End of December

The last week of December, was a time to come together as a school community. Our class got together with the children of the other classes to share time, experiences, and friendship.

One event was brought to us by Arvid's family:

In Sweden, on the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice, people celebrate St. Lucia's day with candle light and song. Johanna, Arvid and Freya, shared this Swedish tradition with everyone at Summers-Knoll.

After sampling some delicious Swedish cookies, Johanna showed Mrs.

Adhikary's and our class how to make christmas "cracker" decorations. It was challenging to fold the tissue paper but everyone worked hard and

helped each other to complete the project.

During the week, we watched a movie with Mrs. Carpenter's class.

Friday, we started the morning reading books with Renata's class.

The children got together in small cozy groups and listened to stories.

There were also good times spent with just our class. On Thursday we finished reading Ben and Me and Friday we watched a video rendition of the novel.

Thus concluded our study of Ben Franklin and ended 2009 at school.

I hope everyone is enjoying vacation. Have a happy New Year.

Relaxing morning

Don't forget to wear pajamas to school on Friday, December 18.

First Snow

There were groans from the adults as the first snow flakes fluttered from the sky but the children squealed with delight. The activities on the playground quickly changed from ball tag and chase to building snowmen and forts.

There was a busy contentment that hung over the playground while some children diligently worked on their own projects, such as the fabulous snowman shown here, built solely by Arvid, and other children joined forces to make a fort that was constructed at the bottom of the playground. Once again the teachers were amazed by the team work and cooperation between children of all ages. Kindergarteners through 5th graders worked together to roll large snowballs into place and pack the cracks with snow. If only there had been more snow the fort could have been more then a partial wall.

The next day when the wind chill dropped below freezing, the children moaned and complained about not being able to go outside. A child's perspective on winter is often 180 degrees from that of the adults around them.

On that note, to have fun in the cold weather you need appropriate clothing. Make sure your child has: snow pants, coat, boots, hat, and mittens at school everyday. It is not a bad idea to have an extra pair of mittens and socks in the cubby in case one pair gets wet.

Shopping

We had a great time shopping for school items for children who don't have any. Each child picked out a backpack, note book, binder, folder, and pencil box for a child. Then we got supplies to put in the boxes: pencils, glue, and erasers. The children were very conscientious shoppers. They were looking for bargains and comparison shopping. I heard comments like, "these we get two for one", "Those are too expensive", "If you buy those you get more pencils for less money". The real find came when Sean spotted 8 colorful calculators on the sale table. What a find! The only disappointments were that we couldn't keep them ourselves and that I said we weren't buying the lollipops by the counter.