjoyed decorating the Christmas tree each day.  We have penguin ornaments and a ribbon to use as garland.  We also have a new Christmas themed mailbox that the students have enjoyed mailing letters to their teachers and friends.  We have also added our Nativity set to the Jesus Time center, the students have really enjoyed that activity as well.  2’s Program This week we talked all about nursery rhymes! We put Humpty Dumpty back together with band-aids, made paper baskets for Jack and Jill, we painted spider webs and made handprint spiders for the Itsy Bitsy Spider, the students constructed sparkling stars for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and on Friday, we finger painted and read Do You Know the Muffin Man. We also have a small tree for the kids to decorate each day and a new play mobile Nativity scene that they loved playing with. Next week we will be talking about Winter, then of course Christmas!  Next Week’s Theme:  Winter	What is a Nursery Rhyme: noun DEFINITION: a simple traditional song or poem for children.
UPCOMING EVENTS Thursday, December 15, 6:00 p.m. Lutheran School of Lexington’s Christmas Program The students will be singing Christmas songs and there will be a telling of the Christmas story by Pastor Johnson. There will be some light refreshments served after the program. Please be on time! Bring your students 15 minutes early at 5:45 p.m. Sunday December 18, 10:30 a.m.: Good Shepherd Children’s Church Service – The children will be singing Christmas songs to tell the Christmas story. Many of the songs will be the same ones from the School Program. We hope that you will bring your children to participate with the church!
PARENT RESOURCES Why do kids need nursery rhymes? 1. Nursery rhymes are the perfect first stories. Books of nursery rhymes are a great transition to longer books because you can read as many or as few rhymes as your toddler prefers. 2. Nursery rhymes can boost early language development. 3. Knowing nursery rhymes can build social skills and promote a sense of community. Children bond over a shared story, and when you have  a classroom (or houseful) or children who know the same rhymes, they have fun reciting and singing together. 4. Loving nursery rhymes opens the door to a love of all books. 5. Kids who know nursery rhymes are equipped to be better readers. Listening to nursery rhymes strengthens kids’ ability to hear the sounds in words.  Find a list of five pre-reading skills you can teach through nursery rhymes, visit Pre-K Pages. 6. Listening to nursery rhymes builds vocabulary. The more stories and rhymes kids hear, the larger their vocabulary.  A strong vocabulary improves listening comprehension, social conversations, writing, and more!   7. A love for nursery rhymes opens the door to creativity. Act out rhymes, create nursery rhyme crafts, illustrate favorite rhymes, and write your own.  Plus, listening to rhymes without pictures lets your child create mental images in his head. (This ability will come in handy when he starts reading chapter books!	Click below for some common Nursery Rhymes: Top 10 nursery rhymes for toddlers at Let’s Play Music Here is the music for: Wheels on the Bus The Itsy Bitsy Spider: (lyrics) The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout, (wiggle your fingers in a walking motion up like they are climbing) Down came the rain and washed the spider out, (Move your fingers together like rain falling) Out came the sun and dried up all the rain, (create a sweeping arm movement or similar for the sun coming out) So the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again. (wiggle your fingers in a walking motion up like they are climbing)
FAITH-LIFE RESOURCES Season of Advent Celebrating Advent with Children An Advent Wreath or Calendar by Stacey Schifferdecker at http://www.more4kids.info/1481/celebrating-advent-with-children/ Advent is a Latin word that actually means "coming." In the Christian church, advent is time of preparation and waiting for the birth of Jesus. Advent officially begins four Sundays before Christmas, which means it often begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving. So how can you celebrate Advent? One way is to buy or make an Advent wreath to lay on your table. An Advent wreath typically consists of greenery with four candles, three purple and one pink. Each candle on the Advent Wreath has a specific meaning: ◾Candle one (purple) represents hope. It is often called the prophets' candle. ◾Candle two (purple) represents peace. It is often called the angels' candle. ◾Candle three (pink) represents joy. It is often called the shepherds' candle. ◾Candle four (purple) represents love. It is often called the Bethlehem candle. Many advent wreaths also include a Christ candle in the middle of the wreath. To celebrate with an Advent wreath, you light a candle on each Sunday of Advent. Advent Calendars Help your children lead up to Christmas with an Advent Calendar. Find a calendar or make one. Each day in December let your child take out a special activity, trinket, or Bible character that leads up to Christmas Day. Celebrating Advent will help keep your children focused on Jesus
Bible Stories Stories told from the Pray and Play Bible by Jody Brolsma This week’s stories: Monday: The Story of Joseph Tuesday: Baby Moses Wednesday: Ruth Thursday: David and Goliath Friday: Chapel