Our First Week of Holiday Travels

Throughout the month of December, we will be traveling to other countries to learn about different holiday traditions and celebrations. 

Since you cannot travel to other countries without a passport, we began our theme by making holiday passports.

 So far we have 2 stamps in our passports.

Our first stop with the Holiday Express was Germany. 

Thanks to Jackson for sharing his Advent Calendar and some German cookies.

While in Germany, we created a German (Advent) Calendar.  You can also ask your favorite "K" Kids
how to count to 10 and say "Merry Christmas" in German.

We each created our own 'Tannenbaum" to decorate the hallway.

After we decorated our Tannenbaums, we had to tally each of our shapes and write the correct numbers.

Here we are decorating our Tannenbaum in the Playhouse Center.  Doesn't it look festive?  We're even decorating ourselves!

Frau Brockhaus wore a hat that her parents brought her when they visited Germany.  They also gave her some German coins.  Some of them were magnetic!

This week, we also wrote letters to Santa with our 6th grade buddies.  We are hoping that Santa will respond soon.

 After we wrote our letters, our buddies helped us make a red and green paper chain to decorate our classroom..

We almost have our chain finished!  It looks great all around our classroom.

Candy canes originated in Germany.  They started out as sugar sticks to keep children quiet in church.  Through the year, they evolved into a peppermint flavored stick with a crook at the top.

Friday, we hopped on the Magic Holiday Bus and traveled to Holland.  Here are Mrs. Brockhaus' shoes for the trip.  Her brother brought them for her when he went to Holland.

We learned that children in Holland put their shoes out on their porch on Sinter Klaas Day (December 6th).  If the children have been good, they get candy and treats.  If they have been naughty, they get coal and rocks.  Here's a sample of our art project.  As you can see, this shoe is full of candy and treats! 

We're going to put our shoes out at home and hope that Sinterklaas will make it to Nebraska!