Christmas Starts!

We had a lot of fun today! Here are some of the things we did:

• Spanish Christmas songs: I was surprised how quickly the kids picked these up! Here are the words and pronounciations to help you make sense of what they've probably been singing all day :).

To the tune of "Farmer in the dell"

Feliz Navidad (fey-lees nah-vee-dahd),

Feliz Navidad.

Merry Christmas everyone,

Feliz Navidad.

To the tune of "Jingle Bells"

Cascabella, cascabellas (kah-skah bay-lahs) [Jingle Bells]

tra la la la la

Que alegria (kay alay-gree-uh) [what fun]

todo el dia (tow doe el dee-uh) [all day long]

Que felicidad (kay fay-lees-ee-dahd) [what joy]

AYE! (Eye!)

• Christmas ornaments: We made gingerbread ornaments for our class tree, which we will decorate next time. They smelled so delicious! Here's the recipe, for anyone who's interested:

Fragrant Ornaments
3/4 cup ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon ground allspice

2 Tablespoon. ground cloves

1 Tablespoon. ground nutmeg

Mix above 4 ingredients. Stir in one cup of applesauce. Roll out 1/4" thick cut with cookie cutter. Poke hole with big needle. Let dry 4 to 5 days (on wire rack works well) or bake at 300 degrees for 30-45 minutes. When completely dry, thread ribbon through.

• Number 6: We had a little mix-up and learned about the letter J on the day we were supposed to do number 6, so today we caught ourselves up! (Sign language for 6 is to hold pinkie and thumb down--like you would to do the number 3).

• Birdfeeders: Finally, we were able to make our birdfeeders! We talked about why we feed birds in the winter as well. For your birdfeeders: remove the tape and push the triangle pieces in until they bend a little bit.