Let them eat cake

King Cake, that is.

Today is the last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Epiphany or El Dia de los Reyes (Day of the Kings) commemorates the arrival of the Three Wise Men or Magi, bearing gifts for the baby Jesus. Thanks to Mrs. D's grocery run last night, we celebrated with Rosca de Reyes. A plastic baby is baked into the bread. Mexican tradition dictates that the person who receives the piece of rosca with the doll inside must make tamales for the "Candelaria Day" party on February 2.

Of course, the children researched (and shared with us) the many ways in which this day is celebrated around the world. We learned that in France, Kings Day is celebrated with a cake called Galette des Rois. A lucky charm called a feve, originally a bean, is baked into the cake. In Mexico children write letters with their wishes and send them off to the Three Wise Men, tied to balloons. Puerto Rican children make boxes of hay or grass for the Kings' camels and place it under their beds. In the morning, they will find that the Three Kings have left them gifts. In Italy, La Befana arrives on her broomstick the eve of Epiphany and fills stockings with toys and sweets. According to the story, the kings visited an old woman (la Befana) on their way to the manger, but she was too busy to join them. Later, she decided to go but got lost. So every year on the 11th night, she flies around on her broomstick, bringing gifts to children in hopes that she might find the Baby Jesus.

What We're Reading:
The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePaola

Updates are posted on the progress of our amaryllis!

On the 5th Day of Christmas

When I pulled out my bag of holiday books at the start of December, I discovered this treasure, written last year by a third grader and now former student and packed away amongst the books:

"The Christmas March" (12 days of Christmas) by Virginia W.
♪ On the 1st day of Christmas, Ms. Steinhardt gave to me, a pencil and a pink book.
On the 2nd day of Christmas, Ms. Steinhardt gave to me, two mystery rocks and a pencil and a pink book. ♪
♪ On the 3rd day of Christmas, Ms. Steinhardt gave to me, three cameras clicking, two mystery rocks, and a pencil and a pink book.
On the 4th day of Christmas, Ms. Steinhardt gave to me, four math problems, three cameras clicking, two mystery rocks, and a pencil and a pink book. ♪
♪ On the 5th day of Christmas, Ms. Steinhardt gave to me, five chapter books, four math problems, three cameras clicking, two mystery rocks, and a pencil and a pink book. ♪
Now I have to go read those chapter books!

#8 on the list

I was sitting next to one of our first grade boys during dismissal a week or so ago, and he pulled out his Christmas wish list. Number 8 on the list was “Feild Kit.” It’s the simple things that bring a teacher joy—finally buying enough goggles for every child, my students referring to "real scientists" with the intonations of awe that others might use for rock stars, a handwritten note from one student to another reminding her to water our classroom plants, a frustrated child who stomps over to the Peaceful Table to calm himself. What I love most is when a child is so enthused by a learning activity that he adopts it and makes it his own, weaves it into his life outside of school. That is success! So to discover one of my classroom creations among the top ten on a child’s Christmas list is a gift all by itself.

Just in case Santa is scratching his head on this one . . .

This year our class has begun taking “Field Kits” with us on field trips. This idea had been percolating for a while, but the final motivation came after a couple of weeks in the field with paleontologists. We need to do more science in the field, and we need the tools to do it! Ask anyone who came near me while I was putting the field kits together. (Even those who didn’t venture close were subjected to my field kit excitement via e-mail, complete with photos.) I was a huge nerd about them—way more excited than a rational person would be.

Each Cooperative Science Group has one, and the Materials Manager is responsible for carrying the pack. In August, when each of our faculty received a freebie nylon bag at a museum professional development day, I begged enough bags from colleagues to supply each Science Group with a pack. I then visited EPO (a store filled with a bizarre collection of things, where I bumped into a friendly Science Specialist from the Curriculum Department, also poking through the bins, looking for items that might be repurposed in interesting ways) and began to assemble a collection of tools young scientists might need in the field: a compass, a retractable measuring tape, a magnifying lens, a plastic container (for any specimens we might collect), and a first aid kit (hand sanitizer, tissues, bandaids, gloves, & wet wipes). Each group’s Scribe carries a conference badge holder/neck pouch with a "field notebook," a retractable pen, and a mechanical pencil. Thanks to the generous contributors to our DonorsChoose projects (including my freshman roommate who is now a "real scientist"), our Field Kits also include mineral test kits and field guides: Houston Birds, Texas Trees & Wildflowers, Texas Wildlife, Texas Butterflies & Moths, Fossils, and Rocks, Gems, & Minerals.

The field guides arrived just before a class fieldtrip to Hermann Park, ostensibly to see "Strega Nona" at Miller Outdoor Theatre. We arrived a few hours before the play, and, after a mini-lesson on how to use the guides and their compasses, Cooperative Science Groups were off to explore the park. The children were thrilled to be able to use their new field kits in the park. We’ve enjoyed trips to Hermann Park for many years, but never before has our walk in the park offered such a rich scientific learning experience. Viewing themselves as field scientists, my urban students really attended to the flora and fauna around them.

They measured,

and magnified.

They observed and identified.

They compared

and collected,

but I think what the children loved most is the sense of empowerment and independence they felt in wondering about a tree or a bird and being able to identify it without adult help. This opened a whole new world, helping them to feel and act like real field scientists.

Many thanks to Carolyn Leap for noticing that some of our nylon packs had frayed and supplying us with new ones!

"The greatest sign of success for a teacher . . . is to be able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist.'"--Dr. Maria Montessori

Is it catching?

Sometimes a bug blows through our classroom like a hurricane, leaving germs and devastation in its path. Mrs. D and I listen to the coughing and the sniffling and nervously watch the tissues pile up in the trash cans. I've got a bit of a bug, and this is one bug that I hope is contagious.

These are a few of my favorite things . . .


a Chrysanthemum Stone that my parents brought back from China a few years ago




a fern fossil (the early beginnings of my rock bug!)

When I was about 5, I visited my grandparents in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and I was thrilled to find a bin of these in the giftshop at the bottom of the inclined plane.





a gift of amethyst from my parents' travels to Colorado








an ammonite, a Christmas gift from my brother




My friends laugh that there aren't many people who would get excited about receiving rocks for Christmas. I hope they're wrong because I just distributed 23 rock gifts.

"Oh, it's a hairy rock!" "Look! Mine is hairy, too!" "Where did you get all these?!"

It's become a holiday tradition. Every year, I give each child a rock, a mineral, or a fossil. I make informational cards and package each rock in its own specimen bag. Everybody needs a rock, and I'm hoping to spread the disease!






It just might be working. We received a generous holiday gift toward materials for our classroom, and one of the children suggested, "We could buy more rocks . . ."

Huge thanks to Mrs. D for giving the children boxes in which to store their burgeoning collections! A second grader recently told me she and her family had visited IKEA to buy more shelves . . . for her rocks!

Holiday family fun

Take advantage of all that Houston has to offer your family this season!

Friday, Dec. 19, 7pm: Starlight Movie Night at Rice Stadium; “A Christmas Story” on the jumbo screen; Bring your blankets and lawn chairs or just sit on the turf; Pack a snack and bring your blankets and lawn chairs or just sit on the turf; Free movie, free parking (enter gates 13A or 13B on Greenbriar), www.rice.edu/movie

Friday, Dec. 19 & Saturday, Dec. 20: Campfire Christmas at the George Ranch; Experience the beauty of the holiday season with guided tours of the 1830s Jones Stock Farm and the 1890's Davis Mansion decorated in the spirit of the season. Finally, travel through the park in a mule-drawn hay wagon then join the George Ranch cowboys around the campfire with caroling and story-telling to celebrate the season; Reservations required: 281-343-0218 ext 258; http://www.georgeranch.org/

Saturdays, Dec. 20 & 27, 2-5pm: Victorian Ornament Workshops for Children—Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens; Make take-home ornaments that reflect styles popular in late-19th-century America; Adults $7.50; Children under 18 Free; Free for museum members; 1 Westcott Street, Houston, TX 77007; http://www.mfah.org/bayoubend/

Sunday, Dec. 21, 1-5pm (last entry 4:30pm): “Holiday History” Family Day at Bayou Bend; Let Bayou Bend be your ghost of Christmas (and Hannukah) past as we delve into the history of holiday celebrations throughout the years! Outside, enjoy the fabulous sounds of local talent of all ages as they ring in the season with your favorite holiday songs and stories. Create holiday crafts and your own special decorations for the season. Guests may tour the first floor of the house and view this year’s Yuletide exhibition; Free; 1 Westcott Street, Houston, TX 77007; www.mfah.org/bayoubend

Sunday, Dec. 21, 2pm: Christmas for the Critters at Jesse H. Jones Park & Nature Center; Make a tasty natural treat to take home and share with backyard wildlife; All ages; Free—Reservations required 281-446-8588; 20634 Kenswick Dr., Humble, TX 77338; www.hcp4.net/jones; www.hcp4.net/parks/Parksprograms.htm

Now through Dec. 28: “The Nutcracker” performed by the Houston Ballet; http://www.houstonballet.org/

Saturday, Jan. 3, 11am-3pm: Hands-On Houston at the Center for Contemporary Craft; Free craft open house for the whole family; Houston Area Fiber Artists will help participants create paper bead necklaces; Supplies are provided; Free; 4848 Main St.; http://www.crafthouston.org/

Now through Jan. 5: Seasons of Sharing at the Children’s Museum of Houston; Learn how holidays are celebrated around the world (exhibit celebrates Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Diwali, Christmas, Las Posadas, Hanukkah, and Lunar New Year); $5; Thursdays 5-8 p.m. are Free; Children under 2 are free daily; 1500 Binz; 713-522-1138; http://www.cmhouston.org/

Tuesday, January 6, 2009, 6-8pm: Twelfth Night at Galveston’s Moody Mansion in cooperation with the Galveston Symphony Orchestra; Light refreshments will be served; Free; 2618 Broadway, Galveston; www.moodymansion.org/specialevents.html

Open daily now through Jan. 19: The Ice at Discovery Green; Outdoor holiday skating on Kinder Lake (7,200 square-foot skating surface) in downtown Houston; All ages $10 for 1½ hour skate session + skate rental; www.discoverygreen.com/icerink/

Open daily now through Jan. 19: The Ice Rink at Woodlands Town Center; Children 5+ $9.50 for skate session + skate rental; coupon on-line; http://www.thewoodlandsicerink.com/; 281-419-5630

Book People

A bumper sticker on the car in front of me this morning read "BookPeople." It's a book store in Austin that makes me salivate, but it's also a state of being. In Room 28, we're "book people." I know because when we finish a particularly beautiful picture storybook, the children sometimes spontaneously applaud. When we get to a really good part of a chapter book, I mark the page and teasingly announce, ". . . and we'll find out what happens tomorrow." I am always greeted with, "Awwww . . . one more page! Pleeeaaase . . ." or "Aww, I'm in suspense!"

I love children's books (I make a point of hunting down a bookstore whenever and wherever I travel--a difficult task in the Amazon Rainforest), and I love holidays--of various religions, all over the world. Like the bucket-carrying brooms in The Sorcerer's Apprentice, my books have multiplied. My collection for December holidays alone has bulked up to over 18 pounds! (I checked on the scale in the nurse's office so I could make an accurate report.) We will never be able to read them all before Winter Break, but it is a class tradition to try.

A bright spot in my day was just after lunch when our newest third grader asked me hopefully, "Are we reading more books today?" The children are researching December holidays, and we are reading books, books, and more books, including . . .
Dec. 6: St. Nicholas Day The Gift from Saint Nicholas by Dorothea Lachner
Dec. 9: Eid ul Adha
Dec. 13: St. Lucia Day Lucia Morning in Sweden by Ewa Rydaker (best followed by Pepparkakor!)
Dec. 16 - 24: Las Posadas The Night of Las Posadas by Tomie dePaola, Carlos, Light the Farolito by Jean Ciavonne (Enjoy with Mexican hot chocolate!)
Dec. 21: Winter Solstice
Dec. 22: Hanukkah The Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate by Janice Cohn (This one never fails to make me cry!), Latkes, Latkes Good to Eat by Naomi Howard, The Magic Dreidels by Eric Kimmel, Light the Lights! by Margaret Moorman, The Trees of the Dancing Goats by Patricia Polacco
Dec. 25: Christmas The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera (rivals The Polar Express for our favorite!), The Christmas Cat by Efner Tudor Holmes, Pippin the Christmas Pig by Werner Zimmermann, Uncle Vova's Tree by Patricia Polacco, The Snow Tree by Caroline Repchuk, Winter's Gift by Jane Monroe Donovan, Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco (another that brings me near tears), An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco, Welcome Comfort by Patricia Polacco, Mouskin's Christmas Eve by Edna Miller, The Christmas Miracle by Jonathan Toomey, The Friendly Beasts by Tomie dePaola, La primera flor de Nochebuena by Joanne Oppenheim, The Littlest Christmas Tree by Janie Jasin
Dec. 26: Boxing Day
Dec. 26 - Jan. 1: Kwanzaa Seven Spools of Thread by Angela Shelf Medearis, Seven Candles for Kwanzaa by Andrea Davis Pinkney, A Kwanzaa Miracle by Sharon Shavers Gayle, My First Kwanzaa Book by Deborah Newton Chocolate
Dec. 31: New Year's Eve
Jan. 5: Twelfth Night The Legend of Old Befana by Tomie dePaola
Jan. 6: Epiphany

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester
The Biggest Snowman Ever by Steven Kroll
The Biggest, Best Snowman by Margery Cuyler
The Missing Mitten Mystery by Steven Kellogg
Runaway Mittens by Jean Rogers

Happy reading . . . . and happy baking!

Pepparkakor (Ginger snaps)

3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 Tbsp ginger
2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Mix flour, soda, and spices. Heat syrup. Melt butter and sugar in syrup. Add egg. Add dry ingredients to this mixture. Put in cool place over night. Roll out on board and cut into desired shapes. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.


Sadie's Latkes

3 large potatoes (about 1 pound)
2 eggs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
3 Tbsp flour
vegetable oil

1) Peel the potatoes and rinse them in cold water. Grate very finely. Place the grated potatoes in a colander and run cold water over them. (This will keep them from turning dark.) Using your hands, squeeze out all the water.
2) In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Add the onion, parsley, salt, pepper, and flour. Stir. Add grated potatoes and mix well.
3) Heat a small amount of oil to sizzling in a large frying pan. Drop pancake mixture by the soupspoonful into oil and flatten slightly. Cook until golden brown underneath, turn, and cook on the other side till browned.
4) Eat while still tender but crisp! Latkes are traditionally served with applesauce and/or sour cream.
Makes about a dozen 3 1/2 inch pancakes.

Growing, growing, gone!

One of our annual winter traditions is to force an amaryllis bulb. (We do this by tricking it into thinking it has already experienced winter and spring has arrived.) Sometimes we go so far as to name the bulb ("Amaryllis Ann" or "Bulby," for example). We mark each stalk with a piece of colored masking tape, and each day, we measure and chart the growth of the stalk on a color-coded lengthening line graph. What we've noticed is flowers wilt. "It died!" They also bend towards the light. Over the Thanksgiving break, I also inadvertently experimented with water deprivation. Note to self: plants need water. The short orange line at the top is the proof. The "orange" stalk was going strong until I absentmindedly withheld water. The stalk shriveled and fell over, without blooming. The "blue" stalk gave us a couple of gorgeous flowers, but as all flowers eventually do, they wilted. We have high hopes for our newest "purple" stalk! It has already grown 7 centimeters in just 3 days.

12/19/08 Update: We're heading home for the holidays, and the amaryllis stalk is now 38 1/2 centimeters tall. I have assured the children I will be more vigilant about water this time!

12/24/08 Update: 44 centimeters
I promise I'm keeping track of the water!

12/29/08 Update: 48 centimeters

12/31/08 It's starting to bloom!

1/2/09 53 centimeters

1/3/09 55 centimeters

Do not open until Christmas

Shhh . . . . little elves are busy creating holiday projects in room 28. The children have asked me not to post details until after December 25. Check back later to learn about our special holiday secrets!

Santa shorts

Just yesterday, we were brainstorming December holidays for seasonal research topics: St. Nicholas Day, Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe, St. Lucia Day, Las Posadas, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve, sometimes Diwali and Eid . . . One child suggested winter as a December holiday. Thus began our discussion of Winter Solstice and the increasing hours of darkness we experience leading up to the solstice. “Is there a place where they have darkness for the whole day?” “What happens at the other end of the Earth?” Well, it’s summer there right now (technically, spring). “Do they celebrate Christmas in a different month?” That’s how I found myself explaining that Santa wears shorts when he visits Australia. “He keeps a pair in his sleigh, and then when he gets to Australia, he changes into his Santa shorts. Sometimes he wears a pair with little reindeer on them, sometimes ones with holly on them.” After a little more discussion of the solstice and the seasons and the tilt of the Earth, a third grader raised her hand. With a twinkle in her eye, she asked, “Which shorts does he wear most often—the ones with the little reindeer or the ones with the holly?” Hmmm.

Our Christmas Eve snow four years ago, combined with their limited life experience and all the “white Christmas” hype in movies, songs, and greeting cards, has my students convinced that it snows on Christmas. I quite confidently told the children that it rarely snows in Houston, that in all my thirty-three years of living in Houston it had only snowed three times. Of course, what should happen the very next day?

Clearly, Ms. S. can’t be trusted.

Sometimes a learning opportunity quite literally falls from the sky. Tossing aside lesson plans to take advantage of such opportunities is one of the joys of teaching. Back in September, as Ike bore down on the Gulf Coast, this meant dropping everything to plot its advancing longitude and latitude and read The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane. Today, it means we make 6-pointed snowflakes, experiment with crystals, look at crystals under the microscope, and read Snowflake Bentley, the story of a farmer-scientist whose passion for photographing individual snowflakes began when he was a child
—and it means admitting I was wrong.

What We’re Reading:

The Gift from Saint Nicholas by Dorothea Lachner
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

XXVIII from Las piedras del cielo (Skystones)

The square in the crystal falls back in its symmetry:

those who open the doors of the earth

will find in the darkness, intact and complete,

the light of that system's transparency.

The salt cube, the triangular

fingers of quartz: the diamond's

linear water: the maze

in the sapphire and its gothic magnificence:

the multiplication of rectangles

in the nut of the amethyst:

all wait for us under the ground:

a whole buried geometry:

the salt's school: the decorum of fire.

—Pablo Neruda

Meanwhile, back at the lab

Science is never silent in Room 28. Today, our young paleontologists were “back in the lab” with their bones, noisily discussing which part of the animal their group had collected from the dig site.

They began by removing any remaining matrix from the bones.

Some groups soon learned that cleaning must be done carefully or your carefully collected fossils may be damaged. “We lost a tooth!”

Next, the children applied their knowledge of the human skeleton to put our mystery Humpty Dumpty together again.

♪ Head, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . shoulders, ♪

♪ knees, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and toes ♪

As with all funded research, our paleontologists were also required to write a report on their findings. The group with the jaw was able to determine that our mystery animal is a carnivore. The group with the phalanges suspects that our mystery animal must be smaller than a human, “maybe the size of a cat.” This group also hypothesizes that perhaps the animal uses the claw they found to attack its prey.

To learn more, read Dr. Bakker's discussion of how scientists use animal bones to draw conclusions about how they lived.