Polar express PJ party celebration

Well we finally made it back to USA to celebrate some of the many traditions that we have in our classroom. Every one is different and yet so many things the same. We have traveled to many different countries, filled up our suit cases and passports, and we are ready to come home!
(see email for content explanation of suit cases)
Our room is ready for the long train ride home:

Playing, playing, playing

So many things to do.
        So much exploration through play.
                So many memories being made.

The last stop is Russia...

Before we head home to the USA, for our Polar Express PJ party, we made a stop in Russia. We learned about Christmas happening in January, Babushka bringing gifts, and the Nutcracker Ballet originating in Russia.
We had to make own own nutcrackers to remember Russia!

Continued travels around the world to Holland and Africa...

We visited two more countries to find out what their Christmas celebrations look like. I am truly amazed how much they are learning, and how much they are enjoying traveling each day...
Holland is where we filled our shoes much like Saint Nicholas does, and Africa we celebrated Kwanzaa, by making bracelets instead of fruit kabobs..

Hola! Welcome to Mexico

We traveled to Mexico to learn about what Christmas looks like for children in their country. We learned that they have pinata's and poinsettia's. We also learned how to say Merry Christmas, and sang it loud and proud; Feliz Navidad.
We made a Poinsettia to remember our travels to Mexico :)

It's time for Hanukkah!

We traveled to Israel and learned that they don't celebrate Christmas. In Israel they celebrate Hanukkah. They have a special "candle holder" called a Menorah, which is lit for 8 days and nights. We made our own Menorah with our hands :)

shop till we drop

It is the second week of the Grocery store theme, and I am amazed that they still love shopping! They are creating their own grocery lists in order to go shopping or to send a friend to shop for them! In the writing center, we now have a mail box for writing letters, and mailing them to people in our classroom as well as outside of it :) If you get a "stamped" envelope in your child's book bag, please feel free to write back to your own child!
Spin art is covering the classroom, with many beautiful pictures, and we are really using our eyes to search in the sensory table for the missing letters, numbers, shapes, and colors :)
This week we will:
-learn about healthy and non healthy choices, and create a plate with healthy foods
-create a Pigeon story, "don't let the Pigeon eat..." and pick a non healthy food
-watermelon, adding the seeds
-watercolor W's (another letter onto the coconut tree)
-new story "Lunch," By: Denise Fleming (using props to retell the story, and our mouse hides under the fruit from the story)
-journal activity: whats your favorite weather
-filling a grocery cart with our favorite things (magazine cut outs)
-traveling around the world to: Africa, Holland, Mexico, and Israel (their suit cases are filling up with many great creations, and stamps on each page!)