Back to School Traditions and Talstrasse 7

Most of us have a family/school tradition we do with our own children or our students on the first day of school. Whether it is taking a special picture, having a special breakfast or a special activity in the classroom, we make the first day of school a day to remember.

In Germany, we noticed the German children celebrated the first day of school as well! They make the first day of school special with a schultüte. A schultüte is a large cone that is usually colorful and shiny. Parents fill the cones with all kinds of goodies to commemorate the first day. 

This made us think about what other countries do to celebrate the first day of school and found out there are lots of different back to school traditions! Countries around the world commemorate the first day from exchanging presents, passing down back packs, flowers and more. (Click on the Thinglinks to find out more about back to school traditions.)

We hope you celebrated your first day back to school and make your own memorable traditions with your students.

Schule tute video by Kinder Cone:

KinderCone gives the gift that celebrates the 1st Day of School Make a School Cone | MetroParent.com DIY

 

Book of the Week: It's Back to School We Go! (found at Amazon) 

This week:

Brought me back to some old stomping grounds and memories!  As I drove to the villages for my home visits – I found myself in a village that I used to visit quite often!  P & P, if you’re lurking – this is for you! Love you both and miss y’all!

 

My Tradition:

The weekend before the start of our kinder, I get treated to a wonderful breakfast.  Check out that incredible homemade cream for the heisse shokolade!

 

Pinterest Board: Children of the World

 

Freebie:

  

My Puppet from Shadow Puppet:

To all the children of the world, who have started school, or will be starting the Day After Tomorrow, we wish you a wonderful school year!

 

Have a great week!

Math Madness!

 We’ll do math in a box.  We’ll do math with a fox.  We’ll do math in a house.  We’ll do math with a mouse.  We’ll do math here.   We’ll do math there.  We’ll do math ANYWHERE!!   (Yes, we still have Dr. Seuss in our brains.)!! :)

This is an exciting time of the year as kids continue to make math connections with the world around them.  They find patterns in their clothes.  They see numbers in the stores.  They now know real numbers on a clock have a purpose, and they realize that going to school five days and staying home two days adds up to seven!  In real life situations, we all know math is not a matter of memorization but giving them real life experiences and hands on activities.  Here are some of the ways we do math activities in our classrooms!  

Math Centers, Journals, and Other Activities:

Math Videos, anyone?

Check out these math videos over at YouTube.  But first make sure you SafeShare them to be rid of advertisement  and any inappropriate material.  Simply go to SafeShare.tv and insert the YouTube links.  Below is a short video that gives directions on how to safe share!

Ten in Bed:

What Makes Ten?

Count by 10’s:

Alligator Greater than

Photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Math Apps: Animal Math Games

Math Explorer, Emma travels the world from Bessie’s Farm to the plains of Africa to outer space through more than 100 math games on a quest to help her animal friends find a way home.  This is perfect for our animal thematic class! 

Animals Counting Writing Game

This is a great app for kindergarten children at the beginning of school or children who are still struggling with math skills. It’s a great app for pre-k to kindergarten .

Kindness Book of the Week: Square Cat

"Playing off the square peg in the round hole theme, this title gently packs a powerful message about self-acceptance and friendship. Eula, a square cat, faces difficulties in a world of round cats. Her round cat friends, Patsy and Maude, try to help sad Eula get her "purr" back. After a makeover including round hoop earrings, Eula falls again." Her friends put themselves into square boxes and show her the possibilities and upside of living the square-cat life. "The author uses the shapes of these clever cats' mouths, eyes, and eyebrows to communicate their emotions. Eula changes from skeptical, to happy, to confident. The support of loving friends and her experience figuring out how to "make it work" for herself are the catalysts. Plentiful white space is used to help the colorful blue, orange, and yellow cats pop off the page." This delightful book with its spare and simple text is perfect for story time or sharing one-on-one.

Pinterest Boards:  For more math ideas click here to go to my math related boards.  

Freebie and my products related to Math!