Five for Friday and WINTER BREAK!

 
  Linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday to share how this crazy week went!

Gifts

I found a few adorable ideas on Pinterest for easy gifts that wouldn't break the bank!

I usually make cookies but wanted something different and I love how these turned out:)

I made these for the ladies at my son's daycare.

                              

If you need a last minute gift you can grab the tags I used for this gift here. 

I also had to come up with a white elephant gift for a gift exchange and found this cute idea!

Our white elephant gift exchange is supposed to include funny/tacky/gifts no one would want BUT I think I lucked out. I got this adorable hat which made for some super cute pics of my boy!

Crafts

I was slacking in the parent gift department this year! Before I knew it was the last week before break and I had to come up with something quick, easy, and cute! Another teacher gave me a box of pinecones so we painted them, added glitter, hot glued a ribbon and Voila! an ornament. Despite my lack of planning for this gift, they really did turn out beautiful and I hope the parents enjoy them. 

My school does a craft day each year, each teacher does a craft and students can visit different teachers and do crafts for the day. Pinterest saved me yet again!

Movies-

Want 30 minutes of peace? Show this. Haha just kidding (kinda). I love the Snowman. There is hardly any dialogue in this video and the music is so calming. Whenever I show this the kids are mesmerized...it's a beautiful thing ;) 

While they watch I have them write the story since there are no words. I stopped it every once and awhile to remind them of important parts of a story to include (beginning, middle, climax, end).

I don't watch movies often in my classroom and truth be told I always feel a little guilty when I put one on. But if there was every a week where I needed a movie this was it. We had a day where the Christmas excitement was just too much and I had to throw plans out the window! I logged into my Netflix account and found Saving Santa. I told them they were going to analyze the character of Bernard the elf. They had to choose character traits and use evidence from the movie as proof. Here is one organizer at the start. 

The last day my team dressed up as elves. We had a cereal bar for the kids and invited parents to come. It was so exhausting so much fun!

And finally.....

IT'S WINTER BREAK!!! WAHOOOOOOO!

Enjoy:)

Gift for Santa Freebie!

I was supposed to put this little freebie up yesterday BUT I was being lazy... and I got caught up in the Vampire Diaries...and I really wasn't happy about the way it ended last night and had myself a mini fit and went to bed!

On a positive note I do get to link of for with TBA for Freebie Friday!

I am excited about the turn out of this project we did this week! This lesson was inspired by the book A Year Without Santa Claus BUT even if you don't have the book I think this could still be a nice writing activity for Christmas. 

We talked about how hard Santa works and Christmas is also the season of giving. Then we brainstormed a list of things Santa might need/want (insert pic that I forgot to take here). They had some really adorable ideas! Then we wrote about what we would give him.  

I got a bag of small bows at the dollar store and cut wrapping paper the size of our writing!

Click the image below for this freebie!

Christmas Questionnaire Link Up!

 As soon as I saw this Christmas link up with Fabulous in First I knew I was in! I LOVE Christmas!

Hot Chocolate or Eggnog?

Hot chocolate all the way! I live for Starbuck's Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate...try it..it's amazing.

Does Santa wrap presents or just put them under the tree?

Great question! This is the first year I'll have a little one for Christmas. I think he will wrap them. I think having something to unwrap adds to the excitement of Christmas morning. And let's face it, watching my 9 month old tackle bows and wrapping paper this year will surely be a treat!

Colored lights or white lights?

White lights please and we keep it pretty simple at our house. HOWEVER I do love going to see christmas lights and it that case...Bring on the color!

When do you decorate?

Usually the weekend after Thanksgiving. However this is the first year in 5 years that I have. I lost my mother the first week of December so it has been hard. This year I made a point to do it for my little one and I swear I felt my mom with me as I did. I have great Christmas decorating memories with her that I can share someday with my little :) 

I have BIG Christmas decorating ideas, much bigger than my bank account and extra time allow for HAHA. But here's what we've got going on this year!

Little touches here and there. I'll be out after Christmas snagging up some good deals on Christmas decor so that next year I can add a bit more!

Real or Fake Tree?

FAKE! My husband and I have this argument every year. But I just love our tall "snow" frosted pre lit tree!

Favorite Christmas memory or tradition?

Hands down favorite memories and traditions are fun with the family. My family is scattered across the country and Christmas is sometimes the ONE time out of the whole year I get to see some of them. We play games till wee hours of the morning. 

One of our fav family games is scrabble so here were our place cards last Christmas dinner. 

We take fun pics. Here are some pics of some family last year at Christmas. Note my GINORMOUS belly. I was 7 months pregnant.

I also LOVE the day after Christmas! When we are at my grandparents house near Sedona, AZ we always make a trip up to the little town of Jerome to shop and eat! Who shops the day after Christmas? We do! Here we are in Jerome a few Christmases ago..

Do you remember your favorite gift as a child?

One year when I was little my aunt got me a huge trunk of dress up clothes. She'd found all these funky clothes, scarves, hats, and shoes. I had so much fun with that trunk. 

My grandma, mom, and me!

Do you prefer giving or receiving?

Giving! I sometimes get so excited about the things I get for people that I have to try extra HARD not to give it to them BEFORE Christmas! That doesn't always happen though, my husband already got one of his gifts this year because I just couldn't wait. 

What's your favorite Christmas song?

Um anything of Mariah Carey's Christmas album. I could listen to that C.D all year. 

Candy Canes. Yuck or Yum?

Eh. 

Favorite Christmas Movie?

I love Christmas movies<3 Elf, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Love Actually, Christmas With the Kranks...to name a few. 

Do you shop online or at stores?

Mostly stores. It's fun if I go early enough. Now if ask me that the week of Christmas and I'm shopping..I'll tell you a different story.

Photo cards, letter, or store bought cards?

I have always wanted to do a photo card! My hubby would say every year that it's weird to do them if you don't have kids and he just wasn't into it (he's the weird one if you ask me)! THIS YEAR I finally got to do a photo card! 

Whew! That was a loong post! But fun! Go link up and join the fun!

Family Project Fun

We put our timelines together today!

In this project I send home the papers for parents and kids to collect pictures and write about the different stages of life. They bring it all in and then we put it together into a timeline to present. It took ALL afternoon. The classroom was A MESS! I was so afraid at any given moment that I was going to get a walkthrough. Even though it looked like a tornado had gone through our room they were so dedicated to their task and they really produced some amazing timelines. I am thinking they look so darn cute (that and the fact that I have no clue what to do for gifts this year) that we may have to put a ribbon on them and give them to moms and dads for Christmas!

This is one of my favs! Look at that detail!

Well all, I have Vampire Diaries on my DVR and a piece of cake that needs my attention! Chocolate and Damon Salvatore... lovely way to end a Friday! Good night!

The Other Reindeer FREEBIE

One of my favorite Christmas books is Olive the Other Reindeer<3 I have been seeing a few pictures on Pinterest with turning kids pics into reindeer and I just had to try it out! We talked about what it took to be a good reindeer and what things about ourselves might make us a great reindeer. We ended up with this! 

Click here for the freebie.

For My Mom

Five years ago today I lost my mom, my rock, my everything. So today I don't have classroom ideas or resources to share I have simply this...

Make BEAUTIFUL memories with the people you love because you know never know if someday beautiful memories will be all you have left.

Cloud Nine

 Let me first say that I have had my fair share of lesson stinkers! You know, the kind that go downhill fast and you have to drop it all together and switch to plan B? Well, I am happy to say I did NOT have one of those lessons today. I had the kind of lesson that just leave you on cloud nine for the rest of the day! I am so excited to share it with you today.

I have to say that I had a hidden agenda in this lesson today besides comparing measurements. My class has had trouble getting along. I have quite a few who tend to be a bit bossy and want to be in charge. This has become a problem because lately when we work in groups there is more arguing than there is work! So I hoped by giving them a common goal with a little incentive of being able to say that they built the longest chain would help.

I started the lesson by showing the kids a paper chain and told them that they would be working with their team to make one. I had 4 teams each with a different color of strips. I told them the goal was to make the longest chain. I set the timer for 5 minutes and let them work!

When the time was up I collected all the chains. Can you tell which teams worked together this best? This activity helped me explain to the kids later how teams that work together and help each other can be really successful and teams that argue? Not so much. Back to the math lesson!

We measured.

We compared.

We used the number line to find the difference between our measurements. 

We all contributed to our poster by writing comparative sentences. We will do a few more tomorrow as a review before our benchmark test!

Loved hearing the kiddos discuss this difficult math task and use strategies we've been working on. Plus they learned a lesson in teamwork! Happy dance!!