Sunday, December 26, 2010

REINDEER GAMES!


Our end-of- month activity was based on the song
"Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"
" . . . They wouldn't let poor Rudolph, join in any Reindeer Games."

First, we made these cute little reindeer gift bags.


Then, we played this:
Congrats to our top 5 qualifiers:
1.  Syd S.
2.  Camden
3.  Alexis
4.  Tyson
5.  Seth

OUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIES

Almost nothing says Merry Christmas more than
a
cHrIsTmAs MoViE!!!

Our favorite Christmas movie is . . .

 . . . it received 23% of the votes!

In 2nd place is . . .
 . . . it received 19% of the votes.

We had a tie for 3rd place . . .

and . . .

 14% of votes.

We had a tie for 4th place . . .

 . . . and

 9%.

Our last vote getters were also a tie . . .

 . . . and

They each received 4% of the votes.

POM POM PILLOWS!


We learned how to make pillows the way the people did in Colonial America (sort of)

 Wrapping the yarn on the frame was very easy!

More wrapping! 

 We stacked our frames every day at the front of the room!  Check out the gorgeous colors!

Tying was harder than wrapping!
Maren helps Gentry tie...Gentry hurt her shoulder. 

Camden checks to see if Garrett's pillow is stuffed enough. 

Tate's sister helps him tack on the top. 

Waiting in line for an available sewing machine. 

More waiting. 

More stuffing.

...and here are pictures of the finished product...


The girls with their pillows!


The boys with their pillows!

It's amazing every year the colors and fabric the kids come up with!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE 5TH GRADE TEACHERS!

MS. WASHBURN   MISS WAYMAN   MR. GOFF   MISS MITCHELL

Monday, December 20, 2010

OUR SPECIAL GUEST


On December 8, we had a special visitor to our class . . . Michael Waddoups.

President Waddoups is Senate President of the Utah State Senate!  And, the grandfather of . . .
. . . Isabel!

President Waddoups taught us about the Legislative Branch of the state government.  He also told us of a law that he sponsored . . . that of making the speed limit through school zones at 20 mph!
Thanks for that great law!
(Hey, kids...this will be a question on the test for your driver's license...GUARANTEED!)
President Waddoups presented our class with signed little rulers . . . telling us to "Measure Up" in life!

President Waddoups, Miss Mitchell, and Isabel!
(P.S.  Isabel's dad is an alumnus of Alpine Elementary!)

DECK THE COUNTER WITH THE CHRISTMAS VILLAGE!

...fa la la la la...la la la la

Our November "End of Month Activity" was making our Christmas Village!  Each student saved two milk cartons, and brought candy to decorate their houses!

CONGRATS to our top 5 qualifiers:
1.  Syd S.
2.  Mariah
3.  Alexis
4.  Camden
5.  Paul

Maren & Seth

 Syd S.

 Look at our fantastic wreaths!  Miss Mitchell's mother, a teacher for 38 years, taught her how to make these!  And...we used GLITTER!!!  The glitter will be hanging around the room until school's out for the summer...as a reminder of the project!

Check out the village . . .





What has Miss Mitchell learned after making villages for 31 years?
(in no particular order)

1.  Do not buy the candy (Miss Mitchell) yourself, and put it in a big bowl for everyone to share...doesn't happen!
2.  Have students rinse out milk cartons before they begin!
3.  Tell students not to have HEAVY candy...it slides down.
4.  Do not make village on the last day, take a picture, and dismantle it! (Sorry class of 1981-1982)       5.  Great activity to do when every morning is FOGGY, and all Alpine District students were to tune to KSL radio to find out what time school would start...of course, a few kids didn't listen to radio.  (Class of 1980-1981...my first year!)
6.  My German Shepherd dog I had in the 80's LOVED the green frosting!  (I put in green food coloring at end, to frost cones...TREES!)
7.  Hand mixers burn out easily!
8.  Peppermint Place has the CUTEST decorations for the houses!
9.  Order Royal Icing from Kencraft...instead of having kids bring in the ingredients and mixing it all!
10.  Even after 3 weeks of the village being up, telling the kids it's dusty...they will still eat it when it's taken down!




Monday, December 13, 2010

OUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS


OUR FAVORITE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS ARE:

1.  CHRISTMAS LIGHTS . . . receiving 35% of the vote.

Check out these lights at Disneyland!


These are the Christmas lights on the front of my condo.


In 2nd place. . . CHRISTMAS TREE, with 28%.
This is my upstairs Christmas tree.




This is my famous DISNEY TREE!  I have been collecting Disney ornaments for over 25 years!  I also have some Utah Jazz ornaments, a BYU ornament, and about 3 dozen crocheted snowflakes!  The snowflakes were made by Ann Searle, who carpooled with me for 20 years...while we both taught at Alpine Elementary!

















In 3rd place, we had a tie, with 14% of the vote . . .

. . . CANDY CANES

. . . and

. . .  NATIVITY SETS
This is my nativity set in the foreground...but in the background, is my fireplace, with the Jazz stockings and Jazz Santa hat!  haha

This Nativity set was mad by my Grandma Howard about 30 years ago.  She gave it to me before she passed away in 2000.


With 7%, the other vote getter was . . .


. . . a SNOWMAN!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

OUR FAVORITE REINDEER!


Our favorite reindeer is . . .
RUDOLPH!
He received 40% of the vote!

We all know the story of Rudolph, how none of the reindeer would play with him.  Then, one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa picked him to lead the way!
And Rudolph went down in history!

In  2nd place was . . .

COMET . . . with 30% of the vote.
Comet was named after the  Comet Blorouis.    The comet was so bright, that it lit up the North Pole night.    Comet's teacher in Reindeer School says he is the brightest  student she has ever taught.  Comet wants to one day  be a teacher so he can pass on his knowledge.

We had a 3 way tie for 3rd place, each with 10% of the vote:
 DANCER . . . Dancer was a tiny reindeer, who only wanted to dance.  He used to put on a dance recital every night for the other reindeer.  Dancer was so good that Santa wanted him to go on Broadway, but he refused because he really, really wanted to pull Santa’s sleigh.
These days Dancer performs nightly at the North Pole Auditorium for Santa’s elves.  He usually has a sell out crowd, so if you ever plan a visit to the North Pole, make sure you buy tickets before you come!


PRANCER . . .  Prancer is in charge of all the fun and activities.  His favorite is hide and seek. The reindeer must be very careful playing this game in the woods during summer because it is hunting season then.  Last year Blitzen got shot in the rear end, and it took him 3 months to recover.
Prancer is also in charge of Friday night movies; he makes large bowls of popcorn for his friends and always has lots of chocolate for them.


 VIXEN . . . Vixen was born at the North Pole many years ago.  She has a major crush on Cupid and hopes one day to marry him.
Vixen is well known for her cleanliness.  She has to keep her eyes on the reindeer all the time, especially when they are playing.  More than the others, she has to watch Blitzen because he always plays football in the mud.
Vixen makes sure that the reindeer brush their fur and that their hoofs are polished. She makes them take a bath every night, and not to the reindeer’s delight.
As you might expect, most of the reindeer hide from Vixen because she walks around with a brush in her hand always wanting to use it on them.
But there is one reindeer who doesn’t mind and that is Cupid, because Cupid also has a major crush on Vixen.

Sadly, Dasher, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen did not receive any votes in our poll question.  But, they want you to know about them anyway!
DASHER . . . Dasher was born many years ago at the North Pole.  He was named Dasher because he always wanted to race the other reindeer.  Every day he would insist on having a race.  This used to drive the other reindeer crazy.
Dasher knows this Christmas Eve the trip is going to be a long one.  There are more toys than ever because the children have been so good this year.
Dasher is in charge of cleaning and waxing Santa’s sleigh and making sure that all of the directional radar is working correctly.  He has been very busy doing these very important chores.

 CUPID . . .
Cupid was born on Valentine’s Day.  Santa decided to call him Cupid because he was always trying to set up dates for all the reindeer.  Cupid was so eager to find  matches for all his reindeer friends that he started his own newspaper called "The Cupid Times".
Several of these friends help him at the newspaper.  Blitzen works in the office, Comet prints the newspapers and his old pal Rudolph delivers them. The papers cost $.25 and can be found at any store at the North Pole.


 DONNER (DONDER). . . 
Donner (aka Donder) is in charge of the reindeers eating habits.  He needs to make sure they all stay in shape.
Donner starts a training camp every year on Nov. 8 at which over 200 reindeer try out for a spot on Santa's team.
Last year Vixen got too heavy during the summer and almost lost her spot to a rookie.  But with hard work at training camp, she was able to keep her spot on Santa's team.
Donner runs a tough training camp.  Every day he has the reindeer lift weights for 2 hours, run 50 miles and do 500 push-ups.  Donner started this training camp back in 1961 because Comet and Cupid were so out of shape at the end of the summer that they couldn't pull Santa's sleigh and lost their spots that year to two other reindeer:  Ralph and Rodney.  No one knows about the swap so don't tell.


BLITZEN . . .        Blitzen was born at the North Pole.  Santa named him Blitzen because he reminded Santa of himself when he played football in high school.  Santa’s defense team used to blitz the offense so much they called them the “Blitzers”!
Well, Blitzen lives up to his name because almost every Christmas Eve Santa and his sleigh run into a blizzard and guess what happens?  Blitzen takes the reins and pulls the reindeer through the stormy weather.