December has arrived and that only means one thing – Christmas!! The children in the Junior Room are very excited for Christmas. The children have been busy little elves helping Ms. Mills and Lauren decorate the classroom and give it some Christmas sparkle! The boys and girls got to work on the Christmas tree and decorated it with some beautiful baubles, and they all had a go at placing the star on top.
In History, we learned about toys in the past and compared them to the toys we play with now. We have learned that the materials used to make toys have changed over the years and there is a lot more technology involved now. We also discovered that we still use toys that were used in the old days too!
Since the children have been learning about toys, they will be focusing on Santa’s Workshop and Christmas throughout their play time in the month of December. The Juniors were put to work in the Construction Area, and they were busy elves building Santa’s workshop from the wooden blocks and they had to make sure their buildings were decorated in time for Christmas. The tinsel and bows were out! There was even a shelter built for Santa’s reindeers, made with a tunnel for the reindeers to put their feet in to so they could warm up their toes! They also had another Construction project to do, and that was to build items that would be needed in Santa’s workshop. Suggestions included Christmas trees, reindeers, a machine for wrapping presents and a sign for the North Pole. There were lovely cosy armchairs made for Mrs. Claus to sit in and a sitting room too. The children used their creations in Small World and created a miniature drama around Santa’s Workshop. In Playdough, cookies were made for Santa to eat, Christmas elves were made, Christmas trees and bells. It is tradition every year in St. Thomas’ that the children make Christmas stockings. The Juniors got a chance to learn how to do some sewing, which was helped by completing some threading activities this year. They then decorated their stockings with some Christmas shapes and buttons. Ms. Mills sewed on the letter of our name too. The children also got a chance to decorate some gingerbread men. They had to make icing and use a piping bag to give their gingerbread men faces and then decorate with smarties, jelly tots and marshmallows. The children also melted chocolate to give the gingerbread men shoes. Importantly, we got to taste test our gingerbread men, as well as eat some melted chocolate! Delicious!
The children have been enjoying some lovely Christmas stories, including ‘William’s Winter Wish’. The Juniors got to design their own snow globe scenes, complete with a photo of themselves and falling snow. We also read ‘Aliens Love Panta Claus’, and later designed some Christmas pants for the aliens!
