Yumm! They all sound delicious! Another part of our ancestry unit was a special visit from The Scotia Glenville Traveling Museum. The students learned about life in America about 100 years ago. They learned that life was much different, and not as easy! No iPads? No computers? No cell phones? Crazy!! They got to test out many different artifacts, such as antique games, cooking utensils, and clothing. These hands on experiences helped our ancestry unit come to life.
In November the students also learned about the presidential election. They learned about the process of voting, learned about what the president's job is like, got a brief introduction of the presidential candidates, and even got to vote in the classroom! Check out our private voting booth below...
After the students voted, they placed their vote in the ballot box so that I could tally the results later on that day. Afterwards, the students wrote a poem about what it would be like if they were president. I created the format of these by using the poem, "If I were in Charge of the World" by Judith Viorst. This is the poem...
If I were in charge of the world
I'd cancel oatmeal,
Monday mornings,
Allergy shots, and also Sara Steinberg.
If I were in charge of the world
There'd be brighter nights lights,
Healthier hamsters, and
Basketball baskets forty eight inches lower.
If I were in charge of the world
You wouldn't have lonely.
You wouldn't have clean.
You wouldn't have bedtimes.
Or "Don't punch your sister."
You wouldn't even have sisters.
If I were in charge of the world
A chocolate sundae with whipped cream and nuts would be a vegetable
All 007 movies would be G,
And a person who sometimes forgot to brush,
And sometimes forgot to flush,
Would still be allowed to be
In charge of the world.
I'd cancel oatmeal,
Monday mornings,
Allergy shots, and also Sara Steinberg.
If I were in charge of the world
There'd be brighter nights lights,
Healthier hamsters, and
Basketball baskets forty eight inches lower.
If I were in charge of the world
You wouldn't have lonely.
You wouldn't have clean.
You wouldn't have bedtimes.
Or "Don't punch your sister."
You wouldn't even have sisters.
If I were in charge of the world
A chocolate sundae with whipped cream and nuts would be a vegetable
All 007 movies would be G,
And a person who sometimes forgot to brush,
And sometimes forgot to flush,
Would still be allowed to be
In charge of the world.
I love the way that our "If I were President" poems came out. I paired them with presidential pictures of each student. Take a look at our future presidents!
Then it was time to celebrate Thanksgiving! The students wrote about what they are thankful for in different parts of their life. We created cute turkey paper bag books with this information!
Our Thanksgiving Feast was a blast! We made our cranberry relish, as we always do, with our my grandmother's old-fashioned meat grinder. Hi Grandma! (As a former BHBL elementary teacher she enjoys reading our blog!). The kiddos tried the extra juices that was created when we made the relish. It was very tart, but delicious!
Cheers! Cranberry Relish Juice!
Then we made our "Sharing Soup!" Everyone brought in a different ingredient to put into the soup. We put it all in the crockpots first thing in the morning and let it cook all day.
Throughout the day we took part in different Thanksgiving activities. First we made butter for our yummy home-made corn bread. The kids used their muscles to shake up the heavy cream!
We used the iPads to scan QR codes to listen to different Thanksgiving books.
We created placemats for our feast...
And finally we had our yummy feast! Everyone really enjoyed the Sharing Soup, as well as the other goodies that were sent in for the day (Aren't the cupcakes that Bailie and her mom created so pretty?! They were just as yummy). Be sure to check out the funny turkey drumstick hats that we created! They helped make our day extra fun!
Then it was time to switch gears and get ready for our next holiday celebration. We counted down to Christmas by doing random acts of kindness. During the twelve days before Christmas, we clipped another part of Santa's beard and read what our random act of kindness would be for the day.
We discussed how it is fun to receive presents during Christmas time, but that's not what the holidays are all about. The students really enjoyed doing nice things for others! Most of these random acts of kindness were small, but meaningful. For example, one of the days the students had to leave a nice note for someone where they would find it. They did not sign their name, but just wrote a little something. I got one and it made my day! I absolutely LOVE the hint... that really gives it away!!
Speaking of nice notes... the students were also presented with the task of writing persuasive letters to Santa. I explained that they needed to remember their audience, which means that they needed to be very polite and thoughtful! They started with a brainstorming sheet, created a rough draft, used a checklist for editing and revising, and then created their final draft. Some of the kids even offered to leave cookies and milk on Christmas night if he brought them what they wanted. I thought the letters came out great! Very thoughtful!
My little elves continued to stay busy at work throughout the entire month of December. Another activity that they created was Elf on the Shelf Acrostic Poems. Using the letters of their names, they used elf-like adjectives to describe their elf-self! I put these acrostic poems out in the hallway.
My little elves sat on the shelf so that they could watch over all of the other children walking in the hallway! They looked adorable!
These elves also created LOTS of different crafts throughout the rest of December. They created cute sled ornaments that they wrapped and shared with their families.
We made cinnamon and applesauce dough and made reindeer ornaments. If you look closely you will see that they are actually gingerbread men flipped upside down! We had so much dough leftover that we made small Christmas tree ornaments for many of the teachers in the building. This was a nice way to tie in our random acts of kindness. Who doesn't love a handmade ornament?!
Then we had our awesome parent volunteers come in to create different Christmas crafts. The parents came up with these crafts, brought in all the supplies, and ran a center with groups of students. We were busy little elves in room B4!
Mrs. Brennan brought self portrait ornaments...
Mrs. Duell brought Christmas trees...
Ms. Kiltz brought stick and ribbon ornaments
(somehow I forgot to take a picture of the entire group here)...
And Mrs. Hallstead brought snowflake ornaments...
As I said before... our holiday season was busy, but loaded with fun! My little elf enjoyed his Christmas as well. He got to meet Santa (who he calls "Hoho"), made Christmas cookies, got lots of new books (that's what happens when you have a teacher-mom), and he even got his very own train table. So much fun!!
Looking forward to buckling down for the long winter!
