Winter Solstice and All The Holidays

I love this festive time of year in the classroom. Our twinkle lights are hung on our display branch in the art room, symbolizing the start of our celebration of light as we approach the Winter Solstice and all of the holidays celebrated this month.

For the rest of this month, we have a new morning ritual of lighting candles on our Advent wreath/tray. This week we are celebrating the mineral kingdom, on a tray we have a selection of crystals and shells. We light a candle and say the first section of our Advent poem. Next week we will acknowledge the plant kingdom. In the third week, we will celebrate animals, humans, and the interconnectedness between all things. Each week we will add new objects to our tray, symbolizing aspects of the different kingdoms we are celebrating, and a few new activities will be added to the shelves furthering this connection. This month also brings a time of crafts and gift making. We have quite a few ideas brewing up and will be excited to see what emerges from our creative folks. 

I also wanted to share with you how fun our Thanksgiving celebration was. As you may have tasted we had our first group baking project. All of the children had a chance to stir the bowl of ingredients and smell the spices. As the muffins baked, the classroom was filled with the most delicious smell. This project definitely brought on a holiday feeling. I still need to hone in on some perfect, simple recipes, but the process was greatly enjoyed:-) 

Here is the blessing song that we sing every day before lunch. We use sign language as we sing to tell the story with our gestures. It always feels so good to come together with the kids in gratitude for all of the blessings that we have.

Blessing Song

Oh the earth is good to me

And so I thank the earth

For giving me

The things I need

Like the sun and the rain

And the mango tree.

Oh the earth is good to me.

Advent Poem

This is the Advent poem we will be reciting this month:

The Four Lights of Advent

The First Light of Advent is the Light of Stones-

The light that shines in crystals in seashells and in bones

The second light of Advent is the light of plants-

Green plants that reach up to the light and in the breezes dance

The third light of Advent is the light of beasts-

That shines in all creatures in greatest and in least

The fourth light of Advent is the human light-

The light of hope and of thought, to know and do what’s right

By Rudolf Steiner