Mrs. Stites' class busy as Elves Getting Ready for Christmas

Our classroom has been in a whirl of activity as we try to get things finished up before Christmas break. We made paper lanterns because we studied Japanese Customs. We made a present for our fathers, a present for our mothers, read a story about Rudolph, made reindeer antlers and made some reindeer food to sprinkle on our lawn on Christmas eve. It is just a few more days before our Christmas break. There are lots of happy faces in classroom!

Santa Lucia's day in Sweden

We celebrated Santa Lucia's day in Sweden a little early this year. It is on December 12th. We made a crown of candles and learned that the oldest daughter would wear a crown of candles and serve each person in the house tea and crumb cakes early in the morning. We also made huge Santa Clauses to hang outside our room. It was a 'Listen to me and follow my directions' project. All the Santas are ready for Christmas now. Ho! Ho! Ho!

Mrs. Stites' Workshop

Mrs. Stites' room was like Santa's workshop this afternoon! The children made their own wrapping paper using stamps dipped into paint. (Most of the paint got on the paper.) They made a Rudolph the Reindeer bag to hold our clay ornaments when we are done painting them. The children also made a pretty wreath bag to hold their mother's gift. At one center, the children read a story about writing a letter to Santa, and at another center they filled in a shape and graphed how many of each shape they used. We are counting down the days to Christmas. Still lots of projects to get done. Hi Ho! Hi Ho! There's lot's more work to go!

Christmas Fun During Learning Centers

We've been busy working on special projects for the month of December. We made something special for our mothers and our fathers. (We can't tell you what!) We have been studying Germany, and learned that Germans brought live Christmas trees into their homes at Christmas time. So we made a 3-dimensional tree for our bulletin board. We are learning about Hanukkah, and played a Dreidel game. We've also been studying Ghana, Africa and played an African tic, tac, toe game of strategy called Jarabadach. We have been really busy and having a lot of fun!

Special Person of the Week

Our special person of the week lives in a brick house with his mom, his dad, his two brothers, and his sister. He has a dog named Patriot. His favorite color is green because his dad likes it. His favorite subject is Recess because he likes to play. His favorite TV show is ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’, and his favorite book is Goose Bumps. He likes to eat steak. He likes to play outside. He feels happy when he goes swimming. When he grows up, he wants to be in the army and be the boss. If he could go anywhere in the world, he would go to California. He feels he is special because his mom and dad love him. He likes to ride horses. He feels the best thing about him is that he is funny.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful. We are very thankful. Happy Thanksgiving from Mrs. Stites' Class!

Mrs. Stites' Parents Share about Native Americans

Mrs. Stites' mother and father came to visit our first grade classroom and share some information about Native Americans. Mrs. Stites' mother showed an authentic Native American doll that was hand-made by a Native American Indian woman named Ruth Jesus. Mrs. Stites' father showed the children a rendition of a chief's head-dress. Each child in our class got the opportunity to try it on, and be a pretend chief for a moment!

More November Learning Centers

The children enjoyed the centers this week . We continued trying to decipher vocabulary words Mrs. Stites made using American sign language. The children also watched 3 short videos on 'Brainpop' about Thanksgiving, Pocahontas, and Native Americans. They had to put Native American words in alphabetical order. Mrs. Stites' dad came to help the children read stories about the Little Red Hen, (because we ground the wheat and made bread.) Mrs. Stites' mom came and helped the children play Pilgrim Bingo. The children learned a lot.

Making Bread and Butter

We used the wheat that we ground in our Pilgrim centers to make bread. We read and followed a recipe for a No-Knead bread. We learned what yeast was, how to measure using 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, and 1/4 cup. After the bread was cooked we shook whole cream which was room temperature in baby food jars and after lots of shaking... butter appeared! We drank the buttermilk that came off of the butter. Then we buttered our own bread. Yum! We are really good cooks!