Welcome Back Chippy!

Chippy is back! He seems to be in recovery but he is back! We are so happy! 

We love you Chippy! 

Love,

Bobbie 

Elf on the Shelf Update...

Wow! Have we had an eventful week so far or what!? I am sure the children went home and had so many stories about our visit to Germany today! 

When we came into the classroom this morning, Chippy was showing off his new Football Jersey to his friends...

While we were learning about the different Christmas traditions in Germany, a visitor came in and unknowingly, took the elf off the shelf to show another student....! EEEEEEKKSSS!! Well, you could only imagine the reaction from the kids when they know that the elf will lose his magic if anyone touches him! When they came back inside from Recess, the elf was gone (we are hoping he is in the Elf hospital at the North Pole). But the kids were absolutely devastated! So devastated that they created a memorial for where he was last seen...

Chippy, we miss you! Please come back! 



Love, 

Division 10

Germany!

Frohliche Weihnachten!

(This means “Merry Christmas” in German—the language people speak in Germany!) 

Germans are known for their beautiful gingerbread houses and gingerbread people. Today we made gingerbread cookies. 

When Ms. Brown went back to the oven to collect the rest of the Gingerbread men, the large one was missing! 

She thought maybe someone was playing a trick on her but as she was reading the last page of 'The Gingerbread Man', a note fell out. The note was from the Gingerbread man, who told us he didn't want to get eaten so he ran away. We followed the clues, which led us around the school (to the library, office, staff room, washroom, and into our very own classroom!). He was playing games with us because he definitely wasn't sitting on Ms. Brown's chair when we left on our adventure!

As soon as we found him, a student called out, "Ms. Brown, quick! Eat his legs before he runs!"

We discussed a few different Christmas traditions. In Germany, Advent Calendars and Advent Wreaths are an important tradition. The Advent wreath has 4 red candles. One is lit each Sunday leading up to Christmas. 

A huge Christmas market called “Christkindlmarkt” is a place where people go to shop for food and gifts during Christmas. 

Children leave notes on their windowsills for an angel, Christkind. They add glue and sugar to their letters to make them sparkle in the windows. Christkind and “The Christmas Man” (Santa) leave gifts. Because our day was so eventful (the disappearance of our Elf on the Shelf and the Runaway Gingerbread Man), we didn't get a chance to make our angels for our windowsill, but it is definitely something we will consider making at home!

Here is a picture of Christkind and Santa:

What a busy (but successful) day in Germany! 

Frohliche Weihnachten!

Love, 

Division 10

England!

 

Happy Christmas! 

(Instead of Merry Christmas, people in England say 'Happy Christmas' instead!) 

This week we visited England. We learned that Christmas Cards started in England so we each made our own mini Christmas Card to show in our scrapbook of our stop. Also, an awesome Christmas tradition in England is opening of the Christmas Crackers at dinner! Well of course, we needed to experience this as well! Thank-you to our two amazing parents that brought these crackers in for us!

Getting ready to open our Christmas Crackers:

Paper crowns for the Kings and Queens in the room:

Happy Christmas! 

Love, 

Division 10

Sweden!

God Jul !! 

Christmas time begins on St. Lucia Day—December 13th. St. Lucia was a brave lady who brought food to Christians who were in hiding every night. She wore candles on her head to light her way. Today, on St. Lucia Day, before sunrise, the oldest girl in the family dresses all in white. She puts a wreath of Evergreen with seven lighted candles on her head. She then carries coffee and buns to her family in their rooms. Because we are only 6 and 7 years old, coffee didn't sound appealing. Instead, we get to taste hot chocolate and cinnamon buns! (Thanks to our fantastic parents for supplying the hot chocolate and homemade cinnamon buns!)

Another Swedish Christmas tradition is the Tomte, or Christmas gnome. He delivers gifts and is pulled in a sled by goats. Instead of our Canadian tradition of setting out milk and cookies for Santa, people in Sweden set out a bowl of porridge for the little gnome. 

God Jul!

Love, 

Division 10

Italy: Buone Fest Natalize!

Buone Feste Natalize!

(This means “Merry Christmas” in Italian—the language people speak in Italy!)

Today we read, 'The Legend of La Befana', by Tomie DePaola. On the night between the 5th and 6th of January, three kings wanted to visit baby Jesus. They walked all night carrying presents with them. They became lost and knocked at a door of an old woman’s house, the house of La Befana. They asked Befana which way they would need to go to find the baby Jesus and if she could come with them to show them the way to Bethlehem. Befana gave them the right directions but she refused to go. She had many things to do at her house, like sweep! Later, Befana felt badly about saying no to the kings. She made a lot of cakes and walked outside her home. She offered cakes to all the children she met on her way, hoping one of them were Jesus. Since then, Befana brings gifts to all the children.

We also discussed the importance of Christmas Eve and Day dinner with the Italian families. The houses are always busy with extended family, and their meals are always large and exciting. We heard that a delicious, must-have breakfast is Zabaglione (egg yolk, sugar, and marsala), a piece of panettone, and espresso. Unfortunately, we are not able to test out their castagne (chestnuts). But apparently roasting chestnuts is big during Christmas in Italy! Of course, we wouldn't miss talking about pizza, spaghetti, or gelato! Yum! 

Buone Feste Natalize!

Love, 

Division 10

France: Joyeux Noel!

Next stop-- FRANCE! Although we seemed to stay in Paris a lot longer than we thought, we covered enough of France to understand a few of their very important Christmas traditions. First, did you know children leave their shoes by the fireplace and on Christmas morning their shoes are filled with toys and treats!? Another Christmas tradition (that we got to experience) is something called a 'Yule Log'. A Yule Log is a very large, hard piece of wood, where in France the old tradition is to light the log. People would place decorations and food offerings upon it. As time passed, and many of the fireplaces in France began to disappear, the French created Yule Log cakes-- called the "Buche de Noel". These are part of many of the Christmas feasts in France! If you don't know what a Yule Log cake looks like, here is a picture (not our actual Yule Log that we ate; ours was strawberry and vanilla!):

Joyeux Noel!

Love,

Division 10

Christmas Around The World Begins!

This week we started our Christmas Around the World theme. Of course, we started our journey in our very own country, Canada, where we discussed our own traditions and made sure our passports were ready to go for our next day of travel. Typically, most of us hang stockings above the fireplace, put up a Christmas tree with lights and ornaments, put lights around the outside of our house, have a wreath on our door, and open up presents from family, friends, and Santa on Christmas morning.


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Today, we 'flew' to Mexico on Christmas Airlines. Upon 'landing', we sang the song "Feliz Navidad". Many of us already knew the words but it was great to make a connection that 'Feliz Navidad' means 'Merry Christmas' in Mexico's language, spanish. In Mexico, holiday celebrations begin on December 16th and end February 2nd.

Guess what!? Although Santa Claus (or Santo Clos in spanish) is a part of the holiday celebrations in Mexico, for most children, it is the Three Kings who bring presents on January 6th. On the evening of January 5th, the children lay out their shoes by the windowsill before they go to bed. When they wake up in the morning, they find their shoes filled with presents from the Three Kings. 

After that, we read the book, 'The Legend of the Poinsettia', which is a story about a little girl named Maria, who lived in a poor family in a house in a small village in Mexico. In Maria's village, it was a custom in the village to glorify the Christmas season with special events to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, Jesus. On Christmas Eve, all of the villagers lined up with something to give. Maria was very sad because she couldn't afford to buy anything. But a voice from above spoke to Maria: "The baby Jesus will love whatever you give because it comes from your heart. Love is what makes any gift special." Maria grabbed a few weeds and carried them over. Without even noticing, the weeds grew beautiful red flowers, shaped like stars. Maria's love had created a miracle! It created the POINSETTIA! 

With that, we made our own Poinsettias to add to our 'Christmas Around The World' Scrapbook. 

We also learned about Las Posadas. Las Posadas is a Christmas celebration in Mexico. It lasts 9 nights and goes up to Nochebuena (Christmas Eve). People dress up like shepherd or angels and walk in a parade, carrying candles. They pretend to be looking for a place to stay (like Joseph and Mary). They knock on doors and ask to come inside. We made a connection here-- we have Christmas Carolers that walk the streets, knock on doors, and sing carols to friendly neighbours.

Last, but definitely not least, we got to participate in Mexico's best traditional activity: the Piñata! 

We wish we had time to do this in class, but instead, we are sharing the instructions on our Blog on how to make your own Piñata. If anyone tries this at home, we would love if you could share a picture of it with us! :) 

FELIZ NAVIDAD! 


-- Division 10

Elf on the Shelf!

Yesterday someone anonymous sent us a gift (some think maybe it was Santa). 

So... We opened it. 

It was an Elf on the Shelf DVD called 'An Elf's Story'. 

The movie was about an Elf named Chippy who got a special assignment from Santa. He had to help a boy named Taylor believe again. If you aren't sure how it works in the North Pole, we can help explain it to you! All the elves are hard at work all year but in December the helping elves have different assignments where they need to watch over different families. They see the good and the bad and then they report back to Santa when we are all sleeping. After the movie, we had many children wishing that we had an Elf on the Shelf. Santa must have heard us because after we got back from our lunch break, this was sitting on our shelf:

So exciting! After reading the book, we learned that we needed to name him right away! We brainstormed many names, but in the end, we decided on the name "Chippy", just like the elf from the movie! 

So prepare yourself, we will be excited to share our stories of Chippy through our busy days of school! 

-- Division 10

Apple Store!

What a great field trip to the Apple Store we had today! 

As our final piece of our Community project, we each brainstormed different "w" questions about our chosen jobs in our community. From these questions, we answered each one, making a story board ahead of time. When we went to the Apple Store, the team showed us how to take our story board information and add it into an app called, "Tele Story". We got to choose different hair, hats, and silly features before recording ourselves in a video. In the video, we asked and answered our questions through a News Cast. Very neat! 

Thank-you Apple for everything today! We are so excited that we get to keep our shirts, USB bracelets, and certificates! We were glowing all day! (Not just because we were wearing our yellow shirts...)

Thanks again! 

Love, 

Division 10