The best way to spread holiday cheer is celebrating differences far and near...don't you think?! Holidays Around the World has always been one of my favorite themes for the month of December. I've planned for this many different ways over the years. Some years we'd learn about several countries in a 2-3 day time frame. Some years we'd take a week to study different cultures and celebrations. When I last taught Kindergarten, our entire campus (it was a Pre-K/Kindergarten campus only) traveled the world in one day. Our kids got boarding passes and boarded a plane. Destination - holidays around the world. Our administrators acted as the … [Read more...] about Holidays Around the World
Christmas
Classroom Elf Freebies & Ideas
It's almost time for our family elf, Elfabet, to visit us from the North Pole. He is one of my favorite family traditions because his silly hijinx always make my boys laugh. There is just no sweeter sound to wake up to in the morning, I swear. Not only are the elves flying back to homes everywhere across the country, but according to my calendar, they're flying back to classrooms everywhere, too. Here's a peek back at our visit from our classroom elf a few years ago. A special delivery straight from the North Pole with a letter, a gift tag, and everything! I read the letter to the kids and they … [Read more...] about Classroom Elf Freebies & Ideas
Holiday Craftivity with a Vocabulary Twist
I know how fast and furious these 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Winter Break can be, so I wanted to revisit an old post today to share one of my favorite ideas in case you haven't seen it yet! Not only was this activity absolutely precious, but we were able to weave in a vocabulary lesson with it as well and for the remainder of the year my kids had a solid connection to the focus word (overlap). Anytime that word came up in a book, in conversation, etc., my kids would say, "remember when we made the overlapping Christmas tree?!" And if I stopped to ask what that word meant, they could tell me without faltering. … [Read more...] about Holiday Craftivity with a Vocabulary Twist
Classroom Elf Freebie
Happy day after Thanksgiving! Are you suffering from a turkey hangover like I am?! I don't understand the words "moderation" or "restraint". Needless to say, I'm all about the leggings today :) Since December is quickly approaching...4 more days, what?!?!..I thought I'd revisit an old post all about our classroom elf. Here's a freebie for you and I hope you're able to use it in your classroom this holiday season!!! Click on the picture below to read all about how we celebrated with the elf in our classroom. … [Read more...] about Classroom Elf Freebie
Elfis is BACK & a HUGE Sale!
Our family elf, Elfabet, is back at our house and visiting us from the North Pole. He is one of my favorite family traditions because his silly hijinks always make my boys laugh. There is just no sweeter sound to wake up to in the morning, I swear. Not only are the elves flying back to homes everywhere across the country, but according to my calendar, they're flying back to classrooms everywhere, too. Last year I posted all about our classroom elf and I wanted to share that post again in case you could use this fun freebie in your class, too! Click on the picture below to read all about it. … [Read more...] about Elfis is BACK & a HUGE Sale!
A Little Christmas Recap
The Christmas season is always so fast and furious. We spend days/weeks {months, for those of you who don’t procrastinate} preparing and then it’s over just like that. Kind of sad. So in protest, I’m keeping my decorations up for a bit longer. Okay, so it’s more laziness than it is protest, but you get what I’m sayin’. The weeks preceding the holiday break at school are always a blur. It seems like I never have enough time to fit it all in…or share what we do…so things all get lumped into a little recap. Without further ado, here’s how the weeks prior to Christmas break played out in Room 206. We … [Read more...] about A Little Christmas Recap
Christmas Spirit
I haven’t been much for blogging this month. But I swear I have a good excuse. I spent the first week of December putting the finishing touches on my presentations for the North Carolina Kindergarten Conference. I had 4 in one day and I may or may not have underestimated the amount of work it would take to prep and pack. Let’s just say that I definitely put the PRO in procrastinate. On top of that, I had to get sub plans ready for two full days. I’d SO much rather be at school than EVER have to take a personal day…there’s just way too much work involved for that! I know you feel me. I’ve never really … [Read more...] about Christmas Spirit
ELFis Is In The Building
My kids were over the moon excited today. We had a special delivery straight from the North Pole… I read the letter to the kids and they flipped. I mean, they seriously had a conniption. They could barely stifle their screams. We somehow managed to get through the letter without anyone going too crazy, but when it came time for me to open Santa’s special delivery, we just couldn’t contain ourselves anymore. It got a little wild. But it was precious because their little hearts are SO innocent and they just couldn’t hold in their excitement at all. I just LOVE the magic of Christmas!!!! As … [Read more...] about ELFis Is In The Building
Winners & A Freebie!
I SO loved reading all about your favorite Christmas movies! Sounds like we have A LOT in common! EXCEPT…I’m really not a fan of A Christmas Story AT.ALL. {don’t judge!!!!!} I tolerate it because Mr. Spouse is obsessed. He’s SO obsessed that he bought me this two years ago for Christmas. And NO…it was not a gag gift. That movie brings back memories of my sister. She would watch it for 24 hours straight every Christmas Eve and I would BEG her to turn it off!! I won’t lie…in recent years, it’s really grown on me, but it’s definitely not my favorite! SADSVILLE!!!! These are the … [Read more...] about Winners & A Freebie!
The Holidays In Rewind.
I don’t know if it’s just me that feels like time is passing by at warp speed, but this past semester has been INSANE. I feel like I blinked and it was over. Anyway, since I was TERRIBLE about posting this month, I thought I’d do a quick catch-up…the month in rewind :) Enjoy! We celebrated Dozen Day on 12-12-12 {aka: “Doomsday”…ha!} I used my little anchor chart to have the kids fill in the numbers {up to 12} on a number line and we brainstormed things that come in 12 as well as different ways to show 12, too! FUN! We were knee deep in all things “twelve” that day and the kids had a blast. At … [Read more...] about The Holidays In Rewind.
Vocabulary Craftivity with a Holiday Twist
I was reading a book to my sweeties earlier in the week that had the word “overlapped” in it. One of my littles stopped to ask me what that word meant {I always love it when they stop to ask stuff like that!!!} Anyway, I tried to explain it as best as I could and then continued reading. That little momentary pause for explanation got me thinking about making my vocabulary instruction more hands-on. Now, that wasn’t necessarily a vocabulary word I was trying to teach, but since we discussed it, I figured ‘why not’?! I’m always trying to find meaningful ways to make instruction more hands-on. That night, I took … [Read more...] about Vocabulary Craftivity with a Holiday Twist
Reindeer Games
For those of y’all that have 2 days left until Winter Break, can I get at “Woot! Woot!”?!?!? As my dear friend, Abby, would say, “PTL!!!!!!!” This week has been crazy insane…and the scary thing is that I know I’m not alone!!! Between gift making, gift wrapping, station work, and catching up, my classroom looks like a scene straight out of The Wizard of Oz :) Reindeer are one of my favorite things to learn about, so this week has been all about reindeer fun & games!! We’ve started each morning with the AMAZING Word of the Day sheets from Made for 1st Grade. source: Made For 1st Grade I LOVE these!! … [Read more...] about Reindeer Games
A Little Q&A, Christmas in My Classroom, & GRINCH DAY!!!
I’ve recently had A LOT of people email me asking a couple of things. Just incase y’all are wondering too, I thought I’d write about it here! Q: “What kind of camera do you use?” A: I shoot with a Nikon D700 {IN.LOVE} and also have a Nikon D90 {also in love}. The D700 is a full frame camera and the D90 is a crop sensor. If you’re just looking for a DSLR to take better pictures than your regular ol’ point & shoot, you’ll want a crop sensor…you won’t need to go full frame. I’m 100% a Nikon girl, but both Canon & Nikon make EXCELLENT cameras. I would HIGHLY suggest you visit your local camera … [Read more...] about A Little Q&A, Christmas in My Classroom, & GRINCH DAY!!!
Christmas Catch-Up & Happy New Year!
It’s been a BUSY holiday, but I’m back in town and trying to catch up on everything! I know this post is a bit overdue, but just incase you need some ideas for next year, I thought I’d share a few little things. We read this story. Then we talked about how grown-ups have to go through an application process to get a job. Then I had the kids fill out their own applications…to apply to be one of Santa’s elves! HA! They were ALL over it! I told them I was sending their applications straight to the North Pole. I’ve never seen such GOOD work!! You can download your application HERE. We also read this story… And then had the kids … [Read more...] about Christmas Catch-Up & Happy New Year!
Reindeer Games
I feel like the 3 weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas break are so RUSHED! Not that I’m complaining…I LOVE breaks :)…but there’s always so much I want to fit in in such a short amount of time! Last week we started learning about reindeer. Before we continue on with more reindeer fun this week, I wanted to start with some non-fiction reading and fact gathering, so that’s just what we did! We started out by reading this non-fiction book about reindeer… I love reading non-fiction books because my kids just eat it up! They’re SO engaged when it comes to learning new facts. Plus, it gives me a chance to teach them about the table of … [Read more...] about Reindeer Games
Happy Grinch Day!
Happy Grinch Day, friends!! Here’s my sweet team all decked out in our Grinch Day duds. We celebrated “Grinch Day” today and the kids got in on all the fun, too!! They came dressed in green and some of our little cuties even painted their faces and sported Cindy Lou’s hairstyle. TOO cute! Of course, we started out the day by reading the book… Then we brainstormed a list of adjectives to describe the Grinch… {I tried my best to draw him, but not so sure I did him justice. And please excuse the handwriting!} Not so sure that “teethy” is a word, but my little sweetie who offered it up was just certain that it is!!! She INSISTED we … [Read more...] about Happy Grinch Day!
If Take A Mouse To The Movies
One of my favorite holiday books… And there’s SO much you can do with it! We had a little “If You Take A Mouse To The Movies” day the other day and the kids had so much fun!! Of course, we started out reading the book. After reading, we talked about cause & effect and made a diagram to show the chain of reaction. I also assigned each kiddo to a story event and had them illustrate it. Then we came together as a whole group and I had the kids work together to sequence the events on a giant filmstrip! I really wanted a text to self writing activity, so I gave them the prompt, “If you take me to the movies, I will ask you for some…”. … [Read more...] about If Take A Mouse To The Movies
Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town
I have a thing for Santas. I really do. I have a HUGE collection here at the house and I just can’t get enough of him! He’s so dang cute! SO…it would only stand to reason that I’d want to include a few Santa activities in the classroom as well :) I know that a lot of kids don’t celebrate Christmas, but this year EVERY single one of my kiddos does…so that makes planning a little bit easier for me. However, this hasn’t always been the case! I guess you could say I’m taking advantage of it this year :) I read a book about Santa the other day…can’t remember which one…and had the kids make these cute little scrapbook Santas after we read … [Read more...] about Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town
Noun Town
Oh…I’m SO lovin’ all these fun little Christmas activities! There’s just something about this time of year, don’tcha think?! I’ve gotten SO many WONDERFUL ideas from blogland that I can’t wait to implement in my own room! Y’all are too dang much! Here are a few more things we worked on this week… I was so inspired by Sarah Cooley’s Noun Town that we made one of our own, too! Since it’s the holiday season, we decided to make a Gingerbread Noun Town. We did some “city planning” before we got started. We talked about people, places, and things that we might see in our town and brainstormed a list of each. After city planning, I had each … [Read more...] about Noun Town
Gingerbread & Christmas Stuff
Okay…still SO behind…but here are just a couple of things we’ve been working on! We’re still going strong with fact families, so I had my kids make fact family gifts. They rolled dice to get the numbers to add together for the sum. I also had them roll the dice twice and add those numbers together to practice working with higher numbers. As you can see, they made their own bows…but real bows would have been a great “addition” too! ;) Speaking of gifts, this is one of my most FAVORITE writing activities. I started doing this my third year of teaching and have been doing it ever since! I think it’s so precious and sweet and really gets … [Read more...] about Gingerbread & Christmas Stuff