Welcome back! It's hard for all of us to come back to school after having eleven days off, so I try to make it a bit enjoyable. Doing a few, out-of-the-ordinary activities makes it easier to ease back into school, and doing as many hands-on activities is usually my favorite way to do this. It helps everyone's attitude, and it worked. We got all of our work done and had a fabulous day!
I don't always do this, but this year I have a small number of students and I can spoil them a little bit. These were on their desks this morning as a welcome back gift. They found at least five or six different arrangements, shapes, and activities to do with these. I was impressed. 
Bible class = hot chocolate and garlic. But not together. The hot chocolate is just because it was cold, and it's better to sip hot chocolate while we're reading and working on our Bible lesson. The garlic was actually a side bar from the Bible workbook. After looking at, smelling, and feeling the paper stuff on the garlic, we each got a pod and planted it outside in one of the raised beds. Hopefully they'll grow in the spring anyway?
Science = rock colections. We reviewed igneous and sedimentary rocks, and then found some shale and other metamorphic rocks. They asked me if I had diamonds and marble. Maybe somewhere . . . . We found more metamorphic rocks outside during our P.E. class. We also threw frisbees, rolled down a hill, climbed on top of some large logs, and sang Spanish songs while we were outside in the 26 degree weather.
And during art class we worked on our family crests. We recently read a story that took place in the colonial days, and one of the characters had his family crest on everything -- his cups, his carriage, etc. That's where that idea came from. Happy back to school in January!
