Pom poms

During Leila's special week, her mom visited our class and helped all the children learn how to make pom poms.  With a skein of yarn in one hand, they wrapped yarn around their other hand until they reached a desired thickness. The yarn wrap was removed and tied in the center, then the end loops were snipped.  Many discovered that their pom poms needed "hair cuts" after the loop snipping to even the lengths.  That was clearly the favorite part of the process!  The children were delighted with this new craft and several tried to make them in the evening at home.  Leila shared that she had made lots of pom poms and they decorated her room as snowflakes.  Such a festive idea!!

Gingerbread House Masterpieces

There was an abundance of creativity brewing in Kindergarten this afternoon as parents, grandparents and kindergartners created spectacular gingerbread houses with winter wonderland yards.  We were fortunate to have so many family members join us for the set-up and clean-up, but most importantly to share their inspiration and time with the children in this much anticipated project, as they worked together to create their masterpiece houses. Heartfelt thanks to all of you who made this such a splendid afternoon!  Watch the magic happen in our slideshow.

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Sledding Fun!!

Yes, more SNOW!! And yes, I love it, but I am following the children's exhilarating lead these days.  So naturally, when the opportunity arose to go sledding this afternoon we couldn't be stopped!  As a matter of fact, several children, in their excitement, got out the door without their boots, which they promptly returned and put on.  Just look at the expressions of incredible joy on their faces as they race down the hill!  We had such a fabulous afternoon!

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¡Los Colores!

Continuing with the subject of los colores, we have read some books, played games and this week the children had a chance to do some coloring. And once in a while we get to play - at the request of students - La Víbora de la Mar. See photos below.

Our First SNOW!!

What a thrill it was to go outside and play in the snow!  The children were anxious to get outside from the moment they arrived this morning and they didn't want to come in until they were wet and cold.  With this wintry weather here, please be sure your child has a complete change of clothes at school and be sure to send them with hats and gloves, and snow pants if they have them.  That way we can enjoy more time outside where we love to be!!

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Happy Hanukkah!

Three of our classmates shared their Hanukkah traditions during this past week. We learned that there was a great battle leading up to a miracle of light that brought about the Hanukkah celebration, also known as a 'festival of lights.' The children created a menorah that we lit and were enchanted to have the blessing sung to us by Leila, Anjali and Elise. We made delicious latkes for snack.  People stopped by throughout the day because they smelled the aroma from our cooking project.  Then, Abby created clues that led the children on a search for Hanukkah gelt. They had such fun going from clue to clue and ultimately finding the gelt in our garden bed!  Abby taught us that the Star of David is a symbol on the flag of Israel.  Using pattern blocks, the students discovered (much to their surprise!) many ways to create the Star of David.  It was so rewarding to hear their excitement as a new discovery was made.  We learned how to play the dreidel game and to sing the dreidel song.  We also shared a tradition that we read of in one of our books and that a first grader's family introduced to me last year.  We made tzedakah boxes.  Tzedakah means justice, right actions and charity.  The boxes are used to collect money to be given to someone in need.  We discussed that our boxes could also be used to hold notes about kindnesses done or things that would make someone else feel good.  Our final activity was a rhyming game.  The students had to match the word on a flame to a rhyming word on the candlestick. They noticed that the endings on the pairs of words contained the same letters!!

It was wonderful to hear the connections that were made this week to the celebration of Diwali and the observations about how each celebration is unique.  We would love to have more family members come in and share a special tradition with us.  And, don't forget this Friday afternoon is our gingerbread house making extravaganza - not to be missed if at all possible!!

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Sharing the Holiday Spirit

We invite you to help us bring children and families a more joyful holiday season and a happier New Year.

We are collecting new toys for Youth Service, Inc.

  

A collection box is located in the Lower School lobby entrance.  Please refrain from giving video games, DVDs, or toys that are violent. 

Come to the GIFT WRAPPING PARTY!

On Tuesday, December 10^th at 3:30 students and families are invited to join us after school to create gift-wrap and wrap gifts that have been collected.  All are welcome and there is no cost to participate. To register yourself and/or your child, please e-mail Andrea at aemmons@abingtonfriends.net

 For information about Youth Service, Inc., please visit their website:http://ysiphila.org/

Felices Fiestas

Beginning with Thanksgiving until a little after the New Year's, we have many celebrations. Below are a couple of holiday events involving Hispanic culture, arts and music.

Ninety Miles.

Art After 5: Christmas in Mexico (scroll down). A big gracias to Catalina for informing us about this!

¡Felices Fiestas! (Happy Holidays!)

Color Mixing Chemistry

The Kindergarten students did some "color mixing chemistry" this week in science class.  With beakers of primary colors and pipettes, the students were challenged to create as many different colors as possible.  Students experimented with different shades of green, purple and orange.  We came up with a huge list of descriptive names for our colors.  The students made honey brown, mint green, sunset orange, midnight purple and many, many others!  The students are also going to do color mixing activities in Spanish and art, which will be a great reinforcement of this experiment!