December 18th, 2015

It’s definitely beginning to feel a lot like Christmas outside! Even with the chilly temperatures the kids have been having a blast being outside in the snow. They sure love to shovel the sidewalks and brush the snow off the side of the car. What Bucket Fillers!

Kwanzaa is the celebration we have been learning about this week. The ideas and principles surrounding Kwanzaa mirror some of the ideas we share and practice here at Blooming Butterflies. Each day of Kwanzaa focuses on one of these principles; of which we also practiced saying the Swahili term for them. Some of the concepts on how to lead a better life include; working together to achieve a common goal, sharing our feelings with one another, collective work and responsibility, cooperation, sharing our dreams of who and what we want to be, and being creative.

Much like Hanukah, Kwanzaa also has a set of standing candle sticks but it is called a Kinara. On our first day of Kwanzaa we worked together to create the Kinara, using the proper number of red, green and black candles, that we use every day to count what day of Kwanzaa we are on, to count how many days we have left, and to celebrate the meaning behind the day’s candle. On our second day of Kwanzaa we learned about some of the traditions there are surrounding Kwanzaa (we also talked about our own Christmas traditions). We practiced the tradition of weaving. On our third day of Kwanzaa we discussed how to work together to achieve a common goal. We brainstormed and decided that our common goal would be to shovel the sidewalks so no one would fall in the snow or ice. Our first idea was to pick up the garbage we have been seeing a lot of in the community lately but unfortunately it was all covered in snow. On our next day of Kwanzaa…. Well that is “The Secret”!

Notes for next week: Wednesday the 23rd is PJ day, our Christmas Party and our last day before the holidays!

See everyone next week!
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Xoxo Miss Audra