St Andrew's day and the day before the 1st of December!

Some very excited small children have gone to sleep in my house - "I can't wait to open my calender!".We have several - 3 traditional ones, 1 activity one (which I did for the 1st time last year) and 1 lego one (which we have never done before [although having seen what they are now going for on Amazon I am wondering if we should sell it for a tidy profit)). I have excitedly been planning the activities for a few weeks - it is hard to think of things which can be done in the chaos post school/homework and before bed ... but hopefully I have managed it!



I have also been sorting out our Christmas books and tiding away books from our Space topic! I can't wait for tomorrow either!

Today was St. Andrew's day and I was very excited to find out some facts about him to share with my class, children and here:

•  St Andrew is the not only the  patron saint of Scotland but  Greece and Russia as well.
• He was Jesus' first disciple
• The white diagonally transversed cross on the flag of Scotland represents the shape of the cross he was crucified on by the Romans.
• The day before St Andrew's day is traditional for girls to pray to St. Andrew for a husband. They would make a wish and look for a sign that they had been heard.

I also found out why the thistle is the national emblem of scotland:
Legend tells how the Viking Army of King Haakon of Norway, intent on conquering the Scots landed at night to surprise the sleeping Scottish and in order to move more stealthily under the cover of darkness the Norsemen removed their footwear. But as they drew near to the Scots one of  the Vikings stood on a thistle and shrieked out in pain, alerting the Clansmen of the advancing Norsemen who then awoke and saw them off!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is an American festival - but it is close to advent and something to pass the time whilst I am waiting excitedly for December to get the Christmas glitter and stuff out! Last year I went all out and cooked a Thanksgiving dinner but turkey was hard to come by and no-one liked Pumpkin pie or sweet potatoes so this year I didn't bother.

However we did read this book:

which nicely told the story and then we talked about all the things we were thankful for - mainly build-a-bears but I did tease out of them things like food and family.

P (with help) also made a handrpint turkey at nursery:

Make your own Christmas cards

This is something run by school - the children create their own card and then the school sends them to a company to be printed. I think it worked out at something like 70p a card which I didn't think was that expensive. All the girls were keen to have a go - here is their art work before it got sent off to be turned into cards! Can you work out whose is whoses?

Fireworks through the window

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

The husband took Miss I and G off to watch the fireworks at Addenbrookes tonight but as E and P had hated it I decided to stay at home at watch them through the safety of a closed window! P still hated it and needed to be held but E would at least watch them! "Next year I'll go with the sisters" she said.  When they came back, we had sausages, baked potatoes and sticky toffee cupcakes - yummy!

Cloud dough aliens

I have been wanting to try cloud dough ever since I read about it on pininterest  I (well I say I but actually E made it) used 2 and half cups of flour, a little bit more than a half cup of baby oil and some black food colouring.  It defiantly has a different feel to play dough. It is more crumbly but has a nicer feel and smell!

E enjoyed adding buttons to make little cakes which I had to buy and then to fit in with the space theme she made aliens using wiggly arms and pipe cleaners!