December Already...

The Preschool Helping Elves

As we enter into the cold winter months, Preschool welcomed December by beginning to learn a new poem:

December

I'm a little snowflake 

You can see...

No other snowflake

Looks like me!

Please pick me up

After I fall, 

And roll me with my friends 

To make a snowball. 

This week has passed in such a blur, my mind is still convinced that we never went beyond Tuesday and I am even more incredulous to the fact that the Winter Break is just two short weeks away. 

Unit of Inquiry

The focus of this week was to start bringing all the loose pieces together and work towards completing the summative assessment. However, before starting the summative, we were able to learn about one more Community Helper, Scientists. Preschool explored the different jobs scientists are responsible for, got the opportunity to listen and question Ms Lee about what it means to be a scientists, as well as observe and their own mini experiments! 

Listening to Ms Lee telling us about being scientists 

The next obstacle for Preschool was to begin applying all the knowledge and work they did on Community Helpers, to prepare for their summative. This proved quite difficult and when asking them what they learnt, the majority of the focus was on being Police Officers, Postmen and Mail Carriers. For this reason, they were given the choice to represent one of these Community Helpers. To make it fair, they drew names from a hat. Preschoolers then got busy brainstorming and creating props necessary for their Community Helper, ready for the Living Museum on Tuesday, December 8th.

Additionally, I am extremely happy as I know that I am in good hands, with Show&Tell giving me a great snapshot of Preschool's future aspirations! With two doctors, a vet and a ninja, there is nothing left to worry about! Thank you for your support in getting them organised!

Cooking

I was really excited to find out that Saint Nicholas is celebrated at DESK as it has been my favourite celebration since a child, so getting to share it with Preschool was even more special for me. In Switzerland as part of Saint Nicholas, we make sweet bread dough and shape them into what look like Gingerbread men. They are called Grattimänner. Preschool carefully made the dough on Thursday, letting it rise over night and then shaped it into Grattimänner on Friday. Not having quite realised how efficient the school oven is, they got slightly "tanned" but hopefully they tasted fine!

For those that are interested in making it again the recipe is below:


Grattimänner Recipe 


500g white bread flour
1.5 tsp salt
3 tbsp white sugar
7g dry bread yeast
60g butter (in pieces) 
300ml milk 
1 egg (for the shaping and egg yolk glaze)
raisins

1) Mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. 
2) Heat the milk so that is lukewarm.
3) Add the butter and milk to the bowl containing the dry ingredients and mix well. 
4) Work the dough for approximately 10 minutes. 
5) Place the dough in the bowl and cover the bowl with a cloth towel and leave the dough to proof for 2 hours. 
6) Depending on the size of the Grattimänner, divide the dough into desired amounts. 
7) Separate the dough: 1/5 for the head and the rest for the body. 
8) Make a rounded ball for the head and for the body roll out. Attach the head to the body using egg white. Using a knife cut the body to make legs and arms. 
9) Use raisins to decorate. 
10) Give your Grattimänner an egg yolk glaze and bake for 25 minutes at 180°C (preheated). 


Preparing the dough 

2) Shaping the Grattimänner

 These are just some of the highlights from the week! :) 

Reminders

• Term two will start this Monday, so please refer to the new timetable. As they just had library on Friday and you feel that your child has not had the chance to read their books, don't worry about sending the books back this Monday. 

• Show&Tell (on Monday) is free choice.

• We will be going tulip bulb planting with Kindergarten on Monday morning, make sure your child has comfortable shoes. 

• If you wish you attend the Living Museum it is on Tuesday, December 8th, at 15:30 in the Preschool classroom. The Grade 1 students have also been invited. 

Thank you and wishing you all a great weekend. 

Sabina Michelotti