Santa Claus Came to our Town for Christmas

The last day of School Father Christmas decided to come and pass by. It was very very exciting for the children. 

Someone told us that Father Christmas was coming this year so the children got ready and very excited as well for the fact.

They were writing their letter during a week to make sure that every single sentence made sense and also to let Him know how good they were during this year and what they wished for the next year coming. 

And then at the end, Father Christmas came on the last day at school. Kids were sending their letters to the letterbox that Father Christmas brought with.

The History of Santa Claus is Coming to Town song

MyMerryChristmas.com

The History of Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Jeff Westover Christmas Features, Christmas History, Christmas Music, Christmas Television September 24, 2015Christmas music, Christmas song history, Christmas television history  5 Comments

Eddie Cantor, a comedian from the 1930s was given a new Christmas song to sing for his radio audience in 1934. Targeted at kids, the songwriters were frustrated at their inability to get it recorded and sold. Record labels thought the appeal too narrow to be successful.

Cantor sang it live in a performance that was never recorded. The song proved such a hit it was recorded later by Tom Stacks in this memorable arrangement:

The song was written in October 1933 by Haven Gillespie and J. Fred Coots, reportedly on a New York subway car while traveling to a music publisher’s office.

Gillespie, known for his children songwriting talent and charged with Coots to come up with a children’s tune, jotted the melody and the lyrics down on an envelope before reaching the publisher’s office.

Santa Claus is Coming To Town became the big hit of Christmas 1934 – radio audiences went wild for the song and requests for sheet music were off the charts. What followed from Cantor’s radio show would eventually make a millionaire of Haven Gillespie.

This swinging version of the song from Perry Como in the mid-1940s was another popular version of the song that keep it at the forefront of Christmas celebration into the 1950s:

Through the 1950s and 1960s the song kept coming back. It was recorded, it seemed, by nearly everyone. Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Sammy Davis Jr and scores of others took it on and made it their own. It never fell from the Christmas spotlight.

The song took on new life in 1970 when it was animated in a production by Rankin Bass by that same name became expanded version of the story of Santa Claus. The story teller in that version was Fred Astair and Kris Kringle himself was portrayed by Mickey Rooney, now a member of the International Santa Claus Hall of Fame:

In recent years the heirs of the songwriters have locked horns with publishers over copyrights and royalties. It is clear to everyone that this song will forever be in the public eye as a beloved staple of the season. It is a complicated case that will no doubt earn lawyers for either side a lot of money.

The song continues to be used by major motion pictures, appearing in everything from Elf to The Santa Clause franchise by Disney and artists such as Michael Buble continue to make the song perpetually a favourite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnA52s7qceM

"Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934. It became an instant hit with orders for 500,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records sold within 24 hours.

Santa Claus is comin' to Town

You better watch out 
You better not cry 
Better not pout 
I'm telling you why 
Santa claus is coming to town 

He's making a list 
And checking it twice; 
Gonna find out who's naughty and nice 
Santa claus is coming to town 

He sees you when you're sleeping 
He knows when you're awake 
He knows if you've been bad or good 
So be good for goodness sake! 
O! you better watch out! 
You better not cry 
Better not pout 
I'm telling you why 
Santa claus is coming to town 
Santa claus is coming to town

Swimmy, the black little fish

The youngest students in Lope de Vega School learnt and worked on Swimmy Story. It was fun and they had a very wonderful gift at the end.

A theatre company came to Casariche and they played the story of Swimmy. They really did a great job and the kids had too much fun. It was amazing!!!

Story of SWIMMY by Leo Lionni

Deep in the sea there lives a happy school of little fish. Their watery world is full of wonders, but there is also danger, and the little fish are afraid to come out of hiding . . . until Swimmy comes along. Swimmy shows his friends how—with ingenuity and team work—they can overcome any danger. With its graceful text and stunning artwork, this Caldecott Honor Book deserves a place on every child’s shelf.

Children in Lope de Vega School did Trick or Treat

The school is full of monsters

The school is full of monsters

monsters everywhere

spiders up and down

monsters on my head

Happy Halloween, I'm not scared!!

Halloween, Halloween 

The sky is blue

The sky is green,

Have you got something for Halloween?

Halloween, Halloween,

ghosts, ghosts, can be seen.

witches, witches, ...

(pumpkins, bats, vampires, cats, spiders, skeletons, ...)

Trick or Treat 

Trick or treat, trick or treat  give me something good to eat, ...

Halloween fingerplay：The Ghost Fingerplay

www.youtube.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPoGJvz7Ji8

I saw a ghost, he saw me, too. I waved at him, but he said, "Boo!"

Trick or Treat Tradition

Trick-or-treating is a Halloween custom for children in many countries. Children in costumes travel from house to house asking for treats such as candy (or, in some cultures, money) with the phrase "Trick or treat". The "trick" is a (usually idle) threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given to them. It typically happens during the evening of October 31. Some homeowners signal that they are willing to hand out treats, for example by putting up Halloween decorations outside their door. Others might simply leave treats on their porch.

 In North America, trick-or-treating has been a Halloween tradition since the late 1920s. In Britain and Ireland the tradition of going house-to-house collecting food at Halloween goes back at least as far as the 16th century, as had the tradition of people wearing costumes at Halloween. In 19th century Britain and Ireland, there are many accounts of people going house-to-house in costume at Halloween, reciting verses in exchange for food, and sometimes warning of misfortune if they were not welcomed.^[1] The Scottish Halloween custom of "guising" – children disguised in costume going from house to house for food or money – is first recorded in North America in 1911.^[2] While going house-to-house in costume has remained popular among Scots and Irish, the custom of saying "trick or treat" has only recently become common. The activity is prevalent in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Puerto Rico, and northwestern and central Mexico. In the latter, this practice is called calaverita (Spanish for "little skull"), and instead of "trick or treat", the children ask ¿me da mi calaverita? ("can you give me my little skull?") where a calaverita is a small skull made of sugar or chocolate.

Why do children trick or treat

Halloween 2016: How to celebrate the festival and why do children trick or treat

The day is celebrated on the eve of Christian feast of All Saint's Day or All Hallows Day.

By Kabita Maharana

October 28, 2016 10:05 BST

It is that time of year when people can shed inhibitions and dress in spooky costumes. 

Halloween is celebrated on 31 October, a day before the Christian feast of All Saints' Day or All Hallows Day. This year, the celebration falls on Monday.

History of Halloween

There are conflicting theories on the origins of the festival. Straddling between fall and winter, legend has it that Halloween dates back to the ancient Pagan religion of the Celtic tribes, who worshiped the Sun God along with 300 other Gods. It is believed that the ancient ethnic group celebrated two major festivals a year, Beltane and Samhain or 

Saman.

Hence bonfires and Jack-O-lanterns are lit and masks and costumes are donned to keep evil spirits away. The festival is also linked to All Saints' Day, the history of which dates back to the eighth century when Pope Gregory III announced 1 November as a day to honour all saints and martyrs. While Beltane marks the beginning of summer, Saman is the celebration of the end of summer. Also known as the harvest festival, it signifies the time to stock supplies and prepare for a harsh winter. According to some theories, Samhain or the lord of death, overpowers the sun during the winter and allows evil spirits to roam on Earth on the day of Halloween and cause mayhem on harvests.

However, the festival has evolved overtime and has become popular among multiple cultures with people organising community events and costume parties.

Trick or treating: Children become the centre of attraction during the festival as they dress up in interesting costumes and go door-to-door trick-or-treating people and collect Halloween candies.

The history of the tradition dates back to the 12^th and 15^th centuries, when people in Britain and Ireland dressed up as ghosts and angels and went from door-to-door asking for soul cakes.

North Americans started using the term "trick-or-treat" in the 20 century and the phrase became popular in the 1930s and 40s in other parts of the world.

Costume parties and Jack-o'-Lanterns: Since it is believed that evil spirits roam freely during Halloween, people wear ghostly costumes so that they can easily deceive them. 

However, costume ideas over the years have evolved. Instead of dressing up as ghosts and angels, people are choosing unique topics and personalities – real and fictional – to stand out in crowds. Carved pumpkin lanterns are another attraction of the harvest festival.

Haloween is coming to town

Happy Halloween!
Grab your wand and help fend off a ghostly catastrophe. Press play to swipe spells, save your friends, and help restore the peace at the Magic Cat Academy.

This year’s Halloween Doodle follows freshman feline Momo on her mission to rescue her school of magic. Help her cast out mischievous spirits by swiping in the shape of the symbols above the ghosts’ heads. And you’d better pounce fast—the ghost that stole the master spellbook is getting away!

From the team that created the Magic Cat Academy:
The inspiration for this year’s cat spell-casting game came from a real-life black cat named Momo that belongs to Doodler Juliana Chen. It seemed like a good opportunity for a cat hero, since the winner of last year’s Candy Cup Doodle was Yellow Witch and her black cat. 

The original concept for the game involved a magic cat making a soup that was so good, it raised the dead. Connecting soup to Halloween proved too abstract, so the team shifted to the idea of a wizard school. This opened the door to a more robust world filled with interesting characters and paw-some themes. 

Welcome to CEIP Lope de Vega

Once again we are back to school. We hope you had a very nice, successful and relaxing summer. Don't go so far, we have to much to share this academic year.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/04/does-being-bilingual-really-improve-your-brain/

Two-Thirds of Working Age Europeans Know a Foreign Language. Does being Bilingual really improve your brain?

A debate has erupted over the reported cognitive benefits of speaking multiple languages.

The benefits of bilingualism have long been disputed: claims that speaking two languages is confusing and hinders childhood development are countered by reported social and cognitive advantages.

The new debate centres on executive control – a broad term used for advanced mental functions and capabilities, such as attention switching and future planning – and research suggesting that it is improved by bilingualism. However, it has also spawned a further argument over the nature of scientific research.

Is being bilingual good for the brain?

Across Europe, and most of the world, bilingualism is the norm – but does speaking multiple languages actually improve your cognitive ability?

A body of bilingualism research exists which suggests that speaking multiple languages is good for our brains. Not only for executive function, but also for reducing the effects of ageing. The studies offer evidence that bilingualism confers benefits far beyond language skills, and can have a much broader positive impact on the brain.

Ellen Bialystok, one of the world’s leading bilingualism researchers, explained to The Atlantic that the constant choices faced by speakers of multiple languages strengthen the regions of the brain that are key to executive function. Her research showed that 20 Tamil-English bilinguals from India had superior executive function than monolingual English speakers from Canada – and this was particularly evident among the older speakers.

New research, released this year, has also suggested that speaking two languages can alter the brain’s structure. Although not true for all bilinguals, the effort of switching between multiple languages can change the “brain networks that enable skilled cognition, support fluent language performance and facilitate new learning”.

The counter-argument

The Atlantic reports on a growing collection of voices arguing that these claimed advantages don’t exist, or are limited to a small set of circumstances.

Studies have been unable to replicate previous results or find evidence of the reported links between bilingualism and improved cognitive control. This has ignited further debate about the type of research accepted for publication in articles, the measures used to assess executive control and the scale of studies.

One of the leading voices against the cognitive benefits of bilingualism, psychologist Kenneth Paap, explains the problem: “There’s a tendency to conduct multiple, small-sample studies that are underpowered. That increases the likelihood of false positives. The problem is compounded by confirmation biases, or motivations to report on the studies that work.”

He doesn’t dispute the social or personal benefits, but his work (and the work of others) challenges widely held beliefs in the cognitive advantages of bilingualism.

What next?

Leading bilingualism researchers, including Bialystok and the University of Edinburgh's Thomas Bak, have dismissed the research, and the wider debate about how scientific research is conducted and disseminated rages on.

Ultimately, however, while the cognitive benefits of bi- or multilingualism may be moot points, the social and cultural benefits aren’t.