Sorry this has taken me so long to get posted!  Things just kept coming up and time would get away from me.  Over the last week, the GBM has been delivering packages from several countries (Africa, Antarctica, Israel, Sweden) and we learned about Kwanzaa, Penguins, Hanukkah, and St. Lucia Day respectively!) I also need to post Australia–but the pictures are at school (see below!)

I’m going to post the pictures here now and under them, if I have any files, like letters or links to sites for ideas, I will post those.

Antarctica — we made reindeer food with oats and glitter! 🙂

magic-reindeer-food

microsoft-word-postcard-antarctica

Kwanzaa–we wove Kinara mats and worked on patterning and fine motor skills! 🙂

microsoft-word-postcard-africa

Israel:

hanukkahletter

Sweden:

stluciadayletter

The pictures for Israel and Sweden are at school, so I will post those Monday! 🙂  I thought they were still on my camera, but I guess I uploaded them already! For Israel, we learned about Hanukkah and in the envelope there were paper Menorahs and candles for me to put in the Menorah I keep to share with the children and we lit them and watched it glow with the lights off! 🙂   Friday, we learned about St. Lucia day.  Included in the package were patterns for making candle wreath crowns (I got the pattern from the December grades 1-3 idea book–Mailbox Magazine Company) and we stapled those on headbands.  We also made Cinnamon Raisin bread in my bread machine–I got the mix at the grocery store and we let it bake away throughout the day and our room smelled AMAZING!!  We enjoyed the sweet treat at snack time and learned about the older girls in Sweden that wear white gowns and red sashes and bring sweet treats and coffee to their parents on St. Lucia Day (December 13th BTW).

We also were able to learn about Diwali ( India) with a coworker of mine.  Last year she asked me to dress up as Goddess Laschme (I’ve spelled it horribly wrong–but this is how her name is pronounced!) and I did again this year–that picture is at school too, so I’ll post it soon!  It is always funny to do this because the children in her classroom are kids I had the previous year and they always think it’s me.  This year we took my kids too and I dressed up in her tiny closet and waited for my key word to make my entrance.  I always try so hard not to laugh and it’s even funnier because I have to take my glasses off, which I am basically blind without, so it’s always fun to try and navigate the room that is only candle lit! 🙂  We are going to do chalk drawings Monday to continue learning about Diwali.

This week, we will be gearing up for the Grand Finale of the Gingerbread Man’s Quest around the world–Wednesday, he will end up at the North Pole and send us a copy of The Polar Express.  To lead up to it, we will be reading books about Polar Animals that he might see there and making some books and animals (yet to come up with those!)

Wednesday, we will graph our preference for either marshmallows or whipped cream and then we will enjoy lounging in our jammies while we enjoy hot chocolate and watch The Polar Express! 🙂   It’s always a fun day and the kids like laying on the floor and just having a day to relax before vacation!

I’ll try to post things next week to keep you up to speed!

Coming up in January we will be learning about Animals in Winter, The Mitten, The Jacket I Wear in the Snow, MLK Jr. Day and a math theme about mittens, sequencing, and some addition.  I’ll get most of those things posted during vacation (starts Friday!!!!), so be looking for those items.

Let me know if you have any questions about anything posted above!

Kristen 🙂