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!