Thanksgiving spirit

Baby, it's warm outside . . . but we celebrated Thanksgiving with hot apple cider anyway.  
















It's a Room 15 tradition for our third graders to convene to prepare hot apple cider for the class.  Into a big stockpot, the children pour three 64-ounce bottles of apple juice.  We then add a cinnamon stick, along with a sprinkle of peppercorns, cloves, and allspice.  This is the perfect opportunity for a little parts of the plant lesson on the spices (clove flowers, peppercorn berries, cinnamon bark, and allspice berries).

All morning, we enjoy the smell of spiced cider simmering on our little electric burner.















After lunch, we enjoy sipping hot cups of spiced apple cider while we read.  It's such a simple tradition but something our class really looks forward to.











There's a Book for That!
We love Molly's Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen.  It's a tender story of modern-day pilgrims who are still coming to the United States for religious freedom . . . and a beautiful reminder that we must appreciate, rather than ridicule, each other's differences.

Día de Muertos

Around the start of October, a new activity appears on our art shelf: a cardboard skull template to trace, black construction paper, oil pastels, a pair of scissors, and a few laminated examples of calaveras created for Día de Muertos.  

Here's a sample of what the children created:

There's a Book for That!

Calavera Abecedario by Jeanette Winter

Day of the Dead by Tony Johnston

The Spirit of Tio Fernando by Janice Levy

Gift for Abuelita by Nancy Luenn

A few places/events in Houston where you can learn more about this beautiful holiday: 

Casa Ramirez (241 W. 19th St., Houston, TX 77008)

MECA (Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts)

Lawndale Art Center

Say goodbye with pancakes

Today, we say goodbye to this school year and send our third-years on their way to Upper Elementary.  It is always a bitter-sweet day.  To soften the transition, we celebrate with pancakes!

Each cooperative group works together one last time to make breakfast and then sits down at the table to eat together and celebrate their year of learning exploration.




With the support of parent volunteers, the children make scrambled eggs,

pancakes,

banana-orange-yogurt smoothies with a squirt of honey and some mint from our courtyard garden,

and real whipped cream to top fresh strawberries.


The children get the opportunity to tackle challenges such as whisking (and more whisking...and more whisking),















cracking eggs,

measuring ingredients,

and flipping pancakes.

The reward for their labor is to sit down and enjoy each other's food and company.

Meanwhile, another group begins cooking.
When one group is finished eating, they work together to clear and set the table for the next group.

On this special day, children are invited to get comfy with pillows and books for a read-a-thon

or enjoy board games and other non-electronic fun.

checkers

mancala

folding paper airplanes and testing for the best design

Leap for Joy!

One day last week after school, I checked my mailbox drawer in the office and discovered an exciting surprise peeking out.  Wow!  My friend Carolyn Leap had delivered a treat for Leap Day!  With the last name "Leap," Leap Day takes on special importance.  Personalized M&Ms are in order for a sweet celebration.  She had even organized the M&Ms into individual bags of equal mass!  We're so grateful that she shares this tradition with us--and that she's so scientific (she does work at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, after all)!

Of course, I wasn't satisfied with simply handing out M&Ms to eat. 

We'd have to do some work first!

First, the children sorted the M&Ms.  We had a couple of options: by color or by printed message.  We decided to sort based on the words printed on the M&Ms.

Next, the children used tally marks to record their sorts in a chart.

This data was then used to create a bar graph.

Tea for More than a Few

Preparations for Valentine's Day begin early around here.













We start by reviewing table manners:
* Pass serving dishes to the right.
* Do not reach across the table.
* Wait to begin until everyone is served.
* Place your napkin in your lap.
* Chew with your lips together.
* Enjoy quiet conversation.
* No "goofing around" or playing with food.
* Keep your elbows off the table.
* Use utensils for their intended purpose.
* Stay at the table until everyone is finished.
The children use lunch in the cafeteria to practice for a series of days.

Next, we get out the world map and have a lesson on tea growing regions, different tea traditions around the world, and the types of tea.

White tea--Only the newest tea leaves are picked with the white fuzz still on the leaves.

Green tea--fresh tea leaves are dried and rolled or ground into a powder for the Japanese Matcha.

Oxidized, fermented, and compressed Pu-Erh.  This tea is so compressed is requires a special tea needle!

Black tea

On the day of our tea, families send supplies: heavy cream, lemon curd, sugar cubes, scones, madeleines (a French tea cake), ginger snaps, and tulips.  The children then use a whisk to whip the cream, 

arrange the food beautifully on trays and in baskets, 

reorganize our desks and chairs into a long table, and set the table with flowers, teacups, plates, and napkins.

We brew four kinds of tea: a white blooming tea (always spectacular!), genmaicha (a green tea with roasted brown rice), oolong, and ginger peach black tea.  Finally, we sit down together to enjoy.