S-A-N-T-A

Shared Reading is when we use an enlarged text to read together as a class. Sometimes this is a big book and sometimes it is a song or poem on a chart. One of our favorite shared readings right now is the song above, sung to the tune of Bingo. Make sure to ask your child to sing it for you! While we are singing about Santa, we made sure to complete a Santa craft!

Thanksgiving Vacation

What did you do for Thanksgiving? Some people travel (like Ishaan who is in Hong Kong!) and some people stay at home. Mrs. Timmons' visited her husband (Coach Timmons') family near Tampa. They enjoyed the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey and dressing on Thursday. Mrs. Timmons brought a pumpkin cake that was Coach Timmons' favorite and she helped her husband's cousin make mashed potatoes. Mrs. T was there, of course, and she brought pumpkin muffins and the "green stuff" which is a special lime gelatin which has been at her family Thanksgiving table for years. They enjoyed time together with aunts, uncles, sisters, parents neices and cousins.

On the way back to Jacksonville, they all stopped at Universal in Orlando. Mrs. Timmons posed at the Curious George exhibit since that's the theme of our blog!

What did you do for Thanksgiving? Did you travel or stay at home? Did you have something favorite to eat for Thanksgiving Day? Did you remember to be thankful for all the special things in your life? Let us know through a comment to this post. We'll also begin posting some of the children's responses on our blog!

Added 11-26-07

Felix wrote this about his Thanksgiving vacation:

I wit to set tmdos for denner.

I ped wat mi frnd Mario and

Tobe. I plad wut futboll

and i wach Spitman 3.

Teks faw mi family and fris.

I went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner.

I played with my friends Mario and

Toby. I played with football

and I watched Spiderman 3.

Thanks for my family and friends.

Maria wrote this about her Thanksgiving holiday:

IHavFuNuNMIHODa

IHavRISandSOLTFORTaNkS

gIVIgDNR

IPLaJUPRO

AYTSID

NFEDtheRaBITS

I have fun on my holiday.

I have rice and salt for Thanks-

giving dinner.

I played jump rope

outside

and fed the rabbits.

We Are Thankful For...

A very fabulous center at our Powwow last Friday was the Storytelling Center, held inside the large Teepee on our primary playground. At the conclusion of the storytelling, a "talking feather" was passed around and each person holding the talking feather told the group what they were thankful for. Here are the Timmontes' responses:

Emily- my mommy came over to my school

Alexis- the sun

Hunter- the Teepee

Unique- the Teepee

Michael- my teachers

Nathan- the Teepee

Dominic- cowboy

Eleana- the whole world

Matthew- Jesus

John- My dad getting money

Evan- God and everything

Maria- my parents were here

Alyssa- my house

Maya- my family

Crawford- the sky

Ishaan- for the the peoples in this Teepee

Taniyah- God and Jesus

Chloe- God

Natalie- Mary, God and Jesus

Felix- water

Caleb- the earth

Parker- my mommy and daddy

Mikayla- the Iroquois-they help keep us safe

Elissa- my brother

Madison- Jesus

Jaden- my family

Pow Wow - WOW!

Pow Wow was a magical day. We marched into the Pow Wow arena as the proud Iroquois Nation in our authentic costumes. We did a special dance to honor the harvest of the "The Three Sisters" (corn, beans, squash) with our turtle shell rattles, and then danced and sang to the "Dance of the Skunk" and the "Sunset Song." Chief Chets Creek danced and Chief Jumping Frog told us a special story. After we had pictures made, we spent the rest of the day in Centers hearing about the great outdoors, tasting native foods, making clay medallions and painting with native dyes. We went on a Scavenger Hunt for things Native American boys and girls would have looked for, and SingUm Song helped us keep the beat with drums. We went into the great teepee where Peaceful Waters told us about the great paintings inside the tent and invited us to share something we were thankful for. It was a WONDERFUL day. Below are some of our Pow Wow photos. If you have digital photos that you would like to share with the class, just e-mail them to Mrs. T at timmonsd@dreamsbeginhere.org as an attachment and she will add them to our collage below.

Alex's Lemonade Stand

Alex was four years old when she was diagnosed with cancer. She asked her parents if she could make lemonade and sell it so she could donate the money to research. Alex held the first Lemonade Stand before she succumbed to the disease. You and your child may be interested in reading more about Alex and her Lemonade Stand at http://www.alexslemonade.org/

Our class has joined with all the kindergarten classes at Chets Creek to host Lemonade Stands this year to help raise money for research for childhood cancer. We were honored to be asked to host the first Lemonade Stand on our first Parent Night at Chets Creek. During class the children learned how to make lemonade. Some of them even wrote the directions so other classes would know how to make it when it is their turn. Some of the students came with their families at night to sell the lemonade and the children kept tally mark of how many glasses they sold. The class even showed their experiences by posting it on this month's bulletin board, When Life give You Lemons...Make Lemonade! Make sure to stop by and check out our board!

It's a Family Affair

Tonight parents joined us to help celebrate our Native American unit. We have learned so much about our Native American tribe, the mighty Iroquois Nation. We have learned that they ate corn, beans, and squash and that they called these vegetables the "Three Sisters." We have learned that they made music by beating drums and shaking rattles that were sometimes made of turtle shell. In fact, we have made our own rattles to dance with at our Pow Wow on Friday. We have learned that the Iroquois wore feathers in their hair and we have made special head feathers to wear with our Iroquois costumes. In fact some of the moms in our class have been working on making Native American costumes for us that are like the ones that would have been worn by Iroquois boys and girls many years ago. You and your family might enjoy reading more about the Iroquois Nation at http://www.geocities.com/bigorrin/iroquois_kids.htm.

Tonight we enjoyed working with our families on making longhouse which are the houses that the Iroquois lived in. If you would like to see our longhouses, just stop by the lobby in the front office and see our display! Below are some pictures of some of our families as we enjoyed the night together.

We hope to see you at the Pow Wow!