Utopia Preschool

We are so proud of the children's performance this Wednesday! Finally after weeks of preparation, they got to show their family, friends, and whole school their Mele Kalikimaka dance! They wore fancy festive clothes, handmade paper leis, and jingle bells on their wrists. Even with all their nerves and excitement, they got on the stage and performed for the huge crowd! They are amazing!  Our tradition before the show is a special movie night in our classroom. It’s always a big surprise to the kids and a memorable way to spend an evening together. This year we watched How Mickey Saved Christmas, Snoopy’s Winter Wonderland Adventure, and The Snowy Day.  We want to give Miss Jessica a big thank you for choreographing our dance for us, and for all the teachers who got us ready for the show. We wish everyone in our Utopia and STM community a Merry Christmas and Mele Kalikimaka!  See you in 2026! 

This week we invited the children to bring their stuffies to school! The children were encouraged to bring their special stuffie to the Writing Table, choose from an assortment of colors, then draw what they see. Then they were asked to write their stuffie's name. This simple activity lets the children bring something special from home, while also encouraging them to write, draw and focus. Activities like this also support the children's shape recognition while focusing on a task for an extended period of time, which can be challenging for children this age!  On Thursday, the children were able to bring one more stuffie to Show and Tell! Each child had their moment to introduce their stuffie to their friends and talk about them. It was also fun for the children to compare and contrast their stuffies, and find similarities with one another. We love creating memories like this for the children while they are in school.     

Every month we get a visit from the local fire station for our school wide fire drill. By now, the children are very accustomed to these drills and understand the routine of stopping what they are doing when they hear the alarm, lining up, and safely walking outside to the front of the school. The teachers do a count to make sure everyone is present, and then we go back inside!  This week was special because the firefighters gave the kids a Junior Firefighter sticker! They also parked their engine a lot closer so the kids got a good look at the number on the truck (19), the colors, the hose, and all the other tools on the side of the engine. They were also able to get a close look at what the firefighters wore! When we got back to our classroom, the children were so excited to pretend to be firefighters in the Dramatic Play Area and dressed up right away.  Thank you Station 19 for your visit and for keeping our school community safe!

To prepare for Thanksgiving, we have been talking about what it means to be thankful and have gratitude. The children each made a leaf for our Gratitude Tree, which expresses what and who they are thankful for! We also made two types of silly turkeys this week, using our hands and lots of paint!