Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales

We have just finished a unit on nursery rhymes and fairy tales at Pre School and it was so much fun! As Mr. Rogers used to say, we went to "the land of make believe." Talking animals, huge beanstalks, fairy godmothers, and princesses, princesses, princesses were all the rage! Three was the magic number for the week. We had the "Three Bears," the "Three Billy Goats Gruff," and the "Three Little Pigs!" The teachers did a puppet show of the "The Three Little Pigs." It didn't go exactly according to the book but it was close enough to recognize. Many of the nursery rhymes were put to music. Our favorite was, "I'm a Little Teapot." In the second verse we made a joke. We turned into a sugar bowl, not a teapot! Our "Humpty Dumpty" rendition was very jazzy and lots of fun. The fancy dress-up clothes were out for all to play with, complete with crowns and gloves!

What do Valentine’s Day, US patriotic symbols, and Pajama Day have in common? The answer: love. (Does this sound as random as the Netflix commercials?) February is all about love. Valentine’s Day and the weeks leading up to it are a time set aside to focus on those we love. How can we show our love to another person? What does it mean to love your neighbor? Who are the people who love us? We will have a fun Valentine’s party at school and make cards for someone we love. Naming ways to show kindness is also something we talk about. God puts love in our hearts!

Let’s expand our thinking now. We are all proud to be Americans. We live in a country with many more freedoms then most of the people of the world. This may lead to disagreements but we are allowed to state our opinions and work to find solutions that all of us, Americans, can live with. Because we love our country, we display and honor the symbols of the U.S. such as the flag, the White House, our Presidents, the multi-cultural make-up of the country, etc. This is a broader sense of love.

On Pajama Day, everyone - yes, even the teachers - wears their pajamas to school. We are also allowed to bring our sleeping buddies with us. (Not our husbands.) Our snack consists of milk and cereal and our stories are comforting ones. Who doesn’t long to be tucked in at the end of the day by someone who loves us. Saying our prayers and receiving a good night kiss is a ritual we all should experience to send us off to sleep.

There you have your explanation to the above question. Love runs through Valentine’s Day, patriotic symbols and Pajama Day!

We do have a few more things going on this month that didn’t fit into the love theme so well. We will be learning about dinosaurs (one of God’s very fascinating creations!) Parent-teacher conferences are being held at the end of the month and the three year olds are giving an evening program for family and friends on February 16, at 7:00 p.m. February is a very full month for Pre School! We love school.

The Mitten

Coming back to school in January is very fun. When the children first come to the door they may be a little tentative for a few minutes. Then they reconnect with their friends in class and it's as though they were never apart! The first week of school we talk about fun in the snow and how we enjoy winter. Too bad there isn't much snow so far!! In spite of the weather we love to read, "The Mitten," by Jan Brett. In the story, a little boy drops his white mitten on the snow and before he knows it, a mole, a rabbit, a hedgehog, an owl, a badger, a fox, a bear, and a mouse have crawled into the mitten. I won't tell you the end of the story. I don't want to spoil it for you! Just let me say that we acted out the story as a class with eight children crawling into the mitten! It was quite a sight!