The photo above is watercolors by Adeline

It was so great to see our students greeting their friends after returning from the vacation and exploring what is new in our classroom.

 

We finished the first week in January by celebrating our last winter holiday–the Día de Reyes Magos. It is from Spain, Mexico and many other Latin countries and is a continuation of Chritsmas in commemoration of the coming of the Magi. Griselda shared with the class her own experience growing up celebrating this holiday in Mexico. She learned from her parents and grandparents that when the three wise men heard that the special baby was born they made a long journey to express their love, respect, and brought presents for the child. They met the child on January 6th when he was about two weeks old. 

 

On January 5th children in Mexico polish their shoes and place them by the window or door. During the night, the Reyes Magos–Melchor, Gaspar, and Baltazar–stuff the shoes with chocolates and leave toys and clothes. On January 6th the family bakes a ring shaped cake  (rosca or roscón) with dried fruit and a small plastic baby doll in it. They make hot cocoa as well. They then get together with family and close friends and share the cake and hot cocoa. Each person cuts their own piece of cake and whoever gets the plastic baby doll in their piece has to host a tamales party for everybody on February 2nd, the Día de la Virgen de la Candelaria. 

 

The children loved listening to the story and then each student pointed to the part of the cake they wanted. This year Marshall got the baby! Don’t worry Marissa and Matt, we have adjusted this tradition and Marshall can bring cookies for his classmates instead of tamales.

 

Part of this tradition are the crowns. Teachers, parents, and businesses such as restaurants or markets provide crowns to the children. Niki helped our students to craft their crowns and they loved them!

 

During the second week of January we had two special events. Phoenix joined Live Oak! We are very proud of how the students have been warm and welcoming with her.  We also celebrated Iona’s birthday! It was a pleasure to have her family with us for the birthday circle.

 

The art projects this week focused on observing, drawing, and painting winter trees using tempera paint, pencils, crayons, and watercolors.

The student’s growth over the break is evident and we see them trying new works from the classroom shelves.

Sensorial

Language

Math

 

 Learning about reptiles and making simple patterns has been a theme in Live Oak and we will keep providing fun and enrichment projects to foster these topics.

 

 

Dancing and movement keep being an important part of our routine and now we are fortunate to have Grandpa Clyde, a Cedar student’s grandpa, who volunteers and brings music, song, and lots of joy to our class!

Thank you

Griselda, Niki, and Catherine