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 traveled alone before…other than quick 1 way flights to see my girls.  I actually had to catch connecting flights both going and coming and that was about enough to make me crazy.  My first flight ended up being delayed and I missed my connecting flight in ATL…the MOST CONFUSING airport in America.  I was so stressed out about getting to NC that I managed to get my very first cold sore ever.  {TMI?!?!}  What a nice way to make a first impression 🙂 I had the BEST time in NC.  Everyone was SO sweet and so welcoming.  It was a long day for sure, but I got such great ideas from some of the girls and I can’t wait to put ‘em in action in the classroom!!  Me & a few of the sweet girls I met in NC…I **borrowed** their pics from IG and FB 🙂 {Shannon, Heather, & Cristy} After it was all said and done, I was SO happy to be back home with my sweet boys.  However, I managed to get sick in the meantime {praise the Lord for Vitamin C, Emergen-C, and throat lozenges}  and  I think I’m *finally* getting over it all!  Ain’t nobody got time to be sick in December!!!!  Instead of going into great detail about all the craziness going on in Room 206, I’ll spare you too much detail.  Have y’all ever read this book?? It’s precious and definitely a MUST read during the holiday season. I especially loved it because it tied in perfectly with our Writer’s Workshop minilessons on adding speech bubbles to our writing/illustrations.  I was able to quick whip up a little readers response from the perspective of an animal and the kids had to write what they wanted for Christmas inside the little speech bubble…just like the book.    Scrapbook paper strip candy canes.  You might remember when we did something similar with pumpkins back in October. Found this precious little mailbox at Dollar General and gave it a home in our classroom.  The kids got to use the mailbox to write letters to Santa in the writing station last week.  This week I’m putting all the **best** work inside and sending it straight to Santa.  You’d better believe that the kids are working extra hard to get their work put inside!  HA! The holiday season isn’t the same without our four-legged reindeer friends.  We made the reindeer heads in response to reading and the little green paper backed reindeer were made in art class.  The kids seriously get so giddy when their work goes up on our walls! We made a little tree map all about Santa and the kids got to use that to guide their “All About Santa” writing.  They even got to make their own Santa heads with a little tear paper action.  I LOVE how different they all turned out!   We also did this little Reindeer simile writing activity you might remember from last year. This is always such a relatable activity for the kids because they know SO many things that are red and they LOVE to share that knowledge during the brainstorm part of the activity.  Their writing tends to go a bit smoother also because they know EXACTLY what to write! Grinch Day was last Friday and that’s when I was really starting to get pretty sick-y…not a picture one. SAD.  However, I’m loving scrolling through Instagram to see all the Grinch goodness that’s going on in your classrooms this year!  I’m taking notes!!! Tomorrow we have our “Traditions Around the World” scheduled for the day…then it’s a full day on Wednesday…Polar Express Day on Thursday {half day for the kids!!!} and our Christmas Party on Friday {another half day}.  We’re almost there!!  WE CAN MAKE IT!!!!!