On December 9th, Texas completed the largest edible gingerbread house in history. It was large enough to walk through and consisted over 36 million calories.  Watch two videos and the rest of the article at Video of the Week- A Gingerbread House Even Hansel And Gretel Would Approve Of .

The ingredients were 1,800 pounds of butter, 7,200 eggs, 7,200 pounds flour, 1,080 ounces of ground ginger and 2,925 pounds of brown sugar, some of which was used for the icing. They then mounted the panels on a wooden frame and began the sweet process of decorating it with 22,304 pieces of candy.

If a scaled model measures 7in x 6in x 8in, and the house in Texas measured 60ft x 42ft x 21ft what would be the ratio? Since the life sized house is not the same shape as the gingerbread house, it does not have a similar proportion.  If we look at the length and the width, we could say the scale is approximately 1:100.  Try the following challenges:

Gingerbread Worksheet
Candy Cane Creativity
Candy Canes: A Sweet Problem

Thanks to the "Snowflake Man" we know that every snowflake is unique. Wilson Bentley was the first person ever to photograph microscopic images of snowflakes. Watch the news report about his life.

In 1925 Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley stated "Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty." Watch the video below of the images he photographed under his microscope.

Listen to the picture book written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.

Take this quiz to see how well you listened – Quia's Snowflake Bentley

Challenges:
1. Design as many different snowflakes on sheet paper.  Here is an example:

2. Follow directions on how to make a 6-point snowflake.

Do you love using technology as a tool in your classroom? Then this competition is for you!

The White House is hosting its first ever film festival and the challenge is for students.

Students should try to create a video that shows how they use technology in the classroom. The video must be less than 3 minutes in length so think carefully about what you want to film.

Your film should talk about one of the following:

• How you currently use technology in your classroom or school.
• The role technology will play in education in the future.

Possible Topics:

• Personalized Learning
• Online Learning
• Global Collaboration
• Student Creativity
• Making and Tinkering
• Project Based Learning
• Critical Thinking

Wings by Christopher Myers is Cottage Lane's Book of the month. Not only does it demonstrate compassion (our word of the month) but also individuality. Children's author and illustrator Christopher Myers visited some of his biggest fans at P.S. 304 in New York City. There he used his humongous feet to show children that being different is something to celebrate. Watch this video from reading Rockets – Christopher Myers. In his book Wings, Ikarus Jackson is tormented at school because of his wings. Ikarus is strong enough to be different and strong enough to be proud of what makes him unique. Are you?

Visit Mrs. McBride's website for more details – Snowman Challenge

The week of December 9 – 15 is Computer Science Week! Schools around the world will be encouraging students to write code for one hour. Computer programming is fun because you are always challenged with new problems and you can bring your ideas to life!

You do not need to know how to program to participate!

• There are activities for all different levels of learners. Look at the suggested grades below to find one that is right for you.
• The activities help you write simple programs that get harder the more you practice.
• You can access these activities from home or in school! These activities will challenge you to problem solve, think logically, and be creative.

Watch the video below to learn more about Hour of Code then scroll down to find an activity that you want to try. Most importantly, have fun!

Recommended Tutorials

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