French and Spanish!

I am often been asked: “How can I help my child better  learn the French language?” There is a simple answer to this. The vocabulary of very theme each class is working on during the school year is linked to a Quizlet.com account.

For the 2nd through the 4th year, the Quizlet account has a username: tartetintin2 and the password is: Charlotte3 (Charlotte with a capital letter)! Every child has access to these sets of vocabulary through the Quizlet.com account. I would like to invite the children in these classes to use the Quizlet account anytime over the bread when they have a bit of free time. It’s a wonderful way to use learning games and activities when it’s too cold and snowy outside.

For the 6th through to the 8th year, we have several Quizlet accounts: Spanish has a username: dosminutos and the password is: bailando1 (no capitalization)! For French, the account username is: petitlapin and the password is: dansedanslepre (no capitalization)! For Latin, the username is: damebelette and the password is: felix9999 (the Latin Quizlet does not offer pronunciation, however the other languages the students are able to listen to the pronunciation for each word)!

Finally, I would like to thank all of you for your support of  World Language for your children and wish you all a wonderful holiday and a great New Year!

Caroling

Spreading good cheer ‘the old fashioned way’ is easy when you go Caroling. Not only is this a beautiful way to infuse the delight of Holiday song through your local community, it’s also an excuse to get outside and walk around with your caroling friends – be they new friends or old!

You don’t need a one-horse open sleigh, glistening snow, or angelic voices to enjoy caroling with your family. The key to making caroling fun for kids is mixing cheery music with lots of holiday spirit!

Check Your List

Before heading out, use this checklist to get ready:

1. Invite your children’s friends and their parents to join you.
2. Make songbooks. Kids ages 3 to 7 can create book covers, while 8 to 12 year olds help you write out or print copies of lyrics to favorite songs.
3. Pick a well-lit path you know well.
4. Decide beforehand how far your carolers will walk and how long you want to stay out.
5. Kids can carry flashlights; adults can carry candle lanterns.
6. Take a wagon. It can hold everything you take along as well as small children who might get tired.
7. Give yourselves a fun name like “Santa’s Singing Superstars,” and make a sign to put on the wagon.
8. If collecting money for a charity, make a sign and a donation jar with the organization’s name.
9. Before visiting a nursing home or hospital, call ahead and get an okay from the administration.
10. Bring along cookies and a big thermos of hot cocoa. Don’t forget the cups and marshmallows!

Before you head out to spread cheers, I would like to share what I found about Caroling.

How did the Caroling tradition begin? Who wrote the carols? And why do we feel compelled to sing them on the front porch of a total stranger’s home?

The root of the word “carol” lies not in song, but in dance. In Old French, “carole” means “kind of dance.” In Latin, “choraula” means “a dance to the flute,” and in Greek, “choraules” means “flute player who accompanies the choral dance.” Although there are some carols centering around religion, the song were originally secular — up-tempo melodies with alternating choruses and verses associated with traditional dances. Like many other Christmas traditions, caroling is also thought to have its roots in the pre-Christian celebration of the Festival of Yule, when Northern Europeans would come together to sing and dance to honor the Winter Solstice. As carols evolved into a Christian tradition, they became hymns, having little relation to any type of dance.

Christmas carols today carry cozy connotations of ancient traditions as old as King Wenceslas, but Christmas caroling as we know it dates back to the 19th Century and not much further. In fact, caroling itself didn’t always involve Christmas, and the ancient tradition of traveling from house to house to wish neighbors good cheer didn’t always involve singing. There’s a distinction to be made between carols — songs stemming from medieval musical traditions — and today’s Christmas caroling, says Daniel Abraham, musicology expert and choral director at American University in Washington, D.C. “The concept of carol in its origins has actually nothing to do with Christmas,” Abraham says. Medieval carols were liturgical songs reserved for processionals in the 12th and 13th centuries. And though modern carols sometimes take their form from these original carols – starting with refrain, followed by verses uniform structure – they are separate entities.

Happy Holidays!!

The holidays are all about delicious food and tempting sweets everywhere you look.  On top of all that, we feel that sense of laziness that comes with vacation where finding the time to exercise feels impossible and nearly useless.  Exercise is good. It relieves stress, which is something you might be experiencing more often during the holidays, and exercise makes you feel better about yourself. But exercise doesn’t have to be something exhausting or strenuous, and there are plenty of fun ways to keep yourself and the kids active during the holidays.  It is recommended by the CDC that children and adolescents should participate in 60 minutes or more of physical activity each day.  Here are some ideas to keep you and your family stay active over the winter break!

• Walk to your local mall.  If you need to drive, park far away from the mall.
• Take the stairs whenever possible instead of an elevator or escalator.
• Go for a walk around your neighborhood.  Walk your pet.
• Do some house cleaning or chores.  Clean your room or your closets.
• Watch and follow an exercise video or DVD rather than a movie.
• Have a snowball fight.
• Go ice skating.
• Go sledding.
• Go skiing.
• Do calisthenic exercises that were taught in class such as: squats, push-ups, crunches, lunges, tricep dips, wall-push-ups, 30 second wall sits, mountain climbers, shoulder taps,  burpees, and plank for 30 seconds!  Each exercise can be performed 10 (or more times) each and gradually increased each day.

Enjoy your break and stay active!