Winter Spotlight

• Enjoy the richness of these traditional Christmas Hymn lyrics.  Discuss as a family which ones are most meaningful to you. Are there any you hadn't heard before?
• Check out these cool winter puns then have fun making your own! Poll your family and find your family's favorite.
• Write about your favorite Christmas tradition and share it with us using this Flip!  Listen to others' favorite traditions and think about any new traditions you want to start.
• Did you know Santa has a mailbox in Canada and in Indiana?  Write a letter to Santa by December 7th (if sending to his Canadian mailbox) or December 16th (if sending to his Indiana mailbox - Santa Claus, PO Box 1, Santa Claus, IN 47579) and he'll write you back before Christmas day!  Don't worry, the elves have it all sorted out!
• Play with Creative Communication's Poetry Machine to create some fun Winter poetry that represents your vision of winter or your winter break.
• Middle & High Schoolers: Chill out with these New York Times writing competitions geared just for you!

If you love math snow much, these winter-themed extension opportunities are for you!

• Bring on the holiday baking!

  • Make some cookies or candies for friends or neighbors - students of all ages will enjoy measuring, counting, scaling and even geometry with roll-out dough recipes.

  • Hold a bake sale to raise money for a local charity. Students can help with setting prices, counting money, making change and preparing the goods to sell. 

  • New creations - challenge your student to come up with the perfect holiday milkshake or trail mix.  Remind them to measure and record carefully so their inspired treat and be recreated.  Challenge older students to find the ratios and percentages of each of their ingredients.

• Winter games galore!

  • With extra time for family over break, stimulate kids' brains by challenging them to create a new game everyone can play together - it can be a board game, a movement-oriented game, a card game, etc.  Any kind of game counts!

  • Use graph paper to create the most intricate snowflakes you can imagine. 

  • Older students: Learn about tessellations here and create your own tessellation out of a 6-side (hexagonal) snowflake!

There are so many un-brr-elievable winter arts opportunities! 
Here are some of our favorites:

Drawing/Painting tutorials:
Younger - Middle grades
Favorite winter "How to Draw" lessons
Create Magic Salt Watercolor Snowflakes
Middle - Upper grades
How to draw 24 different types of snowflakes
Painting a winter landscape or a snowy winter cabin night

Create Christmas Gift tags:
- Use your snowflake creations from above
- Sponge & fingerpaint gift tags (younger-middle grades)
- Follow these watercolor tutorials (middle-upper grades)
-Look up "origami gift tags" for easy unique ideas

Winter Art contests to enter:
Celebrating Art Contest (deadline 12/7/23: To submit art find Learnwell Collective and select Cori Panyard as teacher)
Scholastic Arts Awards (7-12th grade - GA deadline is 12/18/23)
World Photo Youth Photography (ages <19 - deadline 1/5/24)
Kids Magazine Cover Art Contest (ages 2-12 - deadline 2/1/24)

Winter Performing arts ideas:
- Create a winter playlist using Spotify, Prime Music, etc.
- Organize an extended family talent show with visiting family
- Use a kids' Bible (or a kid-friendly Bible translation) to write your own one-act script for the birth of Christ narrative. Get family members to help you perform it on Christmas Eve.

Let's keep ourselves warm by staying active! 
Here's how this month's Spotlight Challenge will work:

• GOAL: Identify how many fun ways YOU can move this winter and share your inspiration with your peers!

• HOW: Use this FLIP to show off your COOL MOVES at least 5 times between now and the end of January.  The more you share, the bigger the prize you win.

• WHO: Everyone, K-9th, local & navigators!  We want everyone to be able to take part and we'll find a way to get you any prizes earned. 

• WHAT: You can only share 1 of your favorite ways to move in each video, and no repeats from video to video (5 different videos of you break dancing, while fun for everyone to watch, will not count as 5 different ways to move 😉). Here's what you can win as you share your inspiration:

  • • 5-6 Cool Moves shared: Treasure Box treat of choice

    • 7-8 Cool Moves shared: Book/Journal/Notebook prize

    • 9-10 Cool Moves shared: Small gift card choice!

• WHEN: You can share multiple videos in one day, but we encourage you to space it out - show us how you're getting your body moving each week, or every couple weeks! Take us along as you move throughout the season and let's inspire each other!

Science, Technology & Engineering opportunities abound but these seasonal options are extra cool!

• Use ice cubes to construct your own miniature igloo! Add some cornstarch as fake snow and make ooblek as your igloo melts.

• On a particularly cold day, try your hand at creating these incredible frozen bubbles.

• Warm back up as you explore the science of hot cocoa.

• Check out dozens of additional STEAM ideas for kids and teens here!

Chill out and explore all things "Deep Sea" then create your own artwork to submit to the Beyond Science Art Contest (ages 10+ - deadline 3/4/2024)

Prepare for warm fuzzies as you learn about the incredible endangered animals on "The Red List." Create a display or artwork to submit to the Global Canvas Competition (ages 4-16 - deadline 2/13/2024. Can enter as individual or group).

Cozy up with these winter and holiday themed
Social Studies & History related ideas:

• Learn about the history of Christmas HERE* and discuss as a family if you think the decision to celebrate Christ's birth in December was a good idea. 

• Curl up with some cocoa and explore how Christmas is celebrated in more than 95 countries around the world!  Which traditions do you like the best? Are there any traditions you would want to incorporate into your own celebration?

• Discover the significance and history of the season of Advent (a season of preparation leading up to Christmas) HERE, then identify some ways as a family that you can celebrate Advent together.  Here are 6 ideas to get you started.

*Warning - this link also has a segment that discusses the history of Santa as a legend.