A sale, a freebie, and HAPPY December!

     Happy December!  I hope you had a Thanksgiving full of blessings, laughs, family, friends, and lots of yummy food!  I was feeling most thankful for my maternity jeans after all the food I ate this weekend.  Yikes!    (I am still trying to figure out why all pants are not made with those glorious stretchy waistbands.)

     My long weekend was extended an extra day because I am patiently awaiting my ultrasound appointment in a few hours to *hopefully* find out if our little sweetie is a boy or a girl!  You could say I'm just a taaaddd excited!  I may or may not have already checked out some cyber Monday deals online so I can do a little pink or blue shopping this evening. ;)

     I think we got our fill of all things TURKEY last week in first grade,  and now it's on to Christmas...so hard to believe!

 These scrapbook paper turkeys turned out to be one of my favorite projects we did. Adorable! 

If you are getting an early start on Christmas projects like we are...here is a little freebie to get you started.  We are participating in the Macy's "Believe" Campaign as a school.   We are all sending letters to Santa to support the Make a Wish Foundation.  Our local paper also publishes their letters...so our deadline is soon.

Here is a template for your Santa letters.  Click to download.

We are working on asking vs. telling sentences this week so in our letters, we will TELL Santa something, make two wishes, and then ASK Santa something. We also talk about *nice* ways to ask for something so it's not an I want, I want, I want letter. ;)

Here is an example from last year...

Dear Santa,

I am in first grade now and I lost two teeth!  I would like a Monster High doll.  I would also love to have a stuffed kitten with blue eyes. How are your reindeer doing?

Love,

a first grader :)

Do you have this book??

It is a precious read aloud to use when you are ready to write your Santa letters!

I am participating in the big TPT sale today and tomorrow!  20% + 10% off....yes please! 

Here are some Christmas & Winter math stations, games and activities galore to get you going this holiday season.  Click the images to check out the free previews!

Don't forget to use the code CYBER for an EXTRA 10% off from TPT on your purchases!

OK...almost time to head to my appointment! Yippee! Fingers crossed that our little booger cooperates (and his/her legs are NOT crossed!) ;)

Boy or girl?? Any guesses??

Happy Monday & Happy Teaching to you!

I think I can. I think I can.

7 more school days before a little time off.  Not that I'm counting. :)  I have to say...my babies have been pretty good considering they have Santa on the brain...I am just looking forward to some time off with my guys to recharge for a fabulous second half of the year.

 

Yes, I am that person that puts my dog in a tacky Christmas sweater so that I can take a picture for the "December" page of our 2013 calendar.  Yes I am.

 

I have come to the realization that I cannot fit every cute "pinterest find" into the next 7 days...(and I keep telling myself that's OK...but I don't believe myself sometimes). Here are some of the fun things we HAVE done so far. 

One of our Virginia Standards is about diversity in our state and understanding that people have different traditions, customs, etc. and why.   We talk a lot about how people's ancestors are from all over the world and some people were born in the United States while others moved here, etc.

I get a lot of..."I was born in North Carolina" comments.  We are still working on the difference betwen continent, country, state, city. ;)

I randomly ask the kids all the time "Where are you?"  and they have to answer either United States, Virginia, North America, etc.

They think it's hilarious because sometimes I will catch them off guard and they look at me like I'm crazy. 

 

I have one sweetie who is from Nigeria and I was asking him what kinds of recipes and traditions that his parents may have brought with them from Africa to try give the class an example... and he said "Umm...we like to eat at El Rodeo" (popular Mexican restaurant here).

Oy.

Not exactly what I had in mind...they crack me up.

One activity we did this year to help them understand this standard was an "at home" writing project.  Their parents helped them write a few sentences about some of their family's favorite holiday traditons.  We read them all and they made a lot of connections that some traditions were the same from family to family and some were not.  That conversation was a great pathway to discussing Christmas Around the World, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, etc. and how many of our holiday traditions originated in other countries.

I found this adorable Rudolph and incorporated it with the writing for a hall display.  No pattern except for a brown circle (for the head) and a red circle (for that big ol' nose). The rest we just did it step by step together using a sheet of brown construction paper (cut a rectangle for the neck, cut strips for the arms and antlers, etc.)  I love how they all turned out so different...and so darn cute. 

 

The top of it says "If Rudolph looked in my window at Christmas time...this is what he would see.

 

If you'd like a copy of the letter I sent home to families and/or the writing template...click here for a free Google doc.

 

We also made these adorable ABC Order reindeer inspired by the fabulous Cara Carroll over at The First Grade Parade.  She posted these last year and I didn't find them in enough time to do them before Christmas.  We did some Christmas ABC order cards with partners to practice our skills and then we put all of the reindeer names in order on this sweet little guy.

 

 

 

 

We used alphabet strips and bears to "mark" the beginning letter of each word.  Then, they can see which bear is first in line, etc.  This helps as they are just learning how to alphabetize words!

 



 

We also complete our Christmas 5 Senses Poems.  They came up with some awesome things! 

 

 

How awesome is the spelling of "cinnamon buns" on this one?  Adorable.

 

 

I am off to rest up for Mooseltoe activities tomorrow and GRINCH day (my favorite) on Thursday. 

 

 

Happy teaching to you!

 





Fa-la-la-la Freebie!

Two posts is two days? Who am I?  :)

 

 I just couldn't pass up a chance to link up with the sweet gals from Freebielicious. All freebies...all the time.  Plus, some of THE sweetest chicks in the "blogosphere"  contributing to that site. Seriously.

 

 

 

 What's not to love? 

 

I posted a five senses poem about FALL a couple months ago and since then, I've had lots of requests for more of them.

 

 

 

 

I've done a Christmas one in the past that always turns out soooo stinkin' cute.  They always usually make my heart happy!

 

 

Some examples of ideas my first graders have come up with in the past...

 

Christmas sounds like...jingle bells, Christmas carols, laughing, Ho Ho Ho

 

Christmas tastes like...candy canes, hot chocolate, pancakes, sugar cookies

 

Christmas looks like...snow, red and green, bright lights, fun, family, presents, ornaments

 

Christmas smells like...a fire burning, pine trees, peppermint, cookies baking

 

Christmas feels like...slippery wrapping paper, love, fun, happiness

 

and my all time favorite...

 

"Christmas feels like hugs."

 

Amen!

 

The "feels like" one is often the hardest for them to come up with...I tell them it can be a feeling on the inside or the outside. In other words, something you actually touch with your hands OR something you feel in your heart. 

 

I hope you enjoy doing this with your kids as much as I do. :)

 

 

I also whipped up a "Winter" one in case you don't do Christmas activities at your school...or if you're like me and are trying desperately to fit everything in before break and just run out of time!

 

 

 

Happy teaching to you!

 

Freebie Friday!

Short and sweet tonight, ladies (and gentlemen? maybe?). 

 

I am all kinds of exhausted but wanted to make sure I linked up...and reminded everybody to check out all of the awesome freebies today at Teaching Blog Addict!

 

 

I'll be back soon to share all of the red glitter, glue, gingerbread, grinch, elf, Santa festivities that will be taking place in Room 106 beginning MONDAY!

 

Until then...try a BACKWARDS word problem with your kiddos next week!  I like to tell them they will STRETCH their brains.

 

Sometimes, they stretch mine too.

It doesn't take much. ;)

 

I originally saw this idea on pinterest as a whole group activity, and I made a few for my babies to do on their own (with LOTS of modeling) to include in my Dazzling December math pack because we tried them out at Thanksgiving and LOVED them. 

It's an awesome way to integrate math and writing and challenge our students to use some higher level thinking skills.

 

Enjoy.  Be sure to check out all of the freebies at TBA! 

Click on the picture below to grab this one. :) 

 

 

 

Happy December!