Monday, October 3, 2011

Please Share a Tradition!

This week Mrs. Yollis' class is starting a new unit in Language Arts called Celebrating Traditions!



 A tradition is something that family, friends,
or another group of people has done for many years and continues to do on a regular basis.

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The story for this week is "The Keeping Quilt".


 In the first story, "The Keeping Quilt," by Patricia Polacco, the author retells the story of her family's handmade quilt. In the story, a Russian immigrant mother and family arrive in the United States. She plans to make a quilt from a basket of old clothes, telling her daughter, "It will be like having the family in backhome Russia dance around us at night."  The quilt is passed along from mother to daughter for four generations. It becomes a Sabbath tablecloth and a wedding canopy. It even becomes a blanket for new generations of children. "The Keeping Quilt" is a heart-warming story about one family's tradition.

*     *     *     *     *

In the comment section, please 
share a tradition your family celebrates. 

It can be an annual party, a holiday, or any traditional event.


Please include details about: special foods,  decorations, songs, and/or activities.

Remember: Be sure to have a parent proofread with you so your comment will get published! 

50 comments:

  1. Dear Class,

    One family tradition that I thoroughly enjoyed when I was growing up was our annual trip to Pelican Lake, Minnesota. When school got out in June, my mother would pile my two siblings into our 1968 Chevy Bel-air wagon, and we endured the long 1,800 mile journey from California. At Pelican Lake, we fished for rock bass and walleye with my Uncle Paul. At night, we dined on Grandma Smillie’s delicious cooking. One of my favorite dishes was Hungarian goulash. After dinner, we coated ourselves with mosquito repellent and dashed outside to play Kick-the-can with the neighbor kids. This annual vacation was a tradition I looked forward to, and I cherish those memories today.

    From,
    Mrs. Y♥llis

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  2. Hey Mrs. Yollis and students,

    Hi,my name is Ryan I will be talking about my Halloween traditions. Every year, my family and I get dressed up in our silly customs and all go Trick-or-Treating together. Afterwards, my parents let me eat some of the candy.

    Hi, my name is Taylor and my tradition is also in October: Thanksgiving. In Canada we don't celebrate it in November. For Thanksgiving my whole, entire family gets together to have a yummy supper and dessert. For supper we have ham, mashed potatoes, turkey and bright orange carrots. For dessert we have chocolate pie, pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream...uuummmmmm Can't wait, it's this weekend :)

    Talk to you later Taylor and Ryan!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aloha Mrs. Yollis and third graders,
    One of our family traditions was how we spent Christmas Eve. My grandparents were from Croatia and my mother and grandmother would begin days in advance preparing the meal. This meal, which took place after midnight mass, included a jellied soup with chicken feet and roasted pig.

    I remember one very snowy Christmas Eve when my mother was concerned over the delivery of the pig. Sure enough, early in the evening, there was a knock at the door and there stood the pitmaster with the meat wrapped in paper already glistening from the meat drippings. The worry had been that beacuse of the wind and snow the spit roasted pig would not be on the table.

    As a family we would first attend midnight mass with the songs and service in Croatian and then home to eat. No presents were opened until morning. I would never eat the jellied soup or chicken feet, which were always put on the outside porch to cool, but I always enjoyed the spit roasted pig.

    A hui hou,
    Mrs. Jacobs

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  4. Hey Mrs. Yollis' Class,

    My name is Thomas and one of my traditions is during Halloween. At Halloween, most of us gather candies by visiting houses. I do that too, but I also get to go to my cousin's house and have a sleepover. We eat some of our candies and try and scare my sister with spooky stories.

    Hi, I'm Justin M. Did you know that there are only 13 students in Miss B's class and there are 3 Justins! One of my tradition is during Easter. At Easter I go to my Grandparents home. My grandparents mostly speak French. They spoil me and my sister with hugs and chocolates.

    Thomas and Justin M.

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  5. Hey Mrs. Yollis' Class,

    My name is Cale and this is one of my family traditions; it is that every year we have turkey for Thanksgiving. The turkey is to die for; it smells like nature and it looks likes golden brown after being cooked...it's tempting and it feels like it's just waiting to be eaten.

    My name is Kaleb and my family tradition is that every Christmas my whole famly gathers together and we give each other presents. It's not all about the gifts because I also love the food. My favourite is mashed potatoes with melted cheese and bacon bits. Yummy!!!

    See you later!

    Cale and Kaleb

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  6. Hey Mrs. Yollis,

    This is a great family tradition is that every Sunday my family goes to my Grandma's house for a great supper. Every second Sunday we always have ribs, mashed potatoes and peas which I like to mix in with my potatoes!

    After supper we always play a game called "Tuck" and if there is a marble in the place that you're putting your's, it is called a ZAP and whoever loses the game has to do the dishes! Whoever gets all four marbles home first wins the game.

    Love, Bella

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  7. For Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year Mornings I bake homemade cinnamon rolls. It is the only time each year I make these rolls.

    On the night of the Academy Awards, 12 friends and I, dress up in our best, cook a very fancy dinner, and have an Oscar party (we watch the awards and have a contest on who guesses the most winners.) (We have done this since 1982)

    Growing up, we had a tradition of always going to the Santa Claus Lane Parade on Hollywood Blvd and the Rose Parade on New Year's day. Parades were a very big thing in my family.

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  8. Mrs Yollis
    I was trying to think of special things that we do in New Zealand as a tradition, probably the most strange is that as a country we have a celebration nation wide on November the 5th to celebrate Guy Fawkes night, its when shops are allowed to sell fireworks (although in recent years they've restricted what can be bought and introduced an age limit) to celebrate.

    Why its a little strange is that Guy Fawkes dates back to the Gunpowder plot in England in 1605 and New Zealand as a country wasn't even created then, not for another 240 years, so we are celebrating something that dosen't really mean much to our country.

    My families always celebrated it, where we have a special dinner and let off fireworkds and I think that New Zealand and UK (Great Britain) are the only two countries that do.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    One of my family traditions is to have Thanksgiving dinner at my house. We normally have about 23 people that come to our house. Usually we have my uncles, aunt, cousins, and grandparents. Every year we eat turkey, stuffing, yams, green beans, mashed potatoes and for dessert we have pumpkin pie! After dinner, my cousins and I put on a show for all of the adults. Then, everyone goes home and I groan because I am so full.

    Sincerely,

    Sammy

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dear Mrs.Yollis,

    Every year on the Fourth of July, my family goes to a very special party! First, we sit down and eat a traditional dinner. Then you can run around and play. There is entertainment for the kids like face painting and people making balloon animals.

    After you're done playing, you can get desserts such as snow cones, popcorn, cotton candy and ice cream! When it turns dark, everyone sits down and watches fireworks!

    That's my family tradition!


    Best wishes,
    ♠Sasha♥

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Mrs. Yollis and class,

    Every year my family gathers at my grandma's house to celebrate Easter. One of the things we always do and I will always love, is designing easter eggs. We all sit together and color eggs with crayons, pens, pencils, and sometimes permanent markers. There is a contest for the best eggs. Most of the time my egg comes in 2nd or 3rd place. I'm going to come up with a great idea this next Spring.

    After we design the eggs I go on an easter egg
    hunt.The eggs are well hidden and there is always a golden egg to be found. Before we go home we exchange gifts with each other. Easter is a fun tradition in my family.

    Sincerely,
    Rexon

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  12. Dear Mia,
    I hope you had fun during Rosh Hashanah. Did you like the apples and honey when you ate them. When I ate apples and honey I fell into a dream world. In my house my tradition for Rosh Hashanah is to keep the house neat and to have good luck. I go to temple to learn who I am and what I live for. When I went to temple I say a guy playing a shofar. Do you know what a shofar is. It is an animal horn that you can play. It sounds like baroooooooooooo.

    Maybe someday we can get together for Rosh Hashanah?

    Your friend,
    Madison

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  13. Dear Mrs. Yollis and students,

    Traditions are such a fun topic to talk about! As a child, one tradition I remember was our Christmas Eve dinner was always snow crab, a salad, and ravioli. The crab was for the grownups and the ravioli was for the children. However, that remained our tradition throughout the years, even after we were grown and married. Every once in a while, my family still serves that meal for Christmas Eve in honor of my family tradition.

    Kind regards,
    Mrs. Watanabe

    ReplyDelete
  14. @ Mrs. Yollis,

    One of my favorite family traditions is Easter Sunday. On Easter morning I wake up to find an Easter basket, full of candy and toys, at the foot of my bed. We then dress up and go to Church. After Church, my whole family gathers at my house for our Easter Egg Hunt and our Easter Day Lunch. We have about thirty people over, including my cousins. My favorite part of the day is the Easter Egg Hunt because some of the eggs contain money. I am happy when I find an egg with money in it. There is also a lot of delicious food. My aunt usually cooks Lamb, but I really don't like it. I do enjoy all the other food, especially the yummy desserts. My favorite dessert is called flan, which is a popular dessert in South America, and which is a typical dessert serviced at any of our family gatherings.

    Sincerely,
    Alexandra.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dear Mrs. Yollis and students,

    One of my family's favourite traditions is Christmas lunch. I have quite a large extended family (7 aunts and an uncle plus their families and my own - usually around 40 people!) and we always make time to celebrate Christmas together - usually the weekend before or after Christmas day - as a family. Each family takes a turn every year to host the Christmas lunch at their house, and it's a day filled with activities, food and celebrations.

    Now, in Australia, it's Summer when December the 24th rolls around and usually quite hot. While we normally might have some hot food - usually a BBQ, with sausages, hamburgers, seafood, etc - we also have lots of 'cold' food platters, too - more seafood, cold meats like ham and turkey, as well as lots of different salads. Then we have the desserts (which is usually my favourite part of the day!) of Christmas pudding, Christmas cake, canollis, cheesecake and pavlova.

    But the most important part of our family tradition is that it's an opportunity for my whole family to come together, catch up, and celebrate together - not an easy thing to do when there's over 40 people to get together at once!

    Good luck with your unit on Traditions!

    From,
    Stefanie Galvin
    (Teacher, Melbourne, AUS)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Dear Mrs Yollis,

    My aunt's birthday is on the same day as new year, so every year we have big party to celebrate both events. The party is at my grandma's house. My cousins, grandparents, uncles, aunts, great uncles and aunts all come over to celebrate. My Grandma cooks a lot of very delicious food. She makes a whole big turkey, Russian style potato salad, stuffed cabbage, pirogy with meat and many other delicious food. Everyone stays up until midnight to celebrate New Years. I go to bed earlier, but maybe next year I can stay up until midnight too.

    From,
    Sarah

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  17. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    For a birthday party celebration we have a pinata for the children. The pinata is full of candy and the children take turns hitting it with a stick until the candy falls out. Then the children run to pick up the candy,eat it or take it home.

    Sincerely,
    Trey

    ReplyDelete
  18. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    My family tradition is to take a trip to Mammoth with my family for six days over spring break. Last year I went with my cousins and my friend Andrew.

    We stayed at an amazing hotel that is right next to the ski lift and across the street from the towns restaurants and shops.

    After we rented skiing and snowboarding supplies, we went skiing and snowboarding! Last year, we took skiing lessons and after two days of lessons I got to ski down the mountain with my dad.

    I can't wait till next spring break!

    Have you ever been to Mammoth?

    Sincerely,
    Aidan

    ReplyDelete
  19. Dear Mrs Yollis and students,

    I just love the fact you are learning all about Language Arts.

    You got me thinking thinking way back as far the age of five where we had a family tradition which we still do now every year. This family tradition is where the whole of our family near and far get together to make homemade tomato sauce.

    This is where we start the day very early and end with a huge celebration of food and music.

    This is a very special family tradition and what makes it even more special is now Bianca and my other family members love been part of this very fun and special tradition too. One that will go on for many years to come.

    From your blogging pal,
    AA.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hello Mrs. Yollis and classroonm;

    My name is Jakob we have several traditions in our home one of them starts on October 1st this is the day we surprise my mom in decorating our front yard for Holloween. First we start taking out all of our Halloween decorations out my dad, my twin brother Jonathan and I decide which goes out for display on our front yard and which ones don't quite make it that year. When in need my dad, brother and I go out shopping for more decorations to fill in for the ones that didn't make it.

    The surprise happens until we are all ready to go out for dinner that's the moment when we all love surprising my mom every year.

    Best,
    Jakob

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear Mrs Yollis and Grade 3
    I was thinking about the traditions that we have in New Zealand, when I realised that our school actually has quite a few traditions.

    There are some special days that we hold every year, among them are -
    Pets day in November;
    the Family Challenge in the winter term;
    every year at the end of term 4 each home room decorates a Christmas tree which then goes to auction as a fundraiser for a local help group;
    ANZAC day on April 25, when the school marches in the community parade;
    our athletics sports day;
    and our Celebration of Learning at the end of the school year in December

    These days are all important to us as a school and to our community.

    Does your school have some traditions that you could share?

    from Mrs M♔Kenzie

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  22. Dear Class,
    When I lived in Korea I remember seeing a great tradition for a baby's first birthday called the dol. The baby got to choose between money, a pencil and a string. What object the baby chooses is said to be their future, a scholar, a rich person, or a long life. Can you guess which object they would choose? What object would you choose.

    Stephanie

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  23. Dear Mrs. Yollis and Class,
    One family tradition that I enjoyed when my daughters, Kari and Sarah, were young was our weekly outings to the public library. Every Saturday, we would take turns selecting a place to go out to breakfast. We usually devoured omelets or pancakes with maple syrup! Then it was on to the library. Kari and Sarah would choose the books they wanted to check out. Then they would take turns finding a book for us to read to them. The following Saturday morning, while we waited for our breakfast to arrive at the table, each of the girls would read one of the books out loud to their dad and me. It warms my heart to recall this special tradition now that my daughters are all grown up. I am sure that it is one of the reasons they both love to read so much today.

    From,
    Mrs. Ranney

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  24. ♕Royce and Aidan♕October 4, 2011 at 3:01 PM

    Dear Stephine,

    We are in Mrs. Yollis' class. Our names are Royce and Aidan.

    This is Royce. The tradition that you have sounds really fun! I like how the baby gets to choose from the three objects. I would choose the money so I would be rich. What would you pick now?

    This is Aidan. I also think that your tradition is really cool! I would prefer the money too so I could be rich also. What did you pick when you were a baby?

    Sincerely,
    ♕Royce and Aidan♕

    ReplyDelete
  25. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    One of our favorite family traditions is celebrated on birthdays. When someone in our family is having a birthday we go out for dinner to a special restaurant called Yamatos. Yamatos is a fancy Japanese restaurant. We sit at a table where the chef cooks your food in front of you. It's fun to watch, but sometimes I get scared when he makes the onions into a volcano. What is your favorite fancy restaurant.

    From,

    Logan

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  26. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    One of my family traditions is that we go to our neighbors house and have a HUGE party!♥

    On Halloween, at about six o'clock, My family and I walk to our neighbors house in our silly\scary costumes. As we walk in, there is face painting\tattoos.

    You can pick either you want a tattoo, or a face paint. I always pick face painting, because they can paint what you are for Halloween.


    They have buckets, and buckets, of sweet chocolaty candy! They have a very big backyard, so they
    always have a bounce house, and a lot of entertainment.

    After an hour of playing, bouncing, getting face paintings, or tattoos, we go trick-or-treating! :-)

    We always walk together because if somebody gets lost, we can all find them together.

    There is always one neighborhood where they give these huge chocolate bars. That is always be my favorite neighborhood.

    After trick-or-treating, my brother and I watch a movie and eat our candy.

    That is my family tradition.♥♦

    Love,

    ♥M♥a♥

    ReplyDelete
  27. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    One of our family traditions is to go to Germany every year. We always stay at my aunt Elinor's house and the coolest thing is that my grandma's house is just across the street!
    The most important part of our Germany trips is going to the "fairy tale forest". I call it fairy tale forest because it is a walking trail leading trough a village of little houses. They look very old-fashioned and every tells a fairy tale. The Rapunzel one is actually a big tower and when you call her name, Rapunzel lets down her hair!
    When you push a button, it starts telling you the story! But the downside is: I can't understand it, because it is in German :( My mom has to translate.
    At the end we always have German waffles at the forest restaurant. They are delicious! The restaurant also has a water show, which has lots of bright colors. It's even better than Disneyland and it is free!
    I can't wait to go to go again! Even my big brother has been going to fairy tale forest since he was very little.
    It's our family's fairy tale tradition :0)
    Happily ever after

    Love,
    Kelly

    ReplyDelete
  28. Dear Stefanie,

    Wow! That is an interesting tradition! I would pick a pencil to have a scholar rather than having money or a long life.

    Where do you live right now?

    What did you choose?


    Sincerely,

    ♥M♥a♥

    ReplyDelete
  29. Dear Mrs.Yollis and class,
    Some of my traditions are Dol(dor) and Saebae(sebeh).

    Dol is a korean tradition.
    It is for a babies first birthday. We eat lots of korean foods such as ddok(thok). Then we have the baby pick an item rice,money or string. On my Dol I picked money.

    Saebae is a korean new years tradition.First,we have lots of food such as:kogee and kimchee.
    Then all the oldest of our family tree sit in chairs,then we say korean blessings and in return they give us monoey.

    Do you have any special traditions for your country?

    Sicerely,
    ♥Acacia♥

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hello Mrs. Yollis and classroom,

    My name is Jakob. We have several traditions in our home. One of them starts on October 1st this is the day we surprise my mom in decorating our front yard for Halloween. First we start taking out all of our Halloween decorations out my dad, my twin brother Jonathan and I decide which goes out for display on our front yard and which ones don't quite make it that year. When in need my dad, brother and I go out shopping for more decorations to fill in for the ones that didn't make it.

    The surprise happens until we are all ready to go out for dinner that's the moment when we all love surprising my mom every year.

    Best,
    Jakob

    ReplyDelete
  31. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    One of my favorite traditions is an Iranian celebration called Seezdah-Bedar. This celebration takes place thirteen days after the Iranian New Year which is celebrated on the first day of spring.

    Seezdah means thirteen and Bedar means to pass over. Because thirteen is considered an unlucky number, a lot of families leave their homes and go to parks to pass over the thirteenth day of the new year and start the year with good luck!

    Every year on Seezdah -Bedar my family and I go to a park where we meet our friends and other family members for a day of fun activities. We play many games, play on the playground, feed the ducks and, eat lots of delicious foods and desserts. I always have such a wonderful time! When it's time to go home, I always feel a little sad because I don't want the day to be over but I know there is always next Year!

    Sincerely,
    Leila♥

    ReplyDelete
  32. Dear Mrs. Yollis
    My traditions are going camping every year at the end of the summer with many families from Chaparral. Logan and your old student Ryan and his twin brother come too! We usually camp at El Capitan State Park and play at the beach. We also ride bikes around the park. We all sit at the camp around the fire and eat s'mores Yum!

    Your friend,
    Matthew

    ReplyDelete
  33. Mrs. Yollis and students,

    Hello my name is Clarissa. I love your blog. Two traditions my family celebrates is going to mass on Christmas Eve, plus we decorate for Christmas, the day after Thanksgiving.

    Clarissa

    ReplyDelete
  34. Dear Mrs. Yollis And Class,

    One of my favorite traditions is Halloween. Every year my family and I go to one of my friend's house. After all of my friends come, we all go in his backyard and play. When it gets dark we go inside and get ready to go trick-or-treating!
    We each take a bag and go in his front yard. Then we go to every house with a light on. Then we all go back to his house and trade candy with each other.


    Do you know what you are going to be for Halloween?


    Sincerely,
    Parsa

    ReplyDelete
  35. Dear Mrs. Yollis and class,
    My favorite tradition is celebrating Now Rooz. It is the celebration of the Persian New Year. Now Rooz is on the very first day of spring.My favorite part of Now Rooz is when my mom and I lay the Haftseen Table. On the table we put seven things that start with the letter S. We also put a mirror, candles, colored eggs, and a goldfish in a bowl.I get to paint the eggs using different colors!
    Usually my grandparents come to celebrate with us.On Now Rooz, we eat rice and fish. My grandparents give me presents. I have a wonderful time.

    From,
    Atrina

    F

    ReplyDelete
  36. Dear Mrs. Yollis and class,

    My family tradition is my mom's matza balls. They are special because the recipe is my great-great Bubby's (Grandmother's) recipe. She makes them with chicken soup on holidays and just for fun. Do you have a recipe from your great-great grandma?

    Warmly,
    Jordyn

    ReplyDelete
  37. Trey said...
    Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    For a birthday party celebration we have a piñata for the children. The piñata is full of candy. The children take turns hitting it with a stick until the candy falls out. Then the children run to pick up the candy, eat it or take it home. Some of my favorite candies are Jolly Ranchers, Gum, and Kit Kat. What is your favorite candy?

    Sincerely,
    ☀Trey♔

    ReplyDelete
  38. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    We have a family tradition on Christmas Eve. My mum makes a big dinner including dessert, and then the most fun part is...we get to open one of the gifts under the Christmas Tree! After we have opened a gift someone in our family reads "The Night Before Christmas" story; sometimes it's my dad, mum or even my grandmother.

    Then, we put a plate of cookies and carrots with a glass of milk for Santa and his reindeer.

    Hope you enjoy my family tradition!

    Best regards,
    Jake

    ReplyDelete
  39. Hello Mrs.Yollis!

    When I was growing up in England, I always remember our family having so much fun at Christmas time!

    We would wake up on Christmas morning and my parents would make a tradiditonal English breakfast with a Bucks Fizz (Mimosa). The we would open the gifts that were under the tree at our house and checked out what Santa had placed in our stockings. After we would drive to one set of my grandparents house for our Christmas dinner and more gift opening!! We would sit around the big table with all of my mum's side of our family - her parents, sister, brothers, aunts, uncles, cousins. We typically spent the night after the really long fun day.

    The next day is called Boxing Day. We would spend that day with my dad's side of the famliy. We would have another traditional Christmas dinner but at lunchtime and open more gifts! Then the real fun began...we would prepare my grandparents house for the annual party!! This is where I played with my cousins and hung out with my aunts and uncles. We would play games together and try to win prizes. There was always lots of food; my grandmother loved to bake and entertain all of us!

    One prize that no one ever won except my grandfather was for the person who kept their hat from the Christmas cracker we popped @ lunchtime. Of course the kids lost theirs typically while running around, and most of the adults would take theirs off. But you could always predict my grandfather would still be wearing his when everyone was leaving :)

    I hope you enjoyed my family tradition...

    Kindest regards,
    Lisa, Jake's mum

    ReplyDelete
  40. Hi Mrs.Yollis' class,
    I am Sasha's Aunt Lauren and she told me all about your class blog when I saw her a few days ago. My town has a tradition that is really cool. Every Memorial Day Weekend there is a festival called the Kinetic Sculpture Race. The race lasts for 3 days and everyone who participates has to build something that moves by petal action,sort of like a bike and it has to be able to move over land, sand dunes and float. Everyone in town attends this annual event. The coolest part is that the contraptions that move are all different. For example there have been dogs, picnic baskets, pirate ships, dragons etc. Some have seats and petals for 2 people, some for up to 6 people and there are very few rules in this race which makes for some very interesting competition. I would suggest you Google the Kinetic Sculpture Race in Humboldt Co. to see some of the silliest photos there are. My family always looks forward to this town tradition. Sasha's cousin Mariah even got to ride in the race one year on a sculpture built by students at her school.

    Thanks for letting me share about one of my favorite weekends of the year.
    Happy blogging,
    Lauren

    ReplyDelete
  41. Dear Mrs. Yollis' class,

    I can think of three traditions that are really fun to me.

    First, every year, I gather up all of my friends and we have a blast going trick-or-treating. At 7:00, we usually start off with the court that I live in. Then we go down the street to my friend Ethan's house. After that, we go up the other streets. At 8:30, we go back up the street that Ethan lives on. We go in Ethan's front yard and start scaring people. At 9:30, I go back to my house and I look through my Halloween bag to see what candy I received. My favorite candy is Starbursts so I save those for last. I always have a really fun time going trick-or-treating with my friends.

    Second, I always have a fun time egg hunting on Easter. Every year, I invite some of my friends to come to my house for an egg hunt. Everybody can get 12 regular eggs. If there are 13 leftover eggs, (13 people come to the egg hunt) everyone can get an extra egg. My mom can get really magnanimous (mag-nan-o-mis) with the food she gives us. She gets several dozen bagels for all of us, and she also gets three donut holes for each of us! We all say, "Yum!", when we eat the donut holes. Then all of my friends leave and I feel sad because I miss the party already.☹☹☹

    Third, every year, I really like when we have a big party on Fourth of July. Several of my friends come to the party. Five girls come to the party named Amelia, Olivia, Solana, Reanne, and Larissa. Reanne and Larissa are twins. Solana is their big sister. Olivia and Amelia are sisters. Amelia is older than Olivia. One boy comes named Jack. He is an only child. We usually play in my sprinklers. I have a playground with a slide in my yard, so this year we made a water slide out of it. We lugged the hose up the steep steps, and placed it facing the slide. When we turned it on, it made a perfect water slide. We slid down over and over again (with the sprinklers turned off). When it gets dark, we eat dinner. After diner, the kids play "gathering of numbers." That is a game where you pick a number between 1,000 and -1,000. Everyone around you guesses a number, and the person who is closest wins. Also, every year we make s'mores. After that, we watch the Calabasas firework show from our backyard. It's really fun to have a big gathering of people on Fourth of July!

    Those are my three traditions that I love!

    Sincerely,
    ◷♛Royce♛◷

    ReplyDelete
  42. Dear Class: One of my traditions is celebrating Rosh Hashana.This holiday is about starting a new fresh year, we are going to temple to pray and ask god to forgive us for all the guilts we had throughout the year. I really like this holiday because all the family gets to seat together to dip apples in honey. Wait, I almost forgot to dip my apple in honey for a new sweet year for all of us. from Etai

    ReplyDelete
  43. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    One of my favorite family traditions is at Thanksgiving. My mother and I go to my Aunt Raquel’s house for dinner and we get to visit all of my family. In my family there are twenty people. Every year, I get to play with my two cousins, Hannah & Isaac and they are very special to me because they both live far away and we don’t get to see them very often. Hannah lives in North Carolina and Isaac lives near San Francisco. When we get together we play board games, Zoo Lego’s and eat all day long. My favorite Thanksgiving food is mashed potatoes with tons of turkey gravy.

    Another favorite tradition is each Fourth of July my mother and I have a backyard BBQ party. We invite family and friends and each year we serve one new dish. In 2008, the new dish was rotisserie chicken we cooked on our BBQ and we served it with coleslaw, homemade chocolate chip cookies and ice cream.

    On Christmas Eve my mother always lets me open one present which is usually the largest one. And then on Christmas morning we open the rest of the presents with my cousin Hannah. While Hannah and I open presents, my mother and Hanna’s father, my Uncle Paul, videotape us. Then we have a family breakfast and play with our presents all day long.

    Your student,
    Alyssa

    ReplyDelete
  44. @Mrs. Yollis and Class,

    There are two family traditions that I enjoy. One is going to Hawaii every summer for a month to visit my grandparents and friends. My other tradition is baking apple pies from scratch with my grandma, mom, sister, aunt, and cousins. We do this the day before Thanksgiving. I help make and roll the crust, peel the apples, and if I'm good after, I get to play with the extra crust dough. Does anyone else like homemade apple pie?

    Best regards,
    Brenden

    ReplyDelete
  45. Dear Mrs. Yollis and Class,


    My family's tradition is celebrating Halloween. Every Halloween we get costumes and go Trick-or-Treating and get lots of candy. Even my dog Jasper has a costume. We always decorate the house with ghosts, skeletons and spiders. I love when we have a big Halloween party. Everyone in my family loves to carve pumpkins and light them up on Halloween night. We are really excited because Halloween will be here in a couple of weeks!

    From,
    Maya

    ReplyDelete
  46. @ Alyssa


    I read your comment on the traditions and I saw that one of your family members is named Hannah. My sister is named Hannah too. Is that your aunt, sister,grandma, friend,or any other kind of family member?

    Best Regards,
    Brenden

    ReplyDelete
  47. Dear Mrs. Yollis and class,

    I would like to share one of my Korean traditions with you called the dol janchi.

    Dol janchi means a baby's first birthday party in Korean. We eat dduk (rice cakes), Korean bbq, kimchi (spicy nappa cabbage) and cake.

    The most important part of the dol janchi is called the dol jabi. The baby gets to choose between money, rice, string, pencil, book or Korean calligraphy brush. If the baby picks money, it means he will be rich. If the baby picks the rice, he will never go hungry. If the baby picks the string, he will have a long life. If the baby picks the pencil, it means he will become a writer. If the baby picks the book, he will become a scholar. If the baby picks the brush, he will become an artist.

    What do you think you would pick if you were in the dol?

    Sincerely,
    Acacia♥

    ReplyDelete
  48. Dear Mrs. Yollis And Class,

    I like Christmas too. When it is Christmas Eve I get so exited that I sleep at 9:00 o'clock. In the morning we all race down the stairs to open our presents. We do not care if we rip the wrapping papper. After we all open up our presents we would all play with them .



    What is your favorite toy you got for Chrismas?


    Sincerly,
    Parsa

    ReplyDelete
  49. @ Stefanie

    Hi, my name is Acacia. I'm Korean too. I also celebrate the Dol. I wrote a comment about it.

    Do you celebrate Saebae?(sehbeh)

    How do you celebrate it?

    Sincerely,
    ♥Acacia♥

    ReplyDelete
  50. Good Day Mrs. Yollis' Class!

    My name is Gina Phillips and I am currently enrolled in Dr. John Strange's EDM310 class. EDM310 is technically Education in Media. Which is just a fancy way of saying we are learning to use technology to teach! I am attending the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama.

    I want to share a tradition that we have in my family. I have 4 brothers and sisters. 3 of them are married with children of their own! My baby brother still lives at home and is going to college too. There are a total of 18 people in my family counting my Mom and Dad, Brothers and Sisters and their children and me, my husband and my daughter! It is a BIG family get together!

    On Christmas morning (after Santa has come, but before presents are all unwrapped!) we all go to my brother's house for a breakfast casserole (he says it is a secret recipe, but I am not sure!). All of us then gather around my brother's tree and watch him and his family open gifts from each other. Then, we walk to my sister's house and they do the same thing... this continues until we have gone to everyone's home and watched them all open gifts (we are usually snacking at everyone's house too!). We end up at my mom and dad's home. This is where it gets a little crazy. All 18 of us are unwrapping the gifts that Mom and Dad have given to us! Wrapping paper is everywhere! Kids are squealing in delight, adults are gasping in surprise, and my parents are all smiles!

    Luckily all of my brothers and sisters live within walking distance to my parents home. It makes it a lot of fun. On those Christmas Mornings when it is rainy or really cold, my dad will hook up his horses to a covered wagon and we all climb on board for the trip to everyone's homes. Sometimes I pray that it will rain on Christmas morning just so we can have a buggy ride! I know that is horrible to say, but we will all gather in that wagon and bundle up and sing Christmas carols! It is a great time!

    I hope you enjoyed my Christmas tradition... I have certainly enjoyed reading everyone else's traditions!

    Sincerely,

    Gina

    ReplyDelete

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