November Newsletter Room 302 Wednesday, November 21st, 2018

Dear Parents,

Just a couple of weeks before our Thanksgiving Break, our class worked hard on writing that will be made into a real book. Thank you very much for responding to me despite the short notice. I have submitted everyone’s writing before our break. The books that were ordered will arrive just before our winter break. The title is “Winter Wonderland with All of Us.” The picture on the left is the front page of the book with everyone’s name written in Japanese. We cannot wait to see the finished book!

In our recent class-meetings, we have decided to have everyone say something positive about another person in the class. Our students decided to call it the “Compliment Circle.” Some examples of the comments are: “You are kind” ,“You are a hard worker”, “Thank you for being a good example to us” , “You are funny”. I have noticed that everyone takes making these compliments seriously. Until we started this, there were always negative comments about others. I am hoping that this may continue to help everyone to find something more positive in everyone else.

We have been doing Origami once a week or every other week lately. The other day we made an origami turkey. Since our 3rd graders have had more origami time compared to the rest of the class, I showed our 3rd graders how to make it and asked them to help the rest of the class. How excited and how helpful the 3rd graders were! It was beautiful to see their gentleness as they were guiding the younger ones.

In Japan we do not have “Thanksgiving Day”, but we celebrate for the bountiful food given by cooking delicious food together. So last Friday, I brought some apple butter that I had made to the class. They loved it and wanted to have its recipe. So here it is:

Apple Butter

I used about 20 apples; makes 4 one -pint jars of apple butter. Ingredients: apples, cinnamon

1. Peel the apples, take the core out and cut them in small pieces.
2. Put the apples in a slow cooker and put some cinnamon. (As much as you like)
3. Cook them for 10 hours. You may want to stir them occasionally.
4. Put the cooked apples in a blender.
5. Put the apples back in the slow cooker and cook until the mixture thickens.
6. Enjoy the yummy apple butter!

Our last school day of this semester is Friday, December 21st. In the afternoon on that day, we are planning to invite all the parents and family members to enjoy tea and origami together. Please help us celebrate our semester with us!

Hope you all have a restful and happy Thanksgiving Day!

Sincerely,

Atsuko O’Keefe