Another bright and sunny Minnesota winter day! Today we started our morning by enjoying free play time. The children played in our "Candy Cane Selling Center" it was so much fun! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of their little store, but trust me it was adorable! They really used their imaginations. They bought and sold candy canes for quite a while and then suddenly were wearing costumes and trick or treating for candy canes and having a birthday party for a dog! Watching them is really funny. I find that when I step back and watch their play they work together, use their imaginations, and think for themselves- which is why I don't actually join in their play very much. They don't need me to guide their imagination and put my own thoughts in their head, they need me to step back and let THEIR OWN imaginations flow.
After playing we cleaned up our mess (I honestly don't think any of the candy canes survived our play today!) We came upstairs and watched part of Dora's Christmas and practiced singing "Feliz Navidad" Merry Christmas in Spanish. We are working on this song for our Spanish class and since Dora sings it I thought everyone would have an easier time remembering if it they could see the song in action! Learning a new language is hard, but the kids are doing AMAZINGLY well! I think it helps that they have a wonderful teacher, Ms. Cristina! She is great.
We had sloppy Joe, grapes, apple sauce and a little chocolate covered pretzel for lunch and went downstairs for music class.
Christmas was the theme of the week for music class. We sang Santa Clause is coming to town, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, and used a parachute to make "popcorn" balls and get our muscles working. As always when music class was finished we chose a quiet spot and looked at a book while Carol packed her instruments up and left. Then we got out our sleeping mats, lit our two candles and read a story. Today we read the story "Prancer" about a little girl that finds a Reindeer in the woods. She believes that it is one of Santa's Reindeer that has been hurt and she promises to take care of it until Christmas Eve when Santa will return and pick up the lost Reindeer. Her father and others in her town don't believe in Santa and don't believe that the Reindeer is really Santa's, but the little girl never looses hope an always believes with all of her heart. In the end the Reindeer is reunited with Santa and the little girl, her father and towns people see Santa flying away in the sleigh being pulled by all eight of his reindeer. I think the children really enjoyed this story and promised that they would always believe- even when adults don't!
After the story everyone was tucked into their blankets, the candles were blown out and the nap time music was turned on for a nice quiet rest. After rest time the children are dying to get outside and play in the snow!