Planting a winter garden

How cold...and exciting! Back in January, we went outside in the cooold to plant some vegetables in our cold frames that were build by "The Nature Lady" Sandy Willmore. Before planting, we talked about the needs to plants to successfully grow and live. The children were asked if they thought plants could survive in the winter and they all made predictions. Miss Sandy helped us begin our experiment by walking us out to plant. We have not been back to water our plants yet, due to the extreme cold temperatures, but Miss Sandy has been keeping them watered. Our goal is to make it out to the cold frames again and observe any changes in the soil (do we see anything growing yet) and monitor the temps with the ground thermometers. We will keep you updated once we can continue with our findings.

Winter Party

Thanks to the BEST room mom ever, our class enjoyed several snow themed activities during the winter party! We had Yonanas, frozen bananas that are pushed through a machine to come out like soft serve! BTW....I HAD to go out and buy one for myself afterward :) The kids made snowmen paintings using snow (shaving cream and glue) and decorated them with sticks and scarves! There were tattoos being applied, stickers used to make winter scenes, and ornament making using our own pictures!!! THANKS to all who helped supply materials and make this party AMAZING!

Jorie's Traditions

Jorie and her family celebrate Hanukkah. They brought in the menorah to share with us and explained how they light each of the 8 special candles using the 9th candle in the middle. Jorie's mom read us a book too! Then she taught us how to play dreidel. 

Savannah and Jenna's Tradition

Each Christmas Jenna, Savannah, and their family read about  Jesus's birth. They set up the nativity and take turns hiding the baby Jesus around the house to find. They make a fun game out of being the first one to find the babe and then hide him again. We played in our classroom too!

Alexander's Family Tradition

Alexander and his family celebrate Christmas with the Elf on the Shelf. This mysterious little elf comes to watch his family so he can report back to Santa about their good behavior. His elf hides in a new spot each morning after returning from the North Pole. Alexander and his dad read us the book to explain his job! 

Rhea's Traditions

Rhea and her family celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Diwali is one of the biggest festival of Hindus, celebrated with great enthusiasm and happiness in India. The festival is celebrated for five continuous days, where the third days is celebrated as the main Diwali festival or 'Festival of lights'. Different colorful varieties of fireworks are always associated with this festival. On this day, people light up diyas and candles all around their house.

See the beautiful pictures below that Rhea and her mom brought to share. 

Bennett's Family Tradition

Bennett and her family have a very interesting and historical family which makes her family Christmases extremely exciting! Her family comes from the Hatfield lineage, her mom is Janet Hatfield Bowe from Blackberry Creek, KY.  Her great, great grandfather was in the Hatfield/McCoy feud.  If you watched the movie, his name was Anderson Hatfield.  Pretty cool, huh?! They get together cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents from Texas, Kentucky, Cincinnati, and Columbus. They play games, put on a Christmas play, build gingerbread houses as teams to win prizes, and visit with Santa. He passes out gifts and they sing songs with his elves! Below are pictures of her grandmother and Bennett sharing pictures with us.