Happy New Year, everyone!

God, I didn't plan to stay away from my blog as long as I have.. I got caught up with the Christmas preparations. Next thing I know and we are just back from our 2 weeks break and I have not written one single line! Shame on me!

So first of all, I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year 2013. I hope you all enjoyed Christmas. I know we did. This was probably the most relaxing and wonderful Christmas I have ever had. And I am a bit sad it is already all behind us!

As I haven't posted anything at all for a long time, I thought I would bring you up to date with what happened in our classroom before our break, by showing you a few photographs.

We made some snow flakes out of lollipop sticks to decorate the Xmas trees.

The children have been progressing steadily with the phonetic sounds.

More art with a twist of maths.. The children had to figure out strips of green paper and arrange them on a page from longer to shorter in order to create a Xmas tree. Tricky for some but so much fun!

 

 

We also made a candy cane. The children used their fingertips to draw the cane. I then punched a hole on both side of it and wrapped a ribbon around it. And voila!

 

 

 

 

I always have the children creating a little something for them to offer their parents on Xmas day. Of course, they usually can’t wait that long but they absolutely love the idea of making a surprise for Mam and Dad. So this year, they painted a MDF frame and decorated it with sprinkle and their fingerprints (again). I added a few wooden ornaments I found in my local craft shop.Then, I took a picture of each child by our Xmas tree in the classroom, printed them and laminated them. The children finally inserted their photo in their own frame. I hope all parents like it. I know the children were very proud of the end result!!!

 

 

And of course, we made our traditional magic reindeer food. Each year, Santa sends us some magic dust by post. The magic dust helps the reindeer to fly throughout the night without getting tired as they work with Santa delivering the presents on Xmas Eve. Rachel and I love this activity and the children take it very seriously. I was however shocked this year, when one mother brought me the smallest jar she could find, complaining that the one I provided last year was too big and that it was too complicated to get rid of the food!!! She never got to explain to me what happened exactly (and maybe there is a valid reason) ; but I must say that her lack of enthusiasm did hurt my feelings! I spend so much time in organising and completing these activities. I do put my heart and soul into them and sometimes, it is thrown back at me, ungratefully… What a pity!! Never mind. Most children and parents DO love the magic these little jars bring to their homes and I guess this is what matter!

 

So this is more of less the highlights of our past 4 weeks. I hope you have enjoyed it. More is now on its way as I am writing new posts. So keep in touch. See you soon. Aude x