The View from our Window: 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

December activities in Slovenia

We made Christmas trees with colored paper:

We made some snowflakes for the decoration and for our Christmas cards.

We made some winter clouds for classroom decoration:

We were mixing colors to paint winter mood in the city.

We had school Christmas concert:

FROM SLOVENIA TO ALL:

Observing the weather in Slovenia

On 16th of December it was a rainy day. We went outside for 1 minute and tried to feel the moist in the air. It was not a pleasant moment to be out. The weather was really unkind :(

The temperature (6 degrees Celsius) was not soo low but the feeling of coldness was quite strong.

No wind at al ....

The strangest winter weather report in our lives ... NO SNOW AT ALL!!!

December report from Slovenia

DATE and TIME:
16th of December at 11.00 a.m.

THE SKY:
cloudy with light rain

TEMPERATURE:
6 degrees Celsius / 42,8 degrees Fahrenheit

WIND:
none

ANIMALS:
spiders, flies

PLANTS:
grass is wet, brownish-geen/trees have almost no leaves on the branches/ bushes have more brownish leaves, lots of brown leaves on the ground/pinetrees are green ofcourse/larches lost almost all their needles, the branches are dark brown, their brown needles lay on the ground under the trees

CLOTHES:
warm clothes with caps and warm waterproof shoes

GAMES:
active games because of the cold outside (when not raining) and board games when being in the house, drawing, reading ...

FAMILY ACTIVITIES:
trips higher in hills or to the coast where there is no fog but sunny clear skies, Christmas activities - baking cookies, decorating the tree, writing letters to the good men :)

HOLIDAYS:
25th - Christmas Day
26th - The Slovenian Independence and Unity Day

ASSOCIATIONS to todays' weather:
grey, coldness, floods, wet, puddles, boredom, umbrella, dullness, couch, playing cards, watching TV

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

DECEMBER WEATHER REPORT FROM SPAIN

DATE AND TIME: December 21st, 12 am.

THE SKY: Cloudy but it doesn´t rain.

TEMPERATURE: 9ºC- 48.2º F

WIND: It isn´t windy today

ANIMALS: Birds, ducks, a cat and a dog.

PLANTS: Trees are the same as last month. There are some flowers: roses, magnolia,etc
We planted onions in our kitchen garden.

CLOTHES: Jumpers, trousers, long sleeves, coats, jackets, boots.... Anyway it´s been the warmest and driest Autumn in our region in 40 years!!

GAMES: Football, elastics, outdoor games.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES: Decorating the Christmas tree and our houses. Playing board games.

HOLIDAYS: Christmas holidays from 22nd December to 9th January.

ASSOCIATIONS TO TODAY´S WEATHER: Eating Christmas sweets: turrón, marzipan, etc

HAPPY CHRISTMAS DEAR FRIENDS!!!

Croatia - December report

CROATIA REPORT - DECEMBER

DATE and TIME:

20th of October at 12.30 p.m.

Today is a cold autumn day.

THE SKY:

white, cloudy

TEMRERATURE:

2˚C/36˚F

WIND:

light west

It is not windy.

ANIMALS

We can see the mole hills, but the moles are hibernating. There are no bugs or ants. We play with our pets.

PLANTS

The grass is green and the earth is soft and moist. The trees lost the leaves. The shrubs and the tree tops are bare. In the morning it is frosty, and sometimes there is ice on the road. The needles of the pines are green. The flowers in our garden lost a bit of their colour and are dry. As a Christmas tradition on 13th December we seed the wheat in a flower pot for it to grow green for merry Christmas.

wheat

CLOTHES

People wear long sleeves and shirts or pullovers, warm jackets, socks, jeans or trousers. If you go outside you must wear a cap, scarf, gloves or mittens and warm boots or shoes.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES:

Decorating our homes and lighting the windows. Everyone is looking forward to Christmas. We help to make cookies and cakes. We sing Christmas songs.

SPECIAL DAYS AND ACTIVITIES:

• On 6th Dec St Nicolas visited us and gave us candy.

• On 13th Dec we seed the wheat.

• On 23rd Dec our school year is over and we are having the school play. Then the winter holidays start and we come back to school on 16th January 2012.

• On 24th Dec it is Christmas Eve. We go to the Midnight Mass.

• On 25th Dec it is Christmas.

• On 25th Dec it is St Stephen's day and we spend it with the family.

• On 31st Dec it is the New Year's Eve and we have a party.

ASSOCIATIONS to todays' weather:

Festive, holiday, Xmas, Christmas, happy

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

December activities in Croatia

CROATIA – DECEMBER ACTIVITIES

It's holiday season and we are preparing for our Christmas school performance, the Christmas fair and winter holidays.

The weather is quite warm for this time of the year, and finally we got to see the first snow, even for a little while on 19th December.

At the beginning of the month, the sky was beautiful. This photo is from 6th December. The sunset was extra! The sky was blue, orange and purple.

The early morning sky on 21st December. You can still see the moon at 7:15am.

Frosty morning.

So how do we prepare for Christmas?

We decorate the classroom pinboards…

the school walls:

And the staffroom :)

Decorating activities:

Playing Christmas board games.

We also had some computer activities and made our movie stories using Dvolver (http://www.dvolver.com/moviemaker/index.html).

On 14th December we received an award for the best photo from our National Agency and we got a new camera!

And here is our winning photo and us posing for it:

More photos will be uploaded on 23rd December from our school Christmas fair where we are showing our artwork and selling it for the charity.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM CROATIA! :)

And last: a sneak peak to our school play rehearsal on 21st December:

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

December Weather Report from Maine, USA

DATE AND TIME

14 December 2011
11:30am

TEMPERATURE

36F/2.2C
We should have snow by now, but it's too warm. We are so hoping for snow!

SKY

partly cloudy

WIND

very slight breeze, which is good, because it's chilly out

PLANTS

All the plants are wilted and gone. Apples are on the ground and rotting. The grass is almost all brown.

CLOTHES

winter coats, hats, mittens, long pants, sweaters. We don't need boots or snow pants, because there's no snow! :(

ANIMALS

We saw a seagull and a squirrel's drey.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Decorating Christmas trees, decorating our homes, baking special treats, shopping for Christmas presents.

HOLIDAYS

CHRISTMAS! We are busy baking, decorating, hiding presents, making things and reading wonderful Christmas stories. We are so lucky to be able to celebrate all holidays at school! We have learned about other holidays too, like Hanukkah and Diwali.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Winter report from Buczek in Poland

DATE and TIME:

13^th December at 12.05 p.m.

THE SKY:

Clear, blue

TEMRERATURE:

13˚C/55,4˚F

WIND:
no wind

No more leaves on the trees

ANIMALS

No- we only saw some pigeons flying

PLANTS

The grass is brown and dry . There are still some leaves on the ground but not as many as a month ago.

CLOTHES

Typical winter clothes- sweaters, caps, gloves, scarves, heavy winter jackets

GAMES:

Today was such a beautiful day that we met many students from our school running and playing near the school

FAMILY ACTIVITIES:

Decorating our homes for Christmas, shopping- buying Christmas presents, there are long evenings so of course watching TV, baking gingerbread

ASSOCIATIONS to today’s weather:
slippery road in the morning, today was warm like in spring, joy, emptiness- maybe because of the trees without leaves

OTHER

Like all of the Christians we are getting ready for Christmas. On the 24 December we have Christmas Eve and we prepare a special family Christmas dinner (we eat a fish carp, mushroom soup, poppy seed cake, share wafers with the whole family and sing carols). It’s a very special day for the Poles. At midnight many people go to a church on a mass- it’s called “pasterka”. On Christmas Day we visit our families.

So Merry Christmas to all our partners!