HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Dear Parents,

The children had a great week learning about the customs and traditions of the native Americans!  They learned how the native Americans used pottery to hold water, store grains and preserve seeds for the next planting season.  They then created their own pottery by rolling clay into a snake and then shaping it into a coiled pot.  

 













We ended our week by having a fabulous concert and thanksgiving feast.  We hope you had a good time at our thanksgiving celebration.  The children worked so hard preparing for this day.  They did an exceptional job singing at the concert.  They looked absolutely adorable in their pilgrim costumes.  I am sure you will all agree!

Thank you so much for all the food you contributed to the feast.  Everything was absolutely delicious!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara

PREPARING FOR THANKSGIVING

Dear Parents,

We continued our Thanksgiving unit by talking about what we are thankful for.  This is what your children said:
Micah:  My mom and dad
Noah: Cookies
Ritsu: Apples
Aiden: Turkey
Adam: Chicken
Sandhya: My baby
Sarang: My mom
Maddox: Chairs
Daniel: Pumpkins
Hugo: My brother
Barbara: Her wonderful children
Bonne:  Our wonderful class!

We made an adorable turkey bulletin board by cutting and decorating feathers and writing on them what we are thankful for.

In addition, we turned our classroom into a campfire.  We sat around the "fire" and toasted marshmallows. We also turned off the lights, used flashlights, and sang campfire songs.  

 We concluded the week by making leaf and pumpkin shaped cookies.  They were so delicious!

Please remember to sign up to bring a dish for our International Feast on Wednesday. You don't need to bring lunch for your child on that day, since school will end right after the feast.

Love,

Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara

All About Thanksgiving

Dear Parents,

We started our unit on Thanksgiving.  We introduced the unit by reading several books about Thanksgiving.  Some of our favorites books were:  The Story of the Pilgrims, by Katherine Ross and
What is Thanksgiving?,by Margot Parker. We then had a great discussion about the meaning of Thanksgiving.  We learned that we celebrate Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday in November by having a feast.  We came up with a list of traditional foods we eat on Thanksgivings such as: turkey, rice, squash, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie.  Next week we will talk  about what we are thankful for.

The children were surprised when they discovered that Native Americans did not have stoves but cooked their meals outside on a fire. They were also surprised when they found out that they didn't have supermarkets back then.  The Native Americans hunted and fished for their food and bathed and washed in the river.  
                  
The children created fantastic tepee villages.  First, we painted a brown base and then added a fire pit.  The children  glued stones around a circle and then added  orange and red tissue paper in the center, for the flames.  Then they created a lake, by painting it with corn syrup and food coloring and adding  fish stickers to it.

Also, they painted colorful tepees and added straws to the the top (representing branches).  Finally, the children made Native Americans out of terra cotta clay.

Other fun areas in the classroom and playground:

                                                                                                                            

 The children made adorable Pilgrim hats to wear on the day of our Thanksgiving feast.

We celebrated Klaudia's 4th birthday this week .  Thank you to her family for all the delicious treats!

                   Happy Birthday Klaudia!



















Notes: 
A sign up sheet is posted in our classroom for the International Thanksgiving Feast. Please sign up for one of your family's favorite traditional foods (no meat, of course).

Please send your child to school with gloves and hats.  It is getting cold out in the playground!

Love, 
Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Dear Parents,

We had a fun-filled week celebrating Halloween.  The children made cotton ball ghosts and pasta skeletons.

In music this week the children practiced holding their violins in rest position.  They learned some Halloween songs such as:
"Creeping, Creeping, Big Black Cat,"  "Five Little Pumpkins," "Halloween is Here," and "Here we go Spooky Lou." They ended the class by marching to the beat of the drum.

We introduced the letter "U" this week.  The children first practiced writing the letter,  repeating the sound it makes. and then came up with a list of words such as: Up ,umbrella, under, unzip, and us. 


We celebrated Sandhya's 4th birthday this week. Thank you to her family for the delicious treats.



Happy Birthday Sandhya!

We concluded our week by having a fabulous Halloween parade. The children looked so adorable in their costumes.  I am sure you will all agree. They also decorated pumpkin cookies with frosting and sprinkles, mmm..., were they good! The children made Halloween witches and pumpkin puppets.  Some of the children even had their faces painted.  What a great day we all had!!! 

https://goo.gl/photos/HNL5QiN5DjQYKzLc9


                    

 

 

Happy Halloween!

Ms. Bonne and Ms. Barbara