Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas.....and break.....and just normal craziness!

I hope you all enjoyed my 12 Days of Christmas Freebies!  I have to admit it was really fun on my end coming up with cute activities to give away.

Well, right after Christmas, I decided to get a new computer.  My laptop was old and froze from time-to-time.  I have a MAC laptop for work and everyone tells me MAC's are soooo much better.  I ended up purchasing a desktop with a 21" screen.  I'm having tons of neck problems from endless hours on the computer so I needed something with a bigger screen.

Did I mention it's big?

HUGE!

In fact, I find myself backing up more and more because it's so big!  It comes with a wireless keyboard so I rearranged (and cleaned) my office, switched desks to one with a keyboard drawer, and voila, I am feeling less pain already.

Now, the downside.  Even though I have a MAC for work, I really only use it for e-mail and word docs.  I have NO idea how to use a MAC.  Nada.  Nilch!

All of my quick short cuts.....gone!

UGH!

So, I've spent the last week relearning how to use a computer.  Not quite how I thought I'd be spending my winter break.  But I'm learning.  Slowwwlllyyy.

I finally figured out how to upload my pictures......and find them, so I could do a blog post about the activities we did leading up to the holiday.

One of the projects we completed were our Reindeer hands.  I really enjoy this project each year and the kids LOVE getting their hands painted.




They didn't turn out as well as they did last year.  I had new paint this year and it was very diluted.  Here is a pic of last year's Reindeer.



Here is the breakdown of how to make these cuties!


Step 1:  Paint their hand brown

Step 2: Stamp their hand on white paper

Step 3:  Cut out their handprint and glue onto brown construction paper

Put the eyes and nose on, and attach the pipe cleaner and you're done!  Although it's super easy, it is time-consuming.  This would be a great activity to have a parent volunteer (or two.)


I posted earlier about another project we worked on but I never posted the finished project.  We made stained glass Christmas Trees.  They turned out soooo cute!


Although I usually make them bigger, we don't have much in the way of supplies this year (budget cuts) so I made them smaller this year.  This also enabled me to put the tree inside the parent card to serve as a little present.  They were very easy to make and the kids really enjoyed making them.  You can read my original post on how to make them here.

I have two lovies who don't celebrate the holiday's so I made a heart template for them.


I might just make these with the whole class for Valentine's Day!


I LOVED Krista Wallden's "Unwrap Your Freebie" giveaway!  One of the freebies were these adorable Christmas Gift Tags.  I made these money practice cards.  The kids match the coin value with the coin images and attach them with linking chains.  LOVE linking chain activities.....a little extra fine motor practice doesn't hurt anyone!




P.S.  I've been working on a lot of new products that I'll be posting soon!

Hope you can use these ideas in your classroom!  What did you do over your holiday / winter break?













Monday, December 23, 2013

12 Days of Christmas Freebies.....Day 11

Only one more Freebie left after today!!!!  I can't believe how fast this has gone.  I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I did!!!!!

12 Days of Christmas Freebies...Day 11
Today's freebie is something I hope you'll get a lot of use out of.  It's something I'm always searching for in a pinch or when I'm having a sub come in for a short period of time.  

Off to the mall now......no, I am STILL not done my shopping.  UGH!!!  Wish me luck!


Sunday, December 22, 2013

12 Days of Christmas Freebies....Day 10

We're already to Day 10!!!  I don't know about you, but I have a very hard time winding-down after such a stressful last few weeks!  My mind is already racing towards January and the fun things I will be planning......a hint for today's FREEBIE!

12 Days of Christmas Freebies....Day 10

I hope you enjoy this one!  It is from one of my all-time favorite units to teach!  Here are some photo's from teaching it last year.






Enjoy!


Saturday, December 21, 2013

12 Days of Christmas Freebies.....Day 9

Can't believe we are at Day 9 already!  I'm heading off to a holiday party but I wanted to get this up before I left.  Hope you enjoy!!!!

12 Days of Christmas Freebies....Day 9



Friday, December 20, 2013

12 Days of Christmas Freebies......Days 7 & 8

Hi!  My sincere apologies for missing last nights post.  I worked 14 hours and couldn't even formulate a complete thought!

I was one of the lead members of our Holiday Committee at school and boy am I glad it's OVER!  It was more than overwhelming to say the least.  I'm glad I was a part of it though.  The faculty and staff at my school purchased gifts for more than 200 of our students in need!  What an accomplishment!

So today I am posting Freebie #7 & #8.  You may have to stuff #7 away for next year but they're too cute not to share!  I hope you love them!

12 Days of Christmas Freebies......Day 7


12 Days of Christmas Freebies......Day 8

Only 4 Freebies left!!!  Let me know which was your favorite so far!



Wednesday, December 18, 2013

12 Days of Christmas FREEBIES......Day 6

Today's freebie are near and dear to my heart........ORGANIZATION!  I don't know why but planning and organizing my life is boring.  That is until I do it on FUN, CUTE paper!

Seriously, I have issues!

Many!

Don't even get me started on pens.  We could be here all night.

So I'll spare you the rant.  Click on the picture below to download today's freebie.  I hope it leads to better planning time for you!

12 Days of Christmas Freebies.....Day 6

Question:  Which FREEBIE has been your favorite so far?  Let me know because I am still creating the freebies for the end of my 12 Days!  

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

12 Days of Christmas FREEBIE......Day 5

On the fifth day of Christmas, The Kindergarten Pod teamed up with Krista Wallden from Creative Clips to bring you this FUN holiday game!  I just LOVE Krista's clipart!

12 Days of Christmas Freebie.....Day 5!

I don't know about you but I love, Love, LOVE when my kiddies can learn while playing a game.  I design a lot of my products and activities to squeeze that extra play time in wherever I can.  This activity is definitely one of those ways!

I hope your kiddies enjoy!


Monday, December 16, 2013

12 Days of Christmas FREEBIES......Day 4!

On the fourth day of Christmas The Kindergarten Pod gave to me.........you'll have to click on the picture below to find out!

This is a GREAT resource for any busy teacher.  I know I use it on a daily basis (hint, hint!)

12 Days of Christmas.....Day 4

Be sure to check back tomorrow for the next FREEBIE!!!!  If you missed any of the previous days, just click the link above to go to my TpT Store.  There are links to the three previous days.

Enjoy :)



Sunday, December 15, 2013

12 Days of Christmas.......Day 2 and 3

I appreciate your support yesterday in remembering the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy.

Today, I'm posting Day 2 AND Day 3 of my 12 Days of Christmas Freebies.  If you missed Day 1, there is a link at the bottom of this post.

12 Days of Christmas Freebie...Day 2

12 Days of Christmas Freebies....Day 3

Make sure to check out my other great Holiday Resources:

My biggest Holiday sellers:
Holiday Color by Numbers - Teen Numbers
SUPER cute activities for Morning Work, Holiday Centers or Holiday parties!  $3.00


Gingerbread Math and Literacy Activities
Math and Literacy Activities with Gingerbread Men!  $4.00

Holiday Printables BUNDLE!
My Holiday Printables Bundle is a huge combination of my 25 Days of Literacy Printables and 25 Days of Math Printables........ALL Print-and-Go activities!  $6.00


Thanks so much for stopping by!  Make sure to "follow" my blog and my TpT Store so you don't miss out on any of the FREEBIES to come!  



Thanks!  See you tomorrow :)





Saturday, December 14, 2013

Remembering......

It is with a saddened heart I post a request.  I am hooking up with some amazing bloggers out there to ask you all to promote Random Acts of Kindness as we remember those who lost so dearly one year ago today.


As a teacher of Kindergarten students, I know their lives are in my hands each and every day.  I love them as if they are my own. I teach them to be kind to others by example.  Today, I ask all of you to do the same. This week, please practice RAK's in your own lives, and teach your students to do the same in honor of the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy.  

This week, promote RAK's on social media using the hashtag #love4SH.

Please note: In honor of the victims, I will not be posting my 12 Days of Christmas Freebie.  I will post Day 2 & Day 3 tomorrow.  Thank you for your understanding.

Thank you!





Friday, December 13, 2013

12 Days of Christmas FREEBIES.....Day 1

YAY......it's finally here!!!!!

There are only 12 more days til Christmas!!!

I am so extremely appreciative of all of you that read my lil ole blog and to those who download my freebies and purchase my products!

Really.

Extremely!

I wanted to do something JUST FOR YOU!  It's my way of giving back in a small way to all of you who have made the long nights and weekends worth it.  This journey over the last year has been a truly remarkable one. I have met so many new, amazing people, that I am feeling humbled by the whole experience.

Okay, enough of the sappy!  Onto the goodies........



Today is DAY 12.....FREEBIE #1!  I hope you all enjoy it! Click on the picture below to download your first freebie!

Please make sure to follow my blog and my TpT Store so you don't miss out on any of the FREEBIES!!!!!

12 Days of Christmas Freebies.....#1


Thursday, December 12, 2013

Holiday Activities....and EXCITING News!

We are VERY busy in Kindergarten this week.  I was just saying to a colleague, if I try not to "teach" for the next week we might fit it all in!

I am really feeling the loss of an extra week between Thanksgiving and New Year's this year!  To boot, we had a snow day on Tuesday.  

Now, I'm certainly NOT complaining about that by any means.  But it did throw me off.

It's also taking twice as long to complete our activities because the little's are bouncing off the walls excited Christmas is coming!

Here are a few of the activities we worked on this week:

We've been learning about the different holiday's.  I always decorate my table to include those holidays (although someone moved the dreidels!.) The kiddies help me count backwards and change the countdown cubes on the snowman.


We started by making our holiday stockings.




Next, we started working on one of my favorite activities:

 It's so cute when they're all losing their teeth!


I'm sooooo limited with our new Language Arts curriculum as to what our children are "allowed" to write independently.....a rant I'll save for another time!  We "researched" real reindeer to see what we already knew about them.  We charted new facts we learned and decided on two facts we wanted to write about reindeer.  I pre-made the writing sheets and had the students fill in the missing words.


And finally, we started to create our stained glass trees today.  I absolutely LOVE doing these trees - but warning, there is A LOT of prep involved when doing this with little ones.  This year, I decided to give them sheets of tissue paper to rip themselves instead of sitting and doing it for an hour.  The loved doing it and were surprisingly good at it!


You begin by cutting a border template in the shape of a Christmas Tree.  Place the template onto contact paper (sticky side up.)  I had the kids fill in a few red pieces first so it looked like ornaments on the tree.  Then they fill the rest in with green tissue paper. Place another sheet of contact paper on top to "seal" the tree.  Cut off the excess contact paper.  Optional: Punch a hole in the top, attach a loop of string and hang in the window for a stained glass effect.

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the "finished product" but I'll do that tomorrow and post a pic.  We hang them in the window until it's time to take them home.

********************************************************************************

Now for the EXCITING news!!!!!!

I am so grateful for all of my wonderful followers and those who have followed me on this amazing journey over the last year.  I wanted to say thank you by offering {insert drum roll here}...........


Beginning tomorrow, and every day for the next 12 days, you will be able to download a great freebie!!!!!  I have some exciting surprises for you too!

Be sure to check back tomorrow night (Work holiday party first :) for your first FREEBIE!  See you then :)




Saturday, December 7, 2013

Christmas Countdown FREEBIE!

Just a quick post to share a FREEBIE with my amazing followers!

Every day around the holidays is like Halloween in my classroom.

They come in hyped up and they leave with even more excitement!

I say, if ya can't beat 'em, join 'em!

I made this awesome little countdown for my kiddies that I wanted to share with you.

Christmas Countdown FREEBIE!
This product comes with two Christmas Countdown activities for you to choose from.  The first is building a Christmas Tree over the 12 days before Chirstmas.


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Countdown-FREEBIE-1012409

Provide each student with one printable.  Begin by gluing the tree onto the bottom of red construction paper.  On Friday, December 13th, have students cut, glue and color the number 12 rectangle above the tree base.  Each day after, students cut, glue and color the next numbered rectangle.  On Christmas Day, they can glue and color the star on top of the tree.


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Countdown-FREEBIE-1012409
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Countdown-FREEBIE-1012409
The finished product!



The second choice is equally as simple and cute.  Provide students with the two printables pictured below. 


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Countdown-FREEBIE-1012409


As you can see, I copied the countdown numbers on red paper but you could use any color you'd like.  I kept the title on white paper so the students could color it.  I marked where the red paper should be glued onto the white paper.

Follow the basic premise above by cutting one rectangle number off each day leading up to Christmas.  Begin on Friday, December 13, 2013.  Here is the finished product.


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Countdown-FREEBIE-1012409

You can download this freebie by clicking on the cover or any of the pictures above.  I hope you can use this in your classroom!  Don't forget to follow my blog (over there on the right) if you like getting free resources!  Thanks for stopping by!





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