Our class LOVED Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin!

Karina listens carefully.

Thank you to Karina's mom...she was our first Mystery Reader this January!

Yupeng's mom watches him stitch up his ornament.

Great job sewing, Shantanu!

Zachary sews his felt ornament!

Happy New Year!

Tess, tell your mom that we appreciated her helping us with the sewing craft:)

Thank you to all the families who sent in paper products, drinks, delicious food, and sweet treats for our winter holiday celebration.  The children enjoyed themselves very much!

What a great looking group!

The 2nd Graders went on a whirlwind tour of the continents during our Holidays Around the World Tour!  The children learned to sing a song naming the 7 continents and 5 oceans...ask them to sing it to you at home!  During our trip we stopped at many interesting countries and learned a little bit about their winter holidays.  The children got to pick up "souvenirs" along the way being careful to pack them in their suitcases before heading to the airport for another exciting flight to a new destination.  We got to hear music, watch video clips, read non-fiction articles, create mini-books, share yummy treats, and create fabulous crafts as we moved from country to country.

Our first stop was the Netherlands where Sinterklaas filled our wooden shoes with oranges and speculaas windmill cookies-YUM!

Our stop in Russia was fantastic.  The children were able to create Russian nesting dolls.

Our stop in Greece was fabulous...the children created sailing ships in honor of Saint Nicholas who was the patron saint of sailors!

In Mexico we discovered Las Posadas where people carry candles and sing carols while they travel from house to house.

We loved Poland where piernik and gingerbreads are delicious treats...we created our own gingerbread men!

The children watched an amazing dragon dance when we landed in China.  We learned about the Chinese New Year, and found our our zodiac animals- depending on the year we were born.  Helen handed us all red money packets for good luck...thank you Helen!  Can you see our beautiful Chinese lanterns?

When we stopped in India, we learned about The Festival of Lights-Diwali.  We created beautiful diya lamps.

We landed on the continent of Antarctica...where there are no countries!  The scientists who work there taught us about the Emperor Penguins.

Helen snuggled up by the classroom's roaring fire!

We stopped in Germany where the tradition of the Christmas tree began...we had to find the pickle hidden in the classroom to win a little prize...Congratulations to Will who saw the pickle first!

The students landed in Canada and designed a cool Canadian stocking to hang on our mantle of the classroom fireplace!

We stopped in the "Land Down Under" and learned that in Australia...it is summertime when the children celebrate Christmas.  Children make SANDMEN at the beach instead of snowmen!

We added a candle each night of Hanukkah on our trip to Israel...we got to practice spinning our dreidels!

Zachary shares his dad with our class...thank you for being our last Mystery Reader of 2015!!!!

Zachary's dad shares a great book collection with our class:  The Munschworks Grand Treasury by Robert Munsch