A look to the past. . .

< Here are some pictures I had on my camera. As you know, I am HORRIBLE about taking pictures at preschool. I forget. Even when I put the camera in my pocket so I won't forget. I still forget.

Cooking up a storm in South America! Now aren't those the sweetest chefs you have ever seen? We used our math and measuring skills to whip up some authentic Brazilian cheese bread. Did you know that stuff is naturally gluten-free! I was so happy! I didn't have to adapt a recipe! Woot! Lily was excited, too, to learn that in Brazil they eat a bread that gluten-free. Everyone does!
The kids loved mixing, pouring and measuring, and even though I let them do it all themselves (and I didn't have time to test it out before school) the breads turned out delicious and my kitchen wasn't nearly as messy as I thought it would be.

I had the kids scoop the batter into mini muffin tins to make mini breads. They were so cute, and puffy and yummy!

Okay check out this awesome snack a parent brought in during January. Not the blurriness, that is all me, but the PENGUINS! those are cream cheese stuffed olives, people. Leave it to Rachel to bring an artistic, healthy snack that also goes with our Antarctica theme. They were good, too!

These two pictures are old. I love that this post is so random. Even that last sentence! But, I wanted to post them, since I rarely remember to take a picture. . . I can't waste a single one!

This was during our South America unit. . .uh. . .in November! Each child brought a fruit that comes from the rain forest. I cut them up and we made portraits of ourselves using the fruit. I showed them paintings by Giuseppe Arcimboldo and we tried to name all the fruits and veggies he used in his work. Then, we talked about shapes, lines and colors (a review from our art lessons) and had them draw the self-portrait they had made. They were so dang cute! Of course, then we ate! Yum. For writing time, we wrote the names of the fruits we had brought to school and for a little math, we talked about fractions as we cut up the fruit, and played a little fruit basket game where we had to take a fruit (how many are left), or put one back (how many now) and sometimes 2 or 3 people would take one out at a time. It was a great day. . .I think because it was all food related. Food makes things great.


Here is an example of Arcimboldo's work.  Why it is so huge, I don't know.  My talents do not include technical support.  

Christmas in Europe

Grab your passports! We ended our study of Europe with a tour of European Christmas traditions. First stop. . .France!

We left our shoes for Pierre Noel.
We read a story about a little French girl you may have heard of. . .Madeline?
We sang a French carol we had been practicing: The Friendly Beasts.
We learned a few words and phrases in French.

How can you visit Paris without pastries? I have been trying for 8 months now to find a gluten-free crepe recipe that 1. doesn't taste like sawdust and 2. will roll up like a crepe. I am happy to say that I finally did it. Just it time for our party and a perfect justification to break my own no-sugar-at-school rule I perfected my GF crepes and let my little Parisians shmear them with Nutella and bananas. Bon Appetite!


Next we went to Germany. We read a story about a Christmas Mouse, learned that the Teddy Bear originated in Germany and searched for the pickle the elves left on the tree. Cambell was overjoyed that she was the pickle finder and opened a giant present: Christmas bears for everyone!

Back on the train to Denmark. The kids took turns being Saint Lucia. This woven crown is one of my favorite thrift store finds of late. Penny was our lucky nut-in-the-pudding finder (more sugar. . .I KNOW! IT WAS CHRISTMAS IN EUROPE! WHAT COULD I DO?) We had bacon in Denmark, too. It was the closest thing to a traditional Danish Christmas food that didn't sound really gross. My husband served a church mission in Denmark and said that bacon was fairly authentic. I took that as validation. Really, though, boiled cabbage? I couldn't do it.

Then we dressed up and sang and danced around the tree. This was pretty much hilarious. Look at those beards I found! They cracked me up!

While in Denmark we looked at some beautiful work by Carl Bloch. What a perfect artist to study during Christmas time. We all loved how he painted light and how parts even looked like they were glowing.
We made our own Carl Block inspired pictures of the Nativity by using crayon resist for the light parts. I had them use poster crayons for the star and any light parts so that it would really glow underneath the dark water color that we brushed on top.

Our last stop was in England. We ate fish and chips and made crackers to give our siblings. We sang Christmas carols and read a Christmas story.

The kids loved traveling to each country and getting their passport stamped. They loved tasting the different foods and taking a little prize from each place we visited. My only regret is that I didn't hire a photographer. I get so busy I forget to take pictures. . .also my pictures are, well, look at them! Someone help me!

Thanksgiving. . .never too late to be Thankful!

Okay,  I am the worst blogger, ever.  I am going to say it is because I spend all my time planning and executing amazing lesson plans.  Yep, I am going with that.

We are getting ready to board the Mayflower. We knew we couldn't take much so we had to think about what is really important to us. What are we the most Thankful for? Answers ranged from pillows, to dolls (some that they didn't own yet but hoped to have. . .hey, Christmas was already on their minds. . .) to watermelons to their Dadddy's.
I made little suitcases for the kids out of file folders and braided fabric for the handles. They were very cute!

We had to follow a map to the new land, once we got on the boat. Our maps had words on them. They kids each had their own map (we are all at different reading levels so this worked well to customize) and had to search the right word to match from the 'sea'. When they completed their map, they were in America!

A couple of the better readers had to match synonyms.

Mmmm. . .our feast! Each pilgrim brought something that would be at the FIRST Thanksgiving feast. What great parents I have to research and prepare with their little pilgrims. We had grapes (they foraged for fruit), Pumpkin and pistachio pudding (pudding is the only documented desert we know for sure they ate on that first Thanksgiving), roasted root veggies (YUM!!!!), Corn pancakes (gluten-free, of course). The kids loved it. They were so polite and tried everything. What good little pilgrims.

School for pilgrim children was much harder than it is today. They didn't have pens and crayons and markers like we do. They didn't even have all the books we do! They had the bible and that was about it. They had to learn from the things they had so they learned from the bible.
We found out what it was like in school for these children by copying a verse from the bible. But, no pens or crayons! We used feathers we found in the chicken coop and pots of mud, ash and water for our ink. Everyone agreed that crayons were a lot easier!
We had a great Pilgrim-themed Thanksgiving party. The kids were adorable and loved the variation from our usual schedule.

A lot of the ideas for this party came from a beautifully photographed blog that I LOVE: thenatureofgrace.blogspot.com

I think if I could photograph like that. . .I would blog more. In my head, the memories look like that.