Sunday 30 December 2012

CHRISTMAS CULTURE

Many people celebrate other holidays. In the USA there are four common holidays during December: Christmas, Swanzaa, Hanukka and Winter Solstice.
At Christmas, Santa Claus comes to put the presents inside our stockings and we leave cookies and some milk for him. 
We decorate the Christmas tree and sing Christmas Carols.


Kwanzaa is a celebration in the African American Culture. It´s a 7 day celebration with candles.

The Winter Solstice is on the 21st of December and celebrates the beauty of winter with winter sports: ski, snowboard, snowshoe and enjoy the winter months.


HANUKKAH is an eighth day Jewish holiday. It begins on the 25th day of Kislev, a month in the Hebrew calendar. This year it began on December 8th at sundown. Hanukkah means dedication in Hebrew. 

On a Menorah they light a candle each night after saying a blessing. 




Then they play a game with a dreidel.




They eat  latkes and jelly donuts.



Wednesday 26 December 2012

DECORATING A CHRISTMAS TREE

The third cycle students made a Christmas Tree decoration by guessing the words which answered some questions. 

The aim of the game was to practice the alphabet and learn Christmas vocabulary.


For each word they guessed correctly they received different stickers to decorate a Christmas tree given.


SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN

For the second cycle, we learned all about SAnta Claus!  With Megan the children listened to a Christmas classic THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS. 
Then they sang "Santa Claus is coming to town"


Finally they finished by completing a colour by numbers picture of Santa.


RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER WORKSHOP

We had plenty of fun gathering at Christmas lights and candles, no common lights at all.  In a circle, we made some actions for words as: reindeer, Father Christmas, sleigh ...


Then the whole group followed the patterns given to start learning this poem converted into one of the most popular Christmas songs.



The first time we sang it "a capella", changing the choreography as we sang the different choruses.



 Secondly we enjoyed watching an animated video on this song, having a rest at the same time.

                          

To end with, we wore the deer horns and performed the whole dance and we sang the lyrics. 


It was an awesome day!

Thursday 6 December 2012

THANKSGIVING AT SCHOOL

In the United States, people celebrate what they are thankful for on the fourth (4th) Thursday of November.

They have a big meal and spend the day with their families.


Before they eat they watch the Macy´s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The Pilgrims were the first people that traveled from England on a ship called the Mayflower to the United States. Many of the Pilgrims died during the first winter. They were cold and did not have enough food. 
The Native American helped them to grow crops, so the Pilgrims invited three of the Native Americans their feast.
The Native American brought turkey, duck, fish, deer, berries, squash and cornbread.


Now some typical food for Thanksgiving:

Turkey
Mashed potatoes

Stuffing

Sweet potatoes

















Cranberries 
Biscuits








Pumpkin pie



Apple pie










And here is the table ready to celebrate Thanksgiving.


Wednesday 5 December 2012

MOVEMBER

November is the month of the moustaches. This event is called MOVEMBER. Let´s know more about it.



At school we´ve been working on our moustaches to be Mo´bros and Mo´sistas.