Monthly News
Winter Blast 2019-2020
Winter has been kind to LTA so far this year ! We have enjoyed a lot of fun activities while not missing any school days due to unfavorable weather 🙂
December themes, of course, were Family and Holidays! All the classes enjoyed learning about Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa through readings, songs and activities. We made gingerbread houses, wreaths, painted poinsettias, wore ugly sweaters, counted Menorah candles and indulged in hot chocolate and took pretend rides on the Polar Express 🙂 The preschool classes put on a fun Holiday show for family and friends which is often a highlight of the month for them. Our Giving Tree this year was a success thanks to your generosity! We were able to brighten the holidays of those less fortunate by donating many needed items to local families. Our counting and math skills were re-enforced using manipulations of seasonal items like bows, candles, Santas and candy, YUM! Our word walls were filled with lots of gift ideas and our color focus included red, green, blue and black.
January themes included Rainforest, Art and Pizza! Our students had Jumanji activities where they pretended to explore a rainforest using guide books, binoculars and magnifying glasses. Art activities included painting bubble wrap, making Chinese New Year lanterns, experiencing “drip” painting and exploring textures in art. We read stories about Martin Luther King, Jr and learned about the important lessons that he taught us! The 100th day of school celebration gave all of our students the ability to practice their counting skills while creating unique displays. We got very creative in our quest to make mini pizzas after learning about the history of this great invention 🙂 Finally, we ended the month by wearing our favorite team colors for our annual Super Bowl party. Since snow was lacking this year, we used our science skills to “make” snow and snowballs. The children love exploring scientific concepts such as temperature and density changes.
Our February themes were Arctic and Oceans, Endangered Animals and Inventors! We used our Valentine photoshoot as an opportunity for dramatic play and had a lot of fun surprising our families with a beautiful gift. We learned about the Polar Bear, Penguin, Fox, Narwhal, Beluga whale and more! The children shared ideas of how we can take better care of our earth so that we can keep these beautiful animals from becoming too scarce. We also looked at maps and our globe as a social studies lesson to see how many oceans cover our beautiful earth and practiced learning some of their names. Finally, we learned about famous inventors like Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers and more ! The alphabet scavenger hunt was fun for the older kids – we had pairs of students search for inventions that begin with their assigned letter. Our younger students used their imagination to make robots, machines, super-powered “beings” and musical instruments. We practiced making a telephone from string and cups and learned how to make “magic” milk – especially fun for the youngest kids:)
As we start to bid winter good bye, we look forward to warmer weather and increased opportunities to learn and grow !