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Featured Teacher: Jen Tjaden, Grades 5 and 6, Hawley Elementary, Hawley, MN

I love to wake up and get my presents. I also like My favorite part of Christmas is opening presents! to pick up the dry pines from under the tree and put And my favorite present ever was an American them in a bag. I like to go outside and play in the Girl doll. I also like to decorate the tree. But if I snow and take down the tree. I like to play with all WhatWhat dodo yyouou llikeike aaboutbout don’t get exactly what I want, I still usually like of my gifts and to call the people who gave me the my presents. What I have not liked was a BB gun gifts and say thank you. I like to write a list of who my dad got me because I don’t like going hunting gave me gifts so I can get them gifts next year! at all! - Shelby J. - Brynne J.

My favorite part of Christmas is Christmas Eve and I like Christmas because I get to spend time with Christmas morning. I like Christmas Eve because thethe ChristmasChristmas seasonseason? my family and I get presents. We always watch a we have a good meal. I also like it because we have movie or play a game. We open the gifts the night all the candle’s lit and it is a fun time. I like Christ- before Christmas. We like to spend time with mas morning because we open presents. family because we get to know each other better. I - Keenan S. think it is my favorite time of the year. - Ian M. My favorite part about Christmas is the part that makes you feel good on the inside. Why? Because My favorite part of Christmas is morning because, you stay up late and you do almost nothing but talk when you get up and you are all excited and you about Christmas. After Christmas, the next day you go upstairs and see all the presents and see what go sledding on a hill. Then you do nothing but watch you get for Christmas with your family! I love television. Christmas not just because of the presents but you - Blake T. get to spend it with God! - Alexys V. I like when I get to see my grandma and grandpa and the awesome presents I get from them. I like I love everything about Christmas. I like the when we get ornaments because it is fun to put them presents from Santa, family and relatives. I like on the Christmas tree. We always do a Christmas celebrating Christmas with family and relatives. project and last year we made a gingerbread house. On Christmas Eve, I go to my grandpa’s house My grandpa makes lots of great treats at his bakery. and on Christmas day I stay home and we cel- My favorite treat is the caramels. Santa comes to my ebrate Christmas at my house. I love the presents grandparent’s house. We relax a lot. that I get for Christmas. - Faith J. - Nick P.

I like opening my presents because I love to play My favorite part about Christmas is everything. with my new toys. On Christmas day, when it is I like everything because I love being with my time for supper we always have Christmas dinner. family and friends. I like opening presents and After a while of playing with my new toys, I go holiday songs. I like decorating, the colors and outside to play in the snow. If I get a toy car or a Christmas songs. Christmas is my favorite holi- My favorite part about Christmas is... well I have My favorite part of Christmas is in the morning toy snowmobile, I will make trails in the snow. day because you get to see everyone you love at a lot of parts I like about Christmas, so here I because I get to open presents. My other favorite - Briah J. once. I like Christmas because everyone is nice to go... My favorite part of Christmas is when we part of Christmas is when I get to see my grandma you. This is why I like Christmas. get to put up the Christmas tree. Because then and grandpa because I get to ride 4-wheeler in My favorite part about Christmas is opening my - Hannah J. your house feels all Christmas-like. I also like to the snow. I like it when the snow fl ies behind me presents. I can’t wait for my mom and dad to wake open the presents and eat the amazing food. And when I drive the 4-wheeler. up. At night, I decorate the Christmas tree with My favorite part of Christmas is getting to go to I like to bake cookies with my family on baking - Nate S. marvelous ornaments. After we put the ornaments Lake Park and going to church with my family day because the cookies are so amazing. The on the tree, we put the Christmas lights on. We also like my aunt’s family and my grandparents. We most important part is getting to spend time with My favorite part about Christmas is waking up to make some chocolate covered peanut butter balls. then go to my grandparents and eat lots of food my family. a bunch of presents and having a great time with - Micah J. like ribs, mash potatoes and lots, lots more. Then - Jada A. my family. Spending time with my mom and dad we go downstairs and open presents and hang out is fun and on Christmas I wish I could spend even with family. Then we go home and go to bed. My favorite part of Christmas is getting presents more time with my family. It’s fun on Christmas - Paige T. and getting to see my relatives. This year, I actu- because I enjoy it so much and I love Christmas! I ally get to see my Dad on Christmas morning. I want to have Christmas every day! The best part of Christmas is when we decorate also like making presents for my Mom and Dad. I - Macy O. the tree. My mom and I decorate it most of the get to eat one piece of candy from my stocking. time. The week before Christmas, we decorate - Isaac A. One of my favorite parts of Christmas is coming the tree. Around 7-8 a.m., I am the fi rst one up. downstairs Christmas morning and seeing my This Christmas, we have to wait to open presents My favorite part of Christmas is opening the sisters’ face. I also like seeing my family and until 9 a.m. because that’s when our mom comes presents because you don’t know what you’re spending time with them. And I love watching home from working the night shift at Sanford this going to get. On Christmas, I have to go to a lot of Christmas movies on ABC family. I also love Christmas. When my dad and brother are hunting places. So that means a lot of presents. My mom baking for the Christmas meal. But my all-time on our land we make Christmas cookies. It is so gets a box and fi lls it with little presents. She favorite thing is to decorate. I love to put up the fun. The best Christmas present we ever got was hides money in the small presents. My grandma stockings and the Christmas tree and all of the a Wii. The second best would be the Wii games. does the same thing for my mom and dad. WE ornaments. Now you know what all my favorite The third best would be the Wii remotes. EAT A LOT! parts of Christmas are. - Masyn J. - Haylie B. - Mari H. Our next featured teacher will be: Kim Belgarde, Grade 4, Bennett Elementary, Fargo, ND

How many candy canes can you find in this box? Ask a friend to come up with three © 2012 by Vicki Whiting, Editor Jeff Schinkel, Graphics Vol. 28, No. 52 nouns (person, place or thing) and three verbs (action words like swim on’t let your brain hibernate on winter and walk). Use them to fill in the blanks in this story. Read it aloud break! Join in the Reindeer Games and to share some holiday humor! see if you can solve these puzzles designed to boggle your mind!

Change the word HOT into the word TEA in just four steps. Change only one letter at a time. Ricky Reindeer wanted to get Need help? Look at how a special gift for his friend Randolph changed a DOG into a CAT. Sadie Squirrel. He walked Hint: Golfers use the word on line 4. deep into the forest, and was REINDEER Find the words in the puzzle, then in this week’s Kid Scoop surprised to find a shiny, new PUZZLES stories and activities. TREATS ______in the snow. C E T A N R E B I H This reindeer has a head, antlers, CANDY He picked it up and started to a tail, legs and a body. Can you GEOMETRIC I H S R E L T N A R move just two peppermint ______back sticks to make the reindeer HIBERNATE R O M O N E Y M E Y look in the opposite direction? MONEY T S H A R D L I L D home. He wrapped the gift in ANTLERS E O T I N E N N D O ______and put BRAIN M L A A G D Y D G B a nice big ______LEGS BODY O V C S E L Z Z U P on top. WINTER E E A E B R A I N M SOLVE G E R S R E T N I W Sadie was thrilled with the HARD gift. She was so happy, she MIND Circle the two identical began to ______reindeer. How many differences can around in the snow. Ricky was you find between the two pictures above? happy, too. So he began to ______merrily Find examples while jumping for joy. Pretend each letter of the alphabet of each of could be exchanged these geometric Rhoda is doing a little flight practice. Elmer Elf left her favorite treats: apples, carrots and for money. Imagine shapes in your sugar cubes. To help her get the treats, look at each math problem and the numbers next to A = $1, B= $2 and newspaper. each treat. Place a number in each empty box so that the problem equals the answer. Use each so forth until you get of these numbers only once. (There is more than one possible solution for each problem.) to Z which would Edith Elf wanted to measure 8 equal $26. = 4 9 the snowfall at the North Pole 3 6 Find a headline and for one week. She started on figure out what each Sunday, and stopped the next Saturday. It snowed every day 2 letter in the headline = 7 5 that week. Each day the 8 is worth. Add up Make up a holiday math problem that is a amount of snow in her bucket 4 those numbers to story problem. Include the answer. Be sure doubled. On Saturday, the figure out what the the holiday is a wintertime holiday. bucket was full. = 5 8 7 10 dollar value of the Example: There was 5 feet of snow on the entire headline On what day of the week was 6 would be. ground. When the next snowstorm hit, the

new storm dropped 3 feet of snow. How much Edith’s bucket half full? night and was full on Saturday. on full was and night

snow is on the ground now? (Answer: 8 feet.) that doubled It full. half was bucket Edith’s as the day before, so that means that on Friday, Friday, on that means that so before, day the as ANSWER: It snowed twice as much each day day each much as twice snowed It ANSWER: