Tombola ~ An Italian Christmas Eve Tradition

This month the children at our little yellow school have been experiencing holiday traditions from around the world.  A game my extended Italian family and I looked forward to playing every Christmas was Tombola. 

My Family's Much Loved Super Tombola Game (circa the mid-1980s)

Playing Tombola on La Vigilia Di Natale (Christmas Eve) is a must for Italians living in Italy and around the world.   As Maria Montessori was Italian, Tombola was most likely part of her family's Christmas celebrations.  

Dr. Montessori

Tombola is a game similar to Bingo.  It consists of 'il cartellone' (the caller's board featuring the numbers from 1 to 90), 'le cartelle' (cards with 15 numbers each), and a fabric sack containing 90 'pedine' (wooden tokens). 

Le Cartelle - The Cards

Tombola was much more than just a game.  It was a holiday tradition that brought our entire family, young and old, together.

Once the meal of homemade meatless lasagna and the Feast of the Seven Fishes (seven separate seafood dishes!) was over, the table was cleared and the Tombola game came out.  Each player paid for a card, 5 cents, which was put into the pot.   Our family usually played for all 15 numbers on the card with the winner taking all.  As the oldest grandchild, I had the privilege of being the number caller.

This year, I introduced the children at our little yellow school to Tombola (minus the gambling).  Each child chose 'una cartella' (a card) and opened all the plastic windows.  A window is closed when a number is called.  Our youngest students had such fun opening and closing the windows, regardless of the numbers that were being called.

Instead of designating one person as the caller, the graduates shared the number calling duties. 

It is important to shake the sack to 'wake up' the numbers.

Shaking the Sack

The children loved playing Tombola!  It was wonderful to see older children helping younger ones, just as older family members would help younger ones during our family Tombola games.  This is also the culture of an authentic Montessori classroom, with children of three year age spans learning and working together.

Most of all, it was lovely to witness the magic of Tombola bringing smiles to the faces of all who play it.

                       Buon Natale - Merry Christmas

Hello Santa! ~ A Musical Visit

Each December, we count ourselves lucky that Santa takes the time to visit our little yellow school.  Santa always tells us that Christmas would simply not be Christmas without a visit to our school.  Last year, December 2020, covid kept Santa from visiting yet he, Mrs. Claus and those rascally elves sent us a special delivery of treats from the North Pole.  The elves made gingerbread cookies and Mrs. Claus made us face masks to help keep us safe from covid.  They are always thinking about us.

December 2020 Treats From the North Pole

North Pole Treats

Gingerbread Cookies and Face Masks From the North Pole

Once December began, Santa was very much on our minds.  Would he be able to visit us this year?  One warm December day, we went outside for an outdoor music class at our soccer field. 

Off to our outdoor Music class!

Can you guess who was waiting to join us?

Who can it be?

It was..... SANTA!  What a surprise!

A little bird had told Santa that we were having an outdoor music class and he just had to come and join us.  Santa absolutely loves to sing and dance and we know all his favourite songs!  Let's go!

We sang so many songs for Santa and he loved all of them!  He even joined in with the singing and of course, he couldn't resist dancing! 

Santa had brought along his list so that he could check not once, but twice.  Thankfully we were all on the nice list.

Santa checking his list.  We were all on the nice list.

It was so nice to see Santa and spend some quality time with him.

Santa had brought a basket of treats from the North Pole.  Mrs. Claus and the elves had sent us some freshly baked cookies and hot cocoa for snack!  Santa also brought us some sticker books.  Thank you Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves! How thoughtful!

Freshly baked cookies and hot cocoa from the North Pole!

Just like that, our visit with Santa was over.  We were sad to see Santa go but we knew he had many things to do to get ready for Christmas. 

Thank you for stopping by Santa!

Here is a video from Santa's musical visit.

A Note of Thanks:  A huge THANK YOU goes to Mr. and Mrs. L.  This visit would not have been possible without them.  They truly made it special.  I first met Mrs. L. in 1992 during our days at Toronto Montessori School.  When I started my little yellow school in 1997, I knew Mrs. L. had to be a part of it.  She is our music teacher, our supply teacher and most importantly, a very supportive friend.  Mr. L. is wonderful.  He takes his role as Santa very seriously and is a natural.  All of us, including the teachers, thought we were seeing the real Santa.  He knew all of the children's names and took the time to speak to each one personally.  It was lovely.  Thank you Mr. and Mrs. L. for going above and beyond in making this visit a memorable one for the children.

Sink or Float With An Autumn Theme

Sink or Float is such a popular piece of work at our little yellow school.  While on an Autumn walk around our school grounds, the children collected some items for an Autumn Themed Sink or Float.  (Sometimes the children call this work 'Sink or Swim'.)

Autumn Themed Sink or Float

The children took turns dropping items into the tub of water. There was much discussion over whether the gourd and the pumpkin would float.  Will they?  Scroll down to find out!

Our first student grew the gourd he is dropping into the tub in his own garden!

A gourd grown by this student!  It floats!

A Rock

A Pine Branch

A Small Pumpkin - It floats!

A Stick

A Pinecone

Another Pinecone

The only item that did not float was the rock.  It sank quickly.

Most of our objects floated.  Only the rock sank.

Once we had dropped all our objects into the tub, some children took turns collecting leaves and dropping them into the tub.  The leaves float!

Why do items sink or float?  In the most simplest terms, each item is made up of molecules.  In some items, such as the rock, the molecules are packed together tightly.  In other items, such as the pinecone and stick, molecules are more spread out.  How closely molecules are packed together is called density.  Density determines why some things float and others sink.

In our experiment, most of our objects were less dense than water.  Only the rock was more dense.  Although many children predicted the gourd and pumpkin would sink due to their size, they are hollow inside and filled with air.  This enabled them to float.

Things That Float and Things That Don't by David A. Adler is a great book to further explore this concept.