Thursday, December 22, 2011

Our Christmas Party!

We had our Christmas celebration on Tuesday morning.  Our party started out with decorating Gingerbread Houses!
As we finished our houses, we traded them in for our food plates.  We had a breakfast foods party!  We had mini-waffles, donuts, scrambled eggs, sausage, poptarts, fruit, and some sweets too.
Check out some of our finished products!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

More Christmas Around the World!

We continued our trip around the world with a stop in Germany.  Germans say Froekliche Weihnachten for Merry Christmas.  Our tour guides, Shea, Maximus, and Zack J, showed us their Christmas shaped cookies, which are common for German dinners.  They also eat sausage.
In Germany, children leave letters on their windowsills for Christkind, a winged figure, with a white robe and a gold crown.  The very first Christmas tree was in Germany and families usually have several in their home.  We used pinecones, glitter, construction paper, and cotton balls to make our own winter Christmas trees.

The Netherlands was our next stop.  Deandra, Izabella, and Adrian enjoyed their trail mix and taught us about their traditions.  In the Netherlands, children await the arrival of Sinterklaas and Black Pete.  They leave hay and carrots in their wooden shoes, for Sinterklaas' white horse.
Families in the Netherlands decorate with dolls, toys, and lots of candy!  We made our own candy wreaths to display at our homes.

Gud jul!  Jesus, Everett, and Jayden taught us all about Christmas in Sweden.  They traditionally eat sausage and sweet rolls for Christmas dinner.
In Sweden, families celebrate a brave young girl named St. Lucia.  Years ago, she took food and drinks to people hiding in tunnels.  She wore candles on her head to light her way.  Today, the oldest daughter in each family dresses as St. Lucia and brings her family breakfast on Christmas day.
Families in Sweden decorate their trees and wreaths with real candles! We made our own advent wreath with candles.

Our last stop was Israel, where they celebrate Hannukah.  Isaac, Chris, Tytianna, and Donovan served as our tour guides.
Families in Israel serve latkes (like potato pancakes) and applesauce for their special dinner.
To celebrate Hanukkah, families use a special candleholder called a menorah.  They light a candle each night for 8 nights, until they are all lit.  We made our own colorful menorahs to display.
Children in Israel play with a special top, called a dreidel.  They spin the dreidel and read what it says when it stops and lands on its side.
The Star of David is an important symbol in Israel.  It's on their flag and in many of their holiday decorations.

We had so much fun "traveling" the world and learning about how different countries celebrate at Christmas time.  We got to sample many kinds of food and have some great crafts to help us decorate for Christmas at home!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas Around the World!

The last 2 weeks before Christmas break, we did some traveling.  First we made our suitcases.  Have to have somewhere to store all our things!


First up, we learned about traditions in the United States.  Peyton, Jamie, and Zack F served as our tour guides.  We learned that in America, people like to send Christmas cards to their friends and family.
We learned that in the United States, children are visited by Santa Claus.  He's a big, round man with a white beard.  His sleigh is pulled by 8 flying reindeer.
In America, people traditionally eat ham, turkey, and cranberry sauce for Christmas dinner.  We made our own reindeer from our hands and feet and we tasted cranberry sauce!

Our next stop was Mexico.  In Mexico, they eat tamales and drink hot chocolate.  Our hot chocolate had 2 marshmallows!  In Mexico, they say Feliz Navidad!
Our tour guides, Layla, Valentina, and Jonathan taught us all about Mexico.  They participate in a parade called Posadas for 9 nights.  They dress as members of the Nativity scene and knock at neighbors' doors.  After the parade, the kids take turns hitting a pinata. 
They decorate with beautiful flowers called Poinsettias.
We made our own poinsettias to decorate our houses.


The next day we headed to France.  Merry Christmas in French is Joyeux Noel. They eat a dessert called Buche de nol, which is a chocolate roll with frosting in the middle.
Jaycie, Grace, and Daniel taught us all about French traditions.  Pere Noel visits the kids on Christmas night and leaves them gifts.  He also leaves sweets, nuts, and snacks in their trees.  We made a Pere Noel doorhanger.
In Sweden, children leave their shoes by the fireplace, for Pere Noel to put their gifts into.
Most French families decorate with a Nativity scene, or creche.

Italy was our next stop.  Italians say Guon Natale!  Casie, Caylei, and Annalesia told us all about Italian food.  They traditionally eat things like lasagna on Christmas.  They also have crositini, which is a crunchy bread.
In Italy, children go caroling and recite poems for their neighbors.  Families decorate with ceppo trees, which are little trees made of wood.  They have 3-5 shelves that they use to display important items to their family.  The bottom shelf usually has a nativity scene.  Italian children are visited by a witch named La Befana.  Although she appears ugly, the children of Italy love her very much.

Friday, December 16, 2011

December Fun

We've been learning about different vowel digraphs over the past couple weeks.  Today we talked about the "ie" digraph.  We know that when 2 vowels go walking, the first does the talking! So that means "ie" says "i".  We made some ties to help us remember a few ie words.  We wrote them on our polka dots!

We had a special December project to work on with our families.  We decorated these Christmas trees!

We read the story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  We thought about what we would do to make the Grinch grin, if we were Whos.  So we turned ourselves into Whos and wrote about what we'd do to make that Grinch grin!

We heard that Santa was needing some extra help at the North Pole.  We filled out applications to be elves!  We included our strengths, our favorite toys, and our elf prints.  Then we turned ourselves into elves so we'd fit the part!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

First Mate - Grace

My name is Grace
I am 6 years old.
My birthday is January 1st.
The members of my family are my brothers, Isaac and Daniel, my mom and dad, my dog Flash, and myself.
My favorite dessert is ice cream.
My favorite color is yellow.
My favorite singer is my Dad.
My favorite book is Christina Katerina and the Box.
What I do best is sing.
I help others by making them laugh.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

First Mate - Shea


My name is Shea Robinson, Jr.
I am 6 years old.
My birthday is June 3rd.
The members of my family are me, my Dad - Shea, my Mom - Kendra, and my sister - Kalynn.
My favorite dessert is strawberry cheesecake.
My favorite color is green.
My favorite singer is Michael Jackson.
My favorite book is We're Going on a Lion Hunt.
What I do best is ride my motorcycle.
I help others by helping my mom with my sister.