Happy Vacation!

Hello Families!

In my rush and excitement to get off to see my family, I realize I didn't publish this, and it's been sitting as a draft all these days.  Sorry!  I was having a lovely visit with my family and have not been on the Internet for over a week.  This is what a vacation is to me!  And I found out one of my oldest friends is pregnant, so I get to be an Auntie once again.  So special!  I hope all of you are enjoying your vacation and having some nice times together.  And here is the latest blog...

The building party was a fun day, so much fun, the kids still want to work on it!  Thank you to all the families who cooked and brought in our special snacks and for the families who came to help out.  There were many problems to be solved this day, and I think these will be some threads we will continue in the new year.  For example, how can you use paper to make three dimensional objects like trees?  Also, what are some key things a city planner has to think about?  And how do you build a sky scraper so that it is stable, doesn't keep falling down, but still has windows?  So many interesting possibilities.  And I think our budding writing skills are going to come in handy as we think of street names and create more signs for our city and country scapes.

On the last day of school before the break, as a little surprise, I cut out many snowflakes and made a snowstorm in our classroom.  (How many is still to be found out, since friends began to count, but we do not have an official tally)  With an extreme weather advisory on the door, we looked at images of what other places look like that have snow as a part of their winter experience.  I showed pictures that my girlfriend took in Paris, and we talked about how my other friend, a teacher, has snow days, because there is so much snow that they can't leave the house.  At first the children were intrigued by the images of the mopeds covered in snow and they came up with many ideas of what they would do if they woke up in the morning and found their moto like this, but still had to get to work.  A creative idea was to use a fireman's ax to clear the snow.  But as we looked at more images of houses and cars covered in snow, many friends said they wouldn't want to deal with that.  As our friends finished this conversation, many began relating stories of their experiences in snow.  We found out that a few of them plan to encounter snow in this vacation.  We look forward to hearing back from them and continuing this discussion.  The children loved the snow storm so much, that they asked for it to be left up for a little longer.  So when we return, we will have a few more "snow days"!  Bundle up!

Here are some options if your child is wishing to have some holiday "homework".  Just some fun options to connect home and school.  We love all that you share!

1)Keep a journal of things you did over the break.  Use writing, drawings and or photos to show your friends what you and your family did while we were not at school.
2)Draw a map of all the places you went to over the break.  Or, draw a map of how to get from your house to one of the destinations you went to over the break.
3)  Take photos, make drawings or write about what you and your family celebrate and what you do together.  What traditions are special to your family?  Sometimes writing words under photos work well for this!
4) Math problem: How many doors are in your house?  how many door knobs?  How can you show the relationship between these numbers?  Can you draw us a diagram?
And how about tables and table legs?  Sometimes it helps to make the problem smaller and to do one room instead of your whole house...
5)Draw how something works in your house.  It helps to break down the steps and draw what happens in each step.  For example how does a blender work?  Or you can do this with your favorite family recipe!
6) Write and draw signs that you think should go in our city or country that we are creating in class.  You can investigate signs in your neighborhood, or on drives you take with your family as references to inspire your ideas.  What signs do we need in our city to keep people and drivers safe?  What signs do we need so that people who don't live here or who aren't from our country can understand the rules of our city?
7) Write a poem or song.  Write out the words so that we can read it back in the classroom.  What themes and topics do you like best when you are writing a poem or song?

Just a few options, but really there are endless possibilities and the key is for the children to be excited to share their thinking, creativity and discoveries with each other and with you families.  I hope you are all safe and healthy and are enjoying being able to stay in your PJ's a bit longer in the morning!  I am!  Love to you all, Jennifer