Marybeth & Lora’s Class Notes

Outside the snow is blustery and inside the school is buzzing with the excitement of Shakespeare and winter holidays! Since Thanksgiving the children have been immersed in the world of The Twelfth Night, and are loving this tale of mistaken identity. After learning the plot through games and storybooks, they explored the meaning of the text in their scene rehearsals and through our annual art project, The Shakespeare Scramble. The “Scramble” is a collaborative project whereby partners illustrate a line of text in the form of a multimedia poster. The play is then “unscrambled” at an all-school gathering where the children share their posters in sequence.

Simultaneously we have been busy in the classroom learning about the reason for the seasons, and the science behind the winter solstice. We have learned some of the history and considered the various seasonal traditions inspired by the shortest day and the return of the light. As part of this exploration we compared and contrasted multiple versions of the traditional Indigenous folktale, How Raven Stole the Light. To commemorate the many celebrations of light that occur this time of year, the children have been making their own papier-mâché lanterns, which they will bring home on Friday.

As we round out 2025, the children have developed strong identities as writer’s and every student has contributed at least one book to our author wall. We look forward to all 2026 will bring!