Elf Ornaments (Holiday Gifts)

Holiday Gifts for parents and students: 2013

Here they are...

Michael's had these frame ornaments perfect for our pictures.  You may remember our Elf asked the kids to wear red.  The next day, the kids got sprinkled with magic snow, touched the elf and got a picture with him. 

I gave the kids choices of paints. 5 choices. This is what they looked like after two coats. Some of the kids decided to do just one coat of paint...as you can see :)

Add some puffy paint. Add a picture with your classroom elf.  Put back the ribbon the ornament came with... and tada!   I so wish I could show you their B-I-G smiley faces.  They were soooooo excited.

A few more :)

I brought some tissue paper, wrapped them nicely, and placed them in some gift bags.  

The cards on the right: We took a class picture with the elf and a Happy Holidays sign. We made a card, each student signed it, decorated an envelope and put it in the gift bag as well.

What did the kids get?  Not much :(  A super cute scento ELF marker (of course)... and the adorable journals I made for them.  

That was enough good, right?   

Elf in the Classroom - Weeks 1, 2, and 3

This year, my first Elf on the Shelf came to visit our classroom.  I started Elves early November... everywhere I went. I think they were following me :)   I fought it.  A little.  Then I realized I had to bring the magic to my classroom....and the adventure began.

Let's do this...picture style!

 

I had a ball doing this!

I was more worried about the Elf than any lesson plans :) 

The kids adored him and the 'extra' work made it all worth it.

I look forward to continuing this tradition in my classroom.

I may buy an extra one next year since my own two kids were quite jealous about my classroom elf.

There was no mention of the guy in the red suit.  No upset parents...woohooo! 

One more post related to our awesome friend coming tomorrow.  Sorry for the extra post in one day :)

Disguising Gingerbread Man Cookies

After disguising turkeys, the kids had a great time disguising gingerbread man.  I gave my students roughly two weeks to complete this family project. They really liked it!

I have a few pictures for you.

Find it HERE...maybe for next year :)

Which one do you like?

I may not be a baker... but I can decorate a wall with cute cookies! 

Merry Christmas!

 

Gingerbread Man in Disguise

If you disguised a turkey... wait until you see what your students can do with gingerbread cookies. I have done this project for years, and now it has turned into a TPT product.

Check it out here.

Two cute examples :)  

There is a writing component to it. This teacher must integrate writing into everything we do. We usually share them during our winter celebration. Parents always love that!

Find it HERE.

I hope you do too :)

Polar Bear Nonfiction (then and now)

Worked half day today. One more day to go! Came home. Rain. Stayed home. Blogged :)

Back to 01/17/2012
Before we left for winter break we worked on creating our Polar Folders.
It was time to learn about Text Features and I wanted to make something they could refer back to at any given time in an easy way. I want it accessible. It is easier to open a file folder than trying to search inside a composition notebook.

I taught 13 text features. One a day. We learned a definition of the text feature, but more importantly, we talked about what we learned from each text feature. I wanted them not to ignore them! They do have so much to tell.

The kids picked their own nonfiction book, based on interest and reading level.
I taught a text feature. Students looked for that text feature in their book and using the booklet sheets they recorded what they learned from the text feature of the day (no pictures). It was so nice to see them make the connection between the text feature and their actual learning.

I created THIS for our Polar Folders. Text Features are something I will review once we get back, but the Polar Bear Edition was well received :)

I hope you love it!  All you need are file folders and THIS :)

Today 11/26/2013 

My class finished their Nonfiction Folders. This is what we did today:

I gave each table a set of post it notes to cover each definition of the text feature. They got busy positioning nicely and neatly :)  How can post-it notes make everything so much fun?!

We then made labels of each text feature using our scented markers. Yeap...lots of sniffing at that time :)

Tex Feature hunting and labeling to make sure we can identify all of the 13 text features.l We used books from our browsing boxes. 

Simple, fun, engaging, and full of learning. Ahhhh I love half days :)

Turkeys and Winners

The kids did a fantastic job disguising their turkeys.  I purchased two prizes, one for a boy and one for a girl. My grade level buddies will  help out with the judging.  

Which one is your favorite? 

And now... time to announce 3 winners. The other giveaways are still waiting for you!

Congrats girls! I have sent you an e-mail. Let me know what I can send you from my store. 

THANK you for being here!

T is for Turkey

Busy week. 4 day week. Gobble week. Not so nice e-mail week. But this time, I choose to concentrate on learning, concentrate on cute smiles and little turkeys learning and reviewing reading, writing in math.

I just posted my latest product. My first holiday product. The little turkeys enjoyed the review and the awesome clip art from Krista.

Find it HERE.

Reading, retelling, research, character traits, letter writing, a craft, odd and even numbers, two digit addition (with and without regrouping), number patterns... and more.

Could you use this next week?  Could I ask you to pin it for me?

Leave a comment with your pin and I will pick two awesome winners tomorrow morning. Don't forget to leave your e-mail.

The latest..

Hadn't had a chance to share about our "Fall Festival". Let's face it, it was a Halloween celebration, but we will not tell :)

I hope you are enjoying your 3 day weekend. 

We spent Halloween doing fun stuff. Some bat research, reading all of my favorite books (from my personal collection), doing crafts, and eating some awesome goodies!

The kids were nice and calm, but I certainly cannot say the same about the day after. I believe the day after Halloween should be a holiday. It was painful. I needed extra coffee. They were extra happy. Elated!

 Photo props were a hit. My room mom came to be the photographer. We have tons of great pictures!

Mummies, pencils, goodie bags, and so much more.

Friday was turkey day. We wrote about an item we are thankful for. I took some quick pictures, but I'll love to share their writing...sometime this week :)

Happy three-day weekend.