Happy Kwanzaa!

Kwanzaa celebrations start on December 26th. We will be talking about this when we return to school. We will learn that it is a fairly new holiday and that people who celebrate Kwanzaa are showing their pride in their African culture. We will make bracelets in the special holiday colours of red, black and green and colour some colouring pages showing children wearing their traditional clothing. We will "light" our paper candles on the special candle holder called a Kinara, three of green, one of black and three of red. We will read a book about Kwanzaa and some of the ideas it teaches, such as working together and being creative. Those are ideas we think are important in our classes too! Happy Kwanzaa!!!

Merry Christmas!!

At school these past weeks we read some books about  the Nativity Story and some about Santa and other Christmassy subjects. We made the parents an angel picture and an ornament out of cinnamon dough and sparkles. We celebrated with our reading buddies and made Christmas cards and began to write in our journals, with their help. We sang in the gym with the other primary students on the last day. I hope you had a wonderful day and enjoy another whole two weeks of holidays! Merry Christmas!!!!!

p.s.  The children might enjoy this little play done by others their age in New Zealand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zduwusyip8M

Yalda Night

Today we are learning about the Winter Solstice.  We are celebrating Yalda Night, a Persian solstice festival. It is a very ancient tradition and sees the rising sun of the first day of winter as a symbol of good winning over evil. Pomegranates and other winter fruit are part of the celebrations, so we will be making a card decorated with a pomegranate (and lots of sparkles).

Post-party Thank You!

Thank you all for coming to our party and joining our celebration of festivals of light. It was a lot of fun and many of the children said it was the best party ever. A huge thank you to Natasha who baked for 14 hours to prepare our wonderful cookies and cupcakes and a thank you to everyone for your donations to cover her costs and give her a little extra for her time. A very big thank you to the children for singing and dancing so well for their audience. Well done!!!

ps. Someone has left a camera case in the room, marked Lowepro. Please let me know if it is yours and I will send it home with your child or you can pick it up here in the room. Thanks.

Huron Christmas Carol

Today we are reading about the Huron Christmas Carol, also known as the first Christmas carol written in Canada. We will also hear it sung in Inuktitut by Susan Aglukark. It's a lovely retelling of the Christmas story in First Nations imagery.

More Time to be Kind

Dear Parents;

    The basket is full and overflowing, but we have just heard that the deadline is extended to Monday for the Harmony House baskets. So if you have not had a chance and would like to add a gift, there is a bit more time. And thank you again for all the beautiful gifts. I can just see the happy faces of the children who receive these presents.

Hanukkah

 Hanukkah begins on December 20th and we will light our paper candles on the hanukkiah, one for each of the eight days. We will also have a Hanukkah story and of course play dreidel. We will learn some Hanukkah  and Christmas songs from Mrs. Bricker, the music and drama teacher here.  It is great to have so much music in our days.

Baskets for Harmony House

Thank you to everyone who has sent in lovely things for our gift basket. If you still wish to donate, you have until Friday. We will put a little card in the basket to show it is from our classes and send it to a family in need after that date. Thank you, everyone!

Solstice, Eid, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Chanukkah, Yalda, and all Festivals of Light Holiday Party

Dear Parents, Grandparents, Friends and Relations:   You are all warmly invited to our All Holidays Party on Tuesday, December 20th in our classroom. For the morning class this will be at 10:30 and for the afternoon class at 2:30. We will be singing you some of the songs we have learned and having a few seasonal treats. Because of the school allergy policy the best way to do this is for me to purchase nut-free food. That way we can set up a treat table and all enjoy the party together. Natasha, our co-op student loves baking, so she is making us some wonderful treats. We ask that each family makes a small donation to cover the costs of the ingredients and her time. If you would rather, you can bring in a snack for your child. There will also be a little craft for you to do with your child if you would like. It should be a great part of our Festivals of Light unit. See you there! (And if you are unavoidably late, don't panic. We usually sing the songs again at the end of the party just for good measure.)

Advent

Advent has begun, so we are counting down the days to Christmas. We will make a paper chain advent calendar where there is a link for every day until Christmas. Each day we will take off one link from the chain and so we will know exactly how many more days we have to wait. We will also begin to "light" our paper advent candles with tissue paper flames to count the four weeks of the season. On December 20th we will light the first candle of the Hannukiah and begin to count the eight days of Hannukah. The last week of school we will also light the Kwanzaa kinara candles. There will be more and more lights in room 23!

                                                       Our paper chain advent calendar.

Festivals of Light, Celebrations of the Human Spirit

    We have begun our unit on Festivals of Light. We began with learning about why it is getting so dark outside so early. We will talk about the seasons and how the sun makes the seasons. Then we will learn about different celebrations around the world that use light at this time of year. Of course, there is a connection! If you have any books or decorations from your family's celebrations they are very welcome. The children can show the class what they bring in as a little informal Show and Tell. Please make sure their names are on everything that comes in so we can return them! Our unit will include Divali, Yalda, Chanukah, Christmas and Kwanzaa as well as the native story of how Raven brought the light. It should be a special unit with lots of wonderful stories and some extra spiffy crafts.

Dress Up as a Teacher Day

 

The Students' Council has chosen tomorrow for a School Spirit Day. Your child may dress up as a teacher from movies, tv or even Broadview P.S. It should be very interesting!