Holidays Around the World: Christmas in America

Today we didn't have to travel very far. We learned about Christmas in America!

We started out our morning by hopping on our plane to travel across the country. We turned off the lights, watched a slideshow of pictures of some of the different things you might see at a Christmas celebration in America, and we listened to Santa Claus is Coming to Town. When we arrived at our destination, we got our passports stamped with a picture of a stocking.

We looked at our map and discovered that we did not need to color anything new in yet since we were still in America.

Then we were ready to learn about how Christmas is celebrated in the US. Everyone had LOTS of connections and we spent some time sharing how our families celebrate. Then, we read the book 'Twas the Night Before Christmas because it depicts a lot of the typical traditions here in the US.  After reading the book we got to work on our scrapbook page.

Once that was completed, we were ready to begin working on our souvenirs from this stop on our trip.  First, we got to work making a stocking. These will be hung in our classroom, filled by the teachers, and everyone will get to open them at our holiday party!

While students were working on their stockings, I called them up to my table a few at a time and they got to make a bag of reindeer food. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it's oats mixed with a handful of glitter. The reindeer food went inside each student's suitcase, so they will get to take it home next Friday before the holiday break.

Finally, I called each student to my table one by one to begin to make a special project that will become a gift for their families. I won't share a picture of that here yet because I want it to be a surprise!

What a fun day today!  Tomorrow we are headed to Mexico. Can't wait!

Elf Antics: Day 7

Today we found Dash perched on the ledge of the whiteboard. Next to him he had a tiny paper chain counting down the days until Christmas.

All of my friends could not believe he was able to make a chain that small! They carefully counted his rings and found out there were only 13 more days until Christmas. Very exciting!

Elf Antics: Day 6

Look where we found Dash today!

In the letter he left us he told us that when he got back from the North Pole last night he was so tired that he needed a place to rest. He had no idea we had an elf bed in our classroom and was quite excited to find it. He let everyone know that even though it looked like he was resting, he would be keeping an eye on us all day!

Holidays Around the World: Hanukkah in America

Today we started our journey around the world to learn about how different people celebrate the holidays. We started right here in the United States to learn about Hanukah in America!

We began by locating the United States on our map, and coloring the country and the map key to match. (Sorry I forgot to get a picture of this!)

Next, we all stepped aboard the Holiday Express. We turned off the lights and watched a slidshow with pictures of Hanukkah celebrations, while we listened to Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah. When the song and slideshow were finished we had arrived and were VERY excited to learn about Hanukkah! Before we could depart our flight, everyone had to get their passport stamped. (apparently I also forgot to take a picture of this, I'll add the pics in tomorrow)

Finally, we were ready to learn about Hanukkah. We gathered around on the carpet and read Hanukkah. After reading, we discussed a bit about the celebration and how it was the same and different from how our families celebrate different holidays.

Next, we worked on filling out our scrapbook page about the holiday. We had to draw/write about the country's flag, what you might see, what you might eat, how you wish someone a happy holiday, and some holiday traditions we learned about. Everyone really enjoyed this and it is going to be a great keepsake at the end of the unit!

After our scrapbook pages were completed, we got to work creating our artifact that would remind us about Hanukkah. Of course, we made a menorah! Everyone that followed directions was able to use glitter to finish theirs off, so of course that was VERY exciting haha

After our menorahs were dry, we put them inside our suitcase as our very first artifact from the trip. Everyone is super excited to find out what we will get to add tomorrow!

In the afternoon, I gave Ms. Coburn another activity relating to Hanukkah in case she wanted to do an extension. The kids were able to make a dreidel and learned how to play the game. They were all out in the hallway having a BLAST!

I'd say it was a successful first day of our trip. Can't wait for tomorrow!

Holidays Around the World: Introduction

Yesterday our class got an introduction to our 2 week Holidays Around the World Unit! This is something I am so excited about, and have been looking forward to teaching for awhile!

Our first job was to get all our things packed for our trip around the world. We started out by making a suitcase. This will be used to hold our daily scrapbook as well as the artifact we get from each country. On the front, students were allowed to decorate as they wished.

On the back, we glued a map of the world. If you look at the key it gives you an idea of where we will be traveling on our journey.

The last item we needed is extremely important: our passports! If you are going to take a trip around the world you have to have a passport. We talked about what exactly that is, and I showed the class an example. Then each student was given their own "passport" for our travels around the world and asked them to complete the inside.

As you can see, on the right we even have a space for our passport to be stamped in each country we visit! Everyone was super excited to start our trip the next day!

Creative Gingerbread

Last week we wrapped up our week long unit on The Gingerbread Man. Each day we talked about the different elements of the version of the story read and recorded them on our big Gingerbread House. After working on this as a class a few times, I gave the kids this recording sheet and it was their job to record each part of the story we had been talking about. They did a great job!

On Friday we finished off the week making our own creative Gingerbread Man (or Girl!).  First students had to design their own creative version of the gingerbread man, then we used a tree map to construct 3 sentences about our creations:

I am impressed with how easily this group has picked up on the concept of the tree map and how to use it to create sentences. This is not something we have had much practice with this year and everyone did a wonderful job with it!

Elf Antics: Day 5

Sorry I didn't get around to posting this last night!

Yesterday when we came in the room we found Dash having a grand old time in the treasure box. 

It was funny to see the kids' reactions! Some of them felt that it was cute and we should let him take a prize. Others, however, felt that he was being very naughty and trying to steal from us. haha

You never know what Dash will be up to next!