Newsletter for the week of December 12th, 2008

Dear Families,
The Gingerbread Man has been keeping us on our toes this week, with mail deliveries from all over the world!
Monday, we got a delivery from Antarctica.Near the package, we found the ingredients to make reindeer food--glitter, oats, and plastic baggies. We all enjoyed shaking the baggies and watching the glitter move around the bags!. We put another dot on our map to mark this trip. We also read The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. After reading the story, we compared and contrasted this story with that of The Gingerbread Boy. We used a Venn Diagram (two large intersecting circles). In one circle we wrote everything that was unique to the Gingerbread Boy and in the other large circle everything that happened only in the Gingerbread Baby. In the area where the circles overlap, we wrote down things that happened in both stories.
Tuesday, the Gingerbread Man sent us a letter from Israel. He was there to learn about the celebration of Hanukkah. He also sent along menorahs for us to cut out and glue together. When we reached to the bottom of the package, we discovered 9 candles that we could put in the menorah I keep here at school to share with the children. We put the candles in and lit them briefly so the children could see them lit. They all “oooohed!” and “aaaahhhed!” when we did this! :) We also read several books about Hanukkah-including one called The Matzo Ball Boy! He ended up in some soup!
Wednesday, we got a delivery from Africa. .Inside the package were black sheets of paper, along with red and green strips of paper. The directions in our letter told us to weave mats just liked the ones used during Kwanzaa celebrations around the world. We put another dot on our map to mark this trip.
Thursday, while I was gone, the children looked at a Scholastic News that showed many different holiday celebrations. They talked and shared their thoughts about the holiday windows that were shown and then held them up to the light to see the celebration happening through the window.
Friday, we learned all about St. Lucia day. The package with our instructions was delivered to my house yesterday--wink, wink! I was glad that it was because inside was a bread machine mix for Cinnamon Raisin Bread. The Gingerbread Man told us about the tradition in Sweden surrounding St. Lucia Day. The oldest girl in the house would dress up wearing a white gown with a red sash and would deliver sweet treats, such as cinnamon raisin bread to her parents on St Lucia Day. She would also wear a crown made with greenery and candles, so the children make their own crowns.
The children have been doing a wonderful job helping me to write the Morning Message each day so far this year. Last month, we began, “Sharing the Pen”. The children were invited to come to the chart paper and help write the sounds that they heard in the words. This month, we have been writing our own individual Morning Messages and sharing them with the class. The children are invited to tell about something they did the previous evening or weekend. You should see their writing! It is done totally unassisted and it is amazing! Watch for those special messages to be coming home in the next few months to come!
Don’t forget that on Wednesday next week, we will be learning about Polar Animals and the North Pole, so be sure to send your child in their pajamas and make sure that they bring their regular shoes as well! We will have a fun day learning about very cold places and the animals that live there!
We also practiced a tornado drill this week--just a heads up so you know what your child might be talking about! :)
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristen Poindexter
http://www.poindexterpress.blogspot.com
http://www.kpoindexter.wordpress.com

Newsletter for the week of December 5th, 2008

Dear Families,
I’m sure by now you have heard that the Gingerbread Man visited our classroom and stole some of our Gingerbread cookies to take with him on and around the world tour. The Gingerbread Man left several clues for us to find and to help us learn about celebrations around the world. You can see pictures of our “crime scene” on either of the blogs. The children have put on their thinking caps are are busy making lists of suspects and clues that we find along the way.
Our week started out innocently enough--we took a picture walk through our new Big Book, The Gingerbread Boy and we then read it aloud. The children enjoyed the story very much! Tuesday, we read the story again and this time we retold and sequenced the story with pictures and the names of the characters. The children all love saying those famous words, “Run, run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man!”
Wednesday, I really talked up the graphing we were going to do in the afternoon with our gingerbread cookies. Upon returning from recess, we discovered quite a mess on our floor and we all rushed over to see what it was. We found a map of the world, passports for each of us, a book about Las Posadas, two bags of cookies (one open and empty) and a note from The Gingerbread Man. He said that he had taken the cookies and was off to learn about winter celebrations around the world--he wanted to share the cookies with everyone he met. The note said that he was visiting Mexcio first. Not too long after that, Mrs. McDaniel (our wonderful secretary!) rushed into our classroom with a packed addressed to us, straight from Mexico. We opened it and read yet another note from The Gingerbread Man. This time, he was already in Mexico, and was learning all about Las Posadas. We learned about some of the other holiday customs in Mexico, like making and hanging poinsettias. The Gingerbread Man had thoughtfully included directions to show us how to make them out of red paper. We tried, but were not very successful at that! (We will try again later!)
Thursday, the Gingerbread Man surprised us with an early morning e-mail from Brazil. We got another package (that was mysteriously delivered overnight) and when we opened it up, there was a note that told us to check my e-mail. When we did, we found and e-mail that said, “Hello from Brazil!”. We read it and saw a slideshow all about holiday customs in Brazil. The package we received contained toucan birds printed on heavy paper with instructions to watercolor them and paint them with vegetable oil to make them shine. We are letting these dry for a few days! :)
We also ended up with enough Gingerbread cookies to complete our graph (the Gingerbread Man was kind enough to leave me money to buy new cookies to replace the ones he borrowed from us). We each took one bite from the cookie and then using Gingerbread Man cutouts, we cut the same part off of them as the part we ate. We then made a graph of the results. Usually, we make a vertical graph, but this time we made a horizontal graph, so the children could see the difference, but still interpret information from it.
Friday, we got another letter--this time from Australia. The Gingerbread Man told us how the holidays are celebrated there--complete with surfboards and white kangaroos! We also made Australian bellflowers; a common flower found in Australia during the holiday season.
Friday morning, we retold the story of the Gingerbread Man using props made from wooden spoons. We sat in a circle and passed the characters around as they appeared in the story--this also let the children experience the “chase” of all the Gingerbread characters. We also made Gingerbread Man puppets for the children to bring home and retell the story to you with.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kristen Poindexter
http://www.poindexterpress.blogspot.com
http://www.kpoindexter.wordpress.com