Happy New Year!

Theme: Happy New Year!

Choosing Time: Cars, Foam Blocks, Blocks, Animals, Peg Boards & Rubber bands

Snack: Pretzels & Raisins

Game: Duck, Duck, Goose

Lesson: We had a fun discussion about Old & New. In an old box there were several old items. In a new basket there were the new versions of the old items. We took turns choosing an old item out of the box. We matched it to the new item. We learned that many old things can be made into new things. Some of our recycled items were: a tin can made into a lantern, a scrabble tile made into a necklace, a t-shirt cut up to make rags, a record was melted to make a bowl,.... Sometimes we throw away old things. When babies are brand new they need older people to take care of them. When the babies grow up they can take care of the old people. Money is one thing that can be old or new and still be used the same.

Writing: I provided a questionnaire for each child to answer some questions about some of their favorite things. I wrote their responses down.

Book: The Napping House by Don & Audrey Wood

Art: Time Capsules
We recycled TP tubes to hold our time capsule & make 2010 noise makers. We put our lists of favorite things from 2009 into our time capsules with a nice picture we drew. We added a penny & some rice. In one year we can open up our time capsules to see if what we like today will be our favorites next year. I explained that some of us may be able to even read (or at least sound out) what is written on their papers next year. I think they all thought I was crazy. :)

Music & Movement:
We sang "Happy New Year to Us" while marching around the room with our shakers. When we finished the song we jumped up & down repeating "2010" and then finished with a big jump & hooray! We tried many different moving ways as we sang.