ENGLISHCOVAS: 11/14

27 November 2014

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Today is Thanksgiving in the USA and our friend Kimberly has told us about the celebration.

It consists of a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada.

The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621. This feast lasted three days, and it was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims.

In the United States, certain kinds of food are traditionally served at Thanksgiving meals. Firstly, baked or roasted turkey is usually the featured item on any Thanksgiving feast table (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as "Turkey Day"). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, various fall vegetables (mainly various kinds of squashes), and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner.

In order to celebrate Thanksgiving at school, our small children have dranw a turkey using his hand and we gave thanks for all the things we are gratefull for in our lifes such as family, friends, love...

15 November 2014

AUTUMN CRAFTS

Children of year 3 made these Autumn crafts.
Scarecrow toilet paper roll craft:

Materials: Paper roll, an orange papercard, some yellow wool, a newspaper, felt tips, glue.

First, we cut a strip of orange card and stick it on the top of the roll to make the scarecrow head. Then we cut several strips of wool and stick them on the scarecrow head to make the hair. Then, we make a paper hat using a newspaper and put it on the top. Finally, we decorate the scarecrow with the parts of the face and the clothes.

Owl toilet paper roll craft:
Materials: Toilet paper roll and felt tops.

This is a very simple craft to make with small children, as the only thing we have to do is to fold the top of the roll to make the head shape, and then, let the children decorate it with felt tips of different colours.

3 November 2014

HALLOWEEN AT SCHOOL

We celebrated Halloween with Kimberly, the language assistant. She told us how they celebrate Halloween in the United States.
Year 6 pupils wore scary costumes and helped other classes how to make spooky monsters:
5-year-olds : Paper pumpkins

First, we cut out orange paper lengthwise into strips. Then, we made an asterisk or star shape by using six paper strips. Finally we fan out the paper strips from the star shape into a pumpkin shape and put some green strips on the top of the pumpkin to make the leaves.
Year 1: Bat toilet paper roll craft
First we colored the paper roll with black paint and let it dry. Then, we gave the children a paper card with the silhouette of a bat and they cut and decorated it. Once the paper rolls were dry we stuck the bat shapes on the roll. Finally, we folded the top of the rolls to make the ears of the bat.

Year 2: Cat toilet paper roll craft
First we colored the paper roll and let it dry. Once the paper rolls were dry we stuck the eyes and the nose. Third, we made the cat whiskers with some pipe cleaners of different colors. Finallly we folded the top of the rolls to make the ears of the cat.

Year 3: Halloween foam pins
First, the children drew and cut the shapes of the different halloween things. Then, they decorated it with a great variety of materials such as felt-tips, purpurin, foam... Then, we stuck some safety pins on the back.

Year 4: Witch toilet paper roll craft
First we painted the rolls and let it dry. Then we gave the children a paper card with the templates of the witch hat. Once the rolls were dry, they decorate the face of the witch with black markers and made the witch hair by sticking some cotton balls. Finally, we put the hat on the witch.