Good Bye Mrs. Ball

Yesterday we continued our study of celebrations in December. We learned about Christmas. Some interesting facts we learned were:
- Christmas is celebrated on December 25
- People in North America started giving each other gifts in the 1800s
- In Germany, Santa is known as St. Nicholas and in Britain he is known as Father Christmas
- Christmas trees were started in Germany
- Electric lights on trees replaced candles because of how risky it was to have lit candles

Today we did some math around the song "The 12 Days of Christmas". We had questions like:
- How many items in total did your true love give you?
- If the cows the maids are milking have cold feet and you need to give each cow slippers, how many slippers will you need?
- How many birds did you get?
- If you feed each of the birds 3 worms a day, how many worms will you need?

We will be bringing these math questions home tomorrow along with some other items.

Today Mrs. Ball read us a story from India about a turtle who would never stop talking. His home was in danger and his two closest friends, who were birds, wanted to fly away. They told him that they could carry him if he bit onto a stick, but if he talked he could fall. The turtle agreed and clamped onto the stick. The birds carried him over a town where the townspeople started to yell and make fun of the sight of a flying turtle. The turtle became very angered and opened his mouth to yell at the people. He then fell never to be heard from again...
We talked about how this story has a moral or a lesson. Some of our ideas about the moral of this story were:
- There is a time to talk and a time to listen
- You shouldn't always do want you want when you want to do it
- You shouldn't pay attention when people make fun of you

We then started to create our own comics that had a moral or lesson. We used animals, people and even Christmas themes to help us with our comics. Ask me about what my moral was.

Today was Mrs. Ball's last day with us. We will miss her very much and have really enjoyed her time in room 9. She has promised to keep in touch and maybe stop by for a visit when time allows!

Reminders:
- Pillars of Care assembly tomorrow at 8:15
- Early dismissal tomorrow at 11:00. Please remember to still pack a snack!
- Winter break starts tomorrow at 11:01! Classes resume January 3