Holiday Fun!

There are lots of places online where you can play games with a Christmas theme. Here are a few activities you might like to try:


Make a gingerbread friend at Jan Brett's website.
http://www.janbrett.com/trim_a_jan_brett_gingerbread_friend.html


Decorate a Christmas cookie here!
http://sprintsweets.com/


Even though we have no snow, you can still make a virtual snowman at this site:
http://cyke.com/snowman.swf

Check out the Christmas fun on Kidopop. Looks like lots of other fun there, too! http://www.kidopo.com/

See where Santa is in his travels using this NORAD site. Track Santa using Google Maps or Google Earth. Just be sure you're sleeping when he passes over Danbury! Merry Christmas!

A Gift for You!

In school, we use many free programs but our favorite one is TuxPaint! It's introduced at the kindergarten level, then used quite a bit by the primary grade children for projects and work and also for "play". Even the older kids love TuxPaint - though they don't use it for class at that age!

TuxPaint is a free download for Windows, Mac, or Linux operating systems. You can find more about this program at the TuxPaint website - and you can download your own copy to use at home!

Lunar Eclipse

Were you sleeping during this week's lunar eclipse? You should have been! Here's a time-lapse video of the eclipse. When the photographer put these pictures in sequence, he added some music to his show to make it even more interesting.

Be sure to watch how the shadow of the sun slowly covers the face of the moon. And why do you suppose the moon appears so red at total eclipse stage?





Winter Solstice Lunar Eclipse from William Castleman on Vimeo.


The next total eclipse of the moon will be in June 2011! But you won't be able to see it from anywhere in North America. Too bad!

DES 2010 Holiday Dinner & Sing-Along

What a wonderful time we had. Thanks to all who worked to make it happen!

FoodPlay

That "FoodPlay" show the DES students traveled to see must have contained a powerful message! Ever since they saw it, kids have been talking about making healthy food choices, reading labels, and "whoa-foods" and "go-foods". Here's evidence of that - Friday morning Mrs. Sprague was waiting for the milkman to come because the kids drank all the white milk!

 

If you want to see more FoodPlay, visit their website at www.foodplay.com/. There's lots to see and do - there's even a video you can watch if you want to learn to juggle! Keep making good food choices!

The Winner!

The winner of the 2010 New Hampshire Ladybug Award was Princess Hyacinth (the surprising tale of a girl who floated).  Even those who did not vote for the book shouldn't be too disappointed because it's still a fantastic, magical book. It's funny that Princess Hyacinth floats so much. The Royal Underwear part is  hilarious! The illustrator, Lane Smith, used a computer to help him make the fabulous pictures. Thank you, Florence Parry Heide, the author of this wonderful and imaginative book. Congratulations!!

Countdown to Christmas

Some of you might like this website. For each day in December, there's a link to information about how Christmas is observed in different countries. For instance, in the Netherlands, children put carrots in their shoes! Why? Click around this website to find the answer!

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/calendar/index.html