Our Holiday Breakfast and Celebration

Our Holiday Pictures and Party - December 2011 on PhotoPeach
Our Holiday Party was all it could be. We started off with a wonderful breakfast. Students brought in everything from orange juice to pancakes and sausage. After the breakfast, children participated in making holiday crafts. Snowflake ornaments, reindeer food bags, snowman buckets, and decorating sugar cookies were some of the activities. After lunch, a student from last year shared Hanukkah traditions with the class and taught them how to play driedel.
Coach Hall visited and read "The Polar Express" to the children. It all culminated at the end of the day with second grade students running in and singing "Feliz Navidad" - a super ending to a terrific day. The Mall-ards will be back in January, 2012 - Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a Very Happy New Year!!

Oh Where is the Gingerbread Man?

The Gingerbread Man on PhotoPeach

For some reason, this year, this class has been into the "The Gingerbread Man" series of stories. We had read "The Gingerbread Man", "The Gingerbread Boy", "The Gingerbread Friends", "The Gingerbread Pirates" and other gingerbread folktales. In order to add to that excitement, today we made our own Gingerbread Man. The children stirred all the ingredients: cake mix, oil, eggs and water and we poured the batter into our gingerbread man mold. The smell was delightful in the room and the students couldn't help but stare at him baking in the oven. Then we had to leave the classroom for lunch. When we returned to class, the Gingerbread Man was GONE!! He slipped out of the oven and the children where determined they were going to find him. We went outside, to the Media Center, up to the second floor and we finally found him in Mrs. Alvarado's kindergarten classroom! We took him back to the classroom and decided to lock him in the office while we made a few more for the class to share. It was such a fun time and one the children will remember for a long time!

Gingerbread Houses

Gingerbread Houses on PhotoPeach
It is a tradition in our classroom that we make Gingerbread Houses in Kindergarten. Parents supplied the needed sweets: candy canes, graham crackers, Skittles, cereal, pretzels, ice cream cones, gum drops, and icing. The children had a wonderful time creating their very own Gingerbread House!

The Christmas Tree

The lobby Christmas tree is decorated with a string of pictures from every classroom in the school. We just had to get a picture with the kids all around the tree.

Don't Forget About Books!

This is a great video that just had to be shared. "It's a Book" was written by Lane Smith. In this digital age of laptops, iPads, Nooks, and other technology, it's just great to sit back and read a book. During the holidays, remember to read to your child and add a few books under the tree. They don't need batteries!!

Bulletin Board: "Hear the Pitter-Pattern"

Our bulletin board this month, "Hear the Pitter-Pattern" features our work in Writer's Workshop, Science, and Math. In Writer's Workshop, we have been creating pattern books much like the books they bring home each night to practice. They feature a general topic and then each page refers to that topic in some way. The books on this board were written after our nature walk a few weeks ago. The students described the items they collected by writing a pattern book about it. For instance, "I found a leaf." "It is pointy." In Math, they completed a pattern, created a pattern with stickers, created a hopscotch pattern and labeled these patterns, such as AABB, ABCABC, etc. For the past few weeks, we have been able to refer to patterns across the day in Reader's, Writer's and Math Workshops. The students are getting a true sense of what a pattern is and how they are found in the world all around us.

Better Not Pout Bags

Here's one way to keep the holiday excitement in check -- it's our "Better Not Pout" bags. Each day in December the children are awarded a special treat in their bag for good behavior. The treats may include lollipops, stickers, pencils, candy canes and other miscellaneous goodies. The bags serve as a constant reminder that we are still in school and we have to adhere to our class promise. If there is someone who does not make good choices on a certain day, then the treat is not put in the bag (just for that day). The students are so excited with these bags and can not wait until the last day before winter break because that is when they receive their reward...so you "better not pout!"