our next stop on our Christmas Around the World was China. Ms. Judy (Queenie's mom) and Mr. Bowen had an awesome display of China's New Year celebrations. We got to find out what animal represented our birth year & month, learned that red is the color of luck, we heard the New Year song, ate dumplings with chop sticks, learned how they displayed their decorations, and the students even received Red Packets with money inside.
we do not do many "cookie cutter crafts" at our school but I do like to do one at Christmas because as a parent I still pull out my child's past crafts as decorations and especially love seeing the ornaments he did in the P3 classroom and look forward to see what he does in the K4 classroom this year. this year we made fingerprint snowman snowglobes :)
the students also had fun putting together a new emergent reader Little Elf, Little Elf. we had fun reading it together and I hope you have been reading it together at home, too!
we had a great field trip Tuesday! our first stop was 96.3 where we sang on-air!
then we went downstairs where we mailed our letters to Santa that we wrote last week!
then we walked down the street to The Studio where we painted Olaf!
they all did a great job!
the students were absolutely precious singing at the Sumter Health and Rehab Thursday and made the residents so happy.
here is a video of the older girls' dance routine:
and a short video of the students singing at the nursing home:
we had a great party! thanks for all the yummy treats and goody bags brought in!
instead of giving gifts to each other this year, each child brought in a new, unwrapped gift for Toys for Tots this year. what an awesome season of giving!
the school also made two special paintings for two special people to us at the Campus School, Dr. Chandler and Mr. Blackwell. :)
we also had fun making our annual salt dough ornaments!
we had an extra special surprise visitor this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
our last stop in our Christmas Around the World was England. we learned there were a few traditions that are similar, like the English enjoy beautiful Christmas music and they love to decorate Christmas trees and hang up evergreen branches. And they act out Christmas plays but the custom is called mummering and they wear masks. Santa is called Father Christmas and wears a
long red or green robe, and leaves presents in stockings on Christmas Eve. And the gifts are not usually not opened until the following afternoon. the kids went wild when I told them this but I explained that even though this seemed unusual to us, this was normal to them.
the students also finished packing their suitcases. we saw that is was rainy in London that day, so they packed accordingly. their suitcases, luggage tags, and passports are all coming home today for you to see. :)
here is a pic of them riding the train from China to England!
today was Pancakes, Pajamas, and Polar Express Day!
I didn't get any pics before pancakes were scarfed down but here is a pic of Ms. Kim reading Christmas stories...
as we wait to hear our Santa letters being read live on-air on 96.3!!!
then we watched Polar Express!
centers this week included working as an elf in Santa’s workshop and making toys,
decorating the classroom tree, making ornaments for the classroom tree, baking Christmas cookies for Santa and all of your friends, writing holiday cards and notes to family and friends, and playing Christmas games online.
be looking for you snowman poop, magic reindeer food, and owl candycane in your mailbox from Ms. Jaysa!!!
