Pinata Fun

After talking about traditions in Mexico in December, we made a piñata...

We spent last week reading many Gingerbread Men stories.  We read them and discussed the characters, the refrain that was repeated in each story and how the ending was different.  

Here are some videos of the pinatas we broke today.  We made one in our class as we talked about December in Mexico and the different traditions they have.  So much fun…  they also broke one in Spanish class (see 2 videos below).  We made these pinatas in friendship groups.  To see the videos a little clearer, click on the gear in the lower right hand corner and click on a higher number.

Crazy Santa dancing

We just can't get enough of crazy santa dancing (found on youtube if you would like to learn it yourself :)

Fun Friday!!!!!

What a day!!!!!  Hope you heard all about the fun things we did today.

But first, on Thursday Chloe brought in her cute little puppies for sharing.  I wanted to take them home ~ they were adorable!

Today we had our special trip to the North Pole.  We enjoyed some hot chocolate and popcorn as we rode the train.

When we got back to the classroom we thought we heard something…  We finally discovered that we had some bells under our chairs.  I wonder where they came from ?!?!?!?  Enjoy the pure CHAOS video!

We learned that our Chrismas tree tradition actually started in Germany.  What a better way to conclude our study on Germany than to make a healthy snack.  We made some christmas trees out of PURE SUGAR!!!!  :)  (they LOVED it) 

We ALSO made some bird feeders with Pam.  This is our gift to our furry friends this holiday season!

To end our fun filled day ~ we had snack!

St. Nick Visit

Today we talked about how the holidays in Germany are celebrated.  One of the traditions is that on December 6th, the children take their right shoe and place it by the front door before going to bed.  They wake up the next morning to see if St. Nick visited and left them a treat.  We thought we would try this.  I mean, we are on a roll…  Santa brought us an elf when he asked, I'm sure St. Nick will visit too.  :)  We were so excited to find a coin and a small candy cane.

Elivis the Elf

Many of you have probably heard that we had a very special visitor come to our classroom today.  Yesterday we watched an Elf on the Shelf movie, as I have heard several students tell me about their own special elf at home.  This morning we discussed how it would be fun to have our very own elf in the classroom, so we wrote a letter to Santa.  We told him how good we have been (most of the time :) and that we would be very happy if he would send us an elf.  Low and behold, this afternoon we had a special delivery in the mail.  Check out the video for yourself to see how excited the kids were.

We then had to name him so that he can get his special powers.  Here were the choices…  The winner was Elvis (my choice :)  Can't wait for the fun to begin.

Grandparents Day

What a blessing to have all the grandparents and great grandparents come to visit us at school.  It was a very special day and the kids were so happy to see their grandparents.  Thank you to all who made the effort to come.  We played some math games, showed off some of our work, played a bingo game, read some books and just spent time together.  Please share these pictures with your family.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I am very thankful for all I am blessed with, including your very special children!