We’re Leaving on a Jet Plane….

When the students arrived in class today, they were told to pack their suitcases and get ready for the trip of a lifetime! We are going around the world in five days to learn all about holiday celebrations. For this trip, the students will carry their suitcases, passports, plane tickets, and travel itinerary.

While we were still in our home country, we learned about three winter holidays that are celebrated in America. The first is Hanukkah. Students listened to the story Latkes, Latkes Good to Eat by Naomi Howland.

“Sadie and her four little brothers are very poor and always hungry. On the first night of Chanukah, Sadie performs a generous act, and in turn receives a frying pan that cooks up sizzling hot, golden latkes on command. Sadie tells her brothers never to use the magic pan, but when she goes out one afternoon, the mischievous boys can’t resist. They remember the words to start the pan cooking . . . but what were the words to make it stop? This humorous tale of generosity and greed is accompanied by bright, cheerful illustrations depicting a traditional Russian village. An author’s note and a recipe for Sadie’s latkes are included.” (Amazon)

Students then had an opportunity to color a wooden dreidel.

Next, I touched on Christmas. Students listened to some Christmas songs and then completed a Cloze activity where they had to record the missing words to the song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  The children literally sang while they worked. We noticed that there were several high-frequency words included in this activity!

The final winter holiday that we explored in America is Kwanzaa. Students watched this clip from Sesame Street.

They then created a handprint wreath and added each of the seven principals.

Tracing and cutting out the hand prints was a great fine motor exercise!

Finally, the students recorded the first leg of their journey in their personal travel itinerary.

Tomorrow, we are off to Mexico!