Winter Traditions Around the World

In Social Studies this week, all of the first graders will be traveling "around the world" to learn about different winter traditions that are celebrated!  The children really enjoyed the first day of our project. We made suitcases with a map on it to put stickers on the different countries we visit, we created passports to put a flag sticker in for each country as we learn about them, and we got our first plane ticket!

Here we are ready to go through airport security and board Air Harlan with our tickets in hand!

Today we traveled all over the United States to learn about Kwanzaa!  We learned about how this celebration was started in the United States, but is based on 7 principles from Africa.  We looked at a kinara with its 7 candles, and also learned about the colors of Kwanzaa - red, black and green - and what they symbolize. 

Finally, we created our own woven mkeka mats.  This is the mat that is placed on the table during a Kwanzaa celebration dinner.   

Here are our completed mkeka mats!  They turned out so beautiful!  

Stay tuned to see where Room 112 travels next!  You never know what country we might fly to next!