Holidays Around the World

During the month of December, we learn about the different holidays around the world. This is a great unit that allows the students to make connections to their own culture and share their traditions with their classmates. We also open it up to parents to visit our classroom and talk with the students about their holidays and traditions. As teachers, we feel it is important for the families to share their holidays not only with the students, but with us teachers. It is wonderful learning opportunity for all of us! Below you will see some of the activities we do for the different celebrations.

*Unfortunately, I did not get pictures of the students celebrating all of the holidays we learned about in class. Next year, I'll make sure to have my camera battery charged!

ST. LUCIA DAY

All the girls in the class created crowns for St. Lucia Day by glueing pre-cut green squares, red circles for the berries, and candles onto a sentence strip.

The finished product!

The finished project!

For St. Lucia Day, the boys glued stars onto their sentence strip. 

The finished product!

The finished project!

 RAMADAN and EID

One of our kindergarten parents came to the classroom and spoke to all of the kindergarten students about Ramadan and Eid. This was really special for all of us as learned more about our students who celebrate these holidays. The students were excited to share their family traditions with one another. Our kindergarten parent volunteer and her son wore their traditional clothing, read a story about the night before Ramadan, and shared some of their favorite food that they love to eat with their family members. 

 CHRISTMAS

After we read several fiction and nonfiction stories about Christmas, the students painted pine cones and then rolled them in glitter (or as the kindergarteners call it, "SPARKLES!"). After they were dry, I attached a string to each pine cone so the students could either hang the ornament on their Christmas tree or on a door knob at home. They looked super cute and so sparkly!

She's showing off her great project!

So adorable!

 WINTER CLASS PARTY

I wish I captured more photos from this amazing day, but unfortunately, I was racing around the room with the kiddos all day trying to prepare for winter break! For our classroom party, we had a Polar Express party that lasted for the whole day. The day began with the students wearing their pajamas to school and bringing in a stuffed animal or a pillow to use for our movie portion of the day. 

Some of the activities that we did were the following: 

1. Read the story The Polar Express

2. Created a three car train. On the first car, we wrote the beginning of the story. On the second car, we wrote the middle of the story; and on the third car, we wrote about the end of the story. We displayed our train on the door of our classroom. 

3. The students wrote about a place where they would want to visit on a train. 

4. We made conductor hats using a pattern and a sentence strip

5. We watched The Polar Express movie and got cozy in our classroom.

*It was a very busy morning!

In the afternoon, the room parents came to the school to help us manage a rotating Polar Express party. All three kindergarten classrooms participated in this fun event. One classroom was the snack room where the students had hot cocoa and sugared donuts. In the second classroom, the students played different holiday games; and in the third classroom, the students created a small craft. The party lasted for about 1 hour and it was so much fun to have the students switch rooms and travel on their "imaginary Polar Express train" to get to each room. 

Here is a picture of the students right before the movie began!

Feast of Thanks

Before Thanksgiving break, we organize a Feast of Thanks for the kindergarten students. This is something that would not happen if it weren't for the wonderful families in our school community. Because our school is so diverse, we decided to have a cultural feast as opposed to a typical American Thanksgiving feast. All I can say, is WOW and YUM! We were so fortunate to have all the families send in their favorite cultural food and to also have extra sets of hands during this special event. 

After reading several books about Thanksgiving and the relationship between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims, the students reenacted saying peace to one another and preparing for their feast. 

Here are my pilgrim girls.

Here are my pilgrim boys.

Here are my Native American students.

The children loved the feast!

We had two tables of food and beverages!

This is a picture of our left overs....it was overwhelming! The other teachers in the building loved it though! The teacher's lounge had so many tasty treats!

OTHER FUN THINGS WE DO FOR THANKSGIVING

Before reading Gracias, the Thanksgiving Turkey, the students had to decide whether they thought a turkey would make a good pet. As you can see from the photo, most of the students thought a turkey would make a great pet! Watch out parents....

We made applesauce as a special snack. All the students helped prepare the treat!

Here it is in the crockpot, ready to cook! 

Yum! Our classroom smelled so good!

Space Unit

The students love learning about space and we really take this unit to a whole new level. To kick off the unit, I set up our space shuttle tent. I put a couple of flashlights inside the shuttle so the students can play during free choice time and also use the flashlights when they are doing 'Read to Self' or 'Read to Someone' for Daily 5. I also hangup Christmas lights in our room that act as "stars." My room becomes so relaxing during this unit because I usually only have the Interactive Whiteboard and all of the twinkling holiday lights on during quiet work time. Lastly, I hang up inflatable planets and hang them from a clothesline. I make sure to label the planets and review them with the students so the students can start to learn the order of the planets and use the labels in their writing during Daily 5. 

Look below to discover other fun activities we do for our space unit.

Here are two students during Daily 5 working on 'Read to Someone' using the flashlights.

This student completed his 'Space Write the Room' for Daily 5 in 'Work on Writing.'

We had an in-school field trip for our space unit that was put on by the company, Mad Science. A scientist visits our classroom to teach the students about a specific topic. 

You can see the inflatable planets dangling from the clothesline. I purchased these from Oriental Trading.  

The students are lining up in planet order!

The students are collecting "Moon Rocks" from the Moon! The students wore their  astronaut suits consisting of goggles and an air tank. The students used grabbers to pick up the rocks. In the background, I put up a picture of outer space on our Interactive Projector to help the children expand their imaginations!

In this picture, you can see the entire scene with all the beautiful stars in the background!

During math centers, the students put the rocket ships in size order in the measurement center. The students also decorated their paper with stars and constellations.

In another math center, the students graphed their friends' favorite part of space: the Moon, the Earth, or the Stars.

During our pattern block math center, the students created their own space shuttle and then took a picture with their work for our classroom website.

After reading a nonfiction book about the Earth, the students used their sight words to complete the sentence and also created a paper model of the Earth. The students traced a circle and glued it on black paper and then created the land by tearing a part a green piece of paper. These cute activities decorated our bulletin board during this unit.

After we read a nonfiction book about the Moon and studying the different phases, the students chose one phase they wanted to paint. I helped the students draw the phase and then they used a balloon to paint their Moon. After they dried, we cute the project out and glued them on black paper to make it look like it was in space.

After reading a nonfiction book about Constellations, the students used their imagination to create their own Constellations. The students used metallic star stickers, a black piece of paper and a white crayon/colored pencil to complete the project. I must say, they were adorable and so creative!

Family Turkey Projects

At the end of October, we send home a family turkey project for the students to work on with their family members. We have high hopes that the students will work with their families to create a decorative turkey that they can they bring back and share with their classmates. We encourage creativity and innovative ideas! These family projects are designed for the students to do most of the work, with a hand from their siblings and parents. 

To do this activity, we (the teachers) first trace a turkey pattern on a half sheet of poster board. We attach a letter to the poster board explaining the expectations for the project and the due date. In class, we go over exactly what should be done with the students. We reinforce that they should be doing most of the work as opposed to their families. Together, we generate ideas. When the students bring their projects back to school, they share their turkeys with their peers, explaining what materials they used and who helped them create it. Then, we hang them up in the hallways above their lockers for everyone in the school to admire. Below are some of the turkey projects the students created this year. As you can see, I have some pretty creative kiddos!