How to Make Popcorn

Ingredients/Equipment:
Popcorn maker
Bowl

Popcorn kernels
Optional - icing sugar, salt or  butter

Method:
1.  Put the kernels in the popcorn maker.
2.  Turn the popcorn maker on.
3.  Wait until you hear no more popping.
4.  Put the popcorn in a bowl.
5.  Add sugar or, butter and salt (optional).
6.  Eat the popcorn.

Caitlin (Year 4)

Popcorn for Christmas

On Wednesday we will be making popcorn. We are going to thread pop corn to put on the Christmas tree and make special Christmas containers to put our popcorn into. We will use a cone net to make our containers. Watch and listen to this video!




And this one too!

What Makes the Popcorn Pop?
Moisture + Heat = Popped Corn
Popping corn is a type of corn which explodes from the kernel and puffs up when heated.

Here's how it works:

Each kernel of popcorn has a tiny amount of moisture and oil at its starchy heart, inside a strong outer shell that keeps the moisture from escaping.

When we apply heat to popcorn kernels -- by exposing the kernels to very hot air or hot oil -- and bring the temperature inside the corn up past the boiling point, the moisture in the kernel turns into steam. The steam is under a lot of pressure, trapped inside the moisture-proof hull of the corn.
The pressure continues to increase until the breaking point of the hull is reached. The hull breaks open rapidly, causing a sudden drop in pressure inside the kernel. There is a rapid expansion of the steam at the same time, which expands the starch and proteins inside into an airy foam. As the foam rapidly cools, the starch and protein set into a crispy puff.
In short, popping corn is a bit like the lid blowing off a pressure-cooker, if you forget to lock it down.


Here is a picture of our net.
Click on the Christmas tree to find out how to make a popcorn garland.

Christmas Baskets

On Friday we made Christmas baskets using a cube net. Instead of the top square on the cube shape, we added a handle, We are waiting for Santa Claus to visit our classroom on Thursday afternoon. Christmas pictures added the finishing touch!

Find Out About Christmas and Play some Games!

Letter to Santa

Letter to Santa

Click on the letter to Santa to go to the NZ Post website and write a letter or email Santa. Let him know about the goals you have achieved this year and the new goals you are planning to set for Term One 2009. Maybe , if you have been really good you could ask for something special!

Santa Claus

WALT
... write a description of Santa Claus using strong adjectives and verbs
... understand the significance of Santa Claus and where he originated

Click on Santa to learn more.

This a poem we are using to write character descriptions of Santa

'The Night Before Christmas' but originally it was titled 'A Visit from St Nicholas'

He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his sack.
His eyes how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry;
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face, and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump,--a right jolly old elf--
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.

Written by Clement C. Moore in 1822 as a Christmas present to his children.

Father Christmas is called different names around the world. The most popular name now-a-days is Santa Claus.

Austria: Christkind ("Christ child")
Belgium: Sinterklaas
Canada: Santa Claus; Père Noël ("Father Christmas")
Denmark: Julemanden
Estonia: Jõuluvana
Finland: Joulupukki
France: Père Noël ("Father Christmas");
Germany: Weihnachtsmann ("Christmas Man"); Christkind in southern Germany
Hungary: Mikulás ("Nicholas"); Jézuska or Kis Jézus ("child Jesus")
Italy: Babbo Natale ("Father Christmas"); La Befana
Netherlands & Flanders: Sinterklaas
Norway: Julenissen
Poland: Swiety Mikolaj
Portugal: Pai Natal ("Father Christmas")
Russia: Ded Moroz, "Grandfather Frost
Spain: Papa Noel
Sweden: Jultomten
Switzerland: Samichlaus
United Kingdom: Father Christmas; Santa Claus
United States: Santa Claus

From http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Xmas/santa.html

Advent

Click on the advent calendars to find out what is behind each date. Visit these sites each day. We will check them out at school too.

What is advent?
Advent is the start of the Christmas season. It begins on the Sunday nearest November 30 and lasts four Sundays. The date it begins changes from year to year. As a result, so does the length of each Advent season.
(This year the first Sunday in Advent is Sunday November 30, 2008)

The word advent, from Latin, means "the coming." It is a time of spiritual reflection as well as cheer and anticipation. This time includes the ceremonial lighting of candles in the Advent wreath.

An Advent wreath is made from greens to symbolize continuous life and contains four candles— three purple and one rose. Often a fifth candle (white) is added to the center of the wreath for lighting on Christmas Eve, in celebration of the birth of Jesus