Our Wee Little Visitor

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I thought I'd celebrate by sharing a little classroom cuteness from our room today. Lucky the leprechaun came to visit and the kids really enjoyed it. They even wrote him their own notes during Art class!

Lucky made a giant mess of our room, leaving paint and glitter everywhere.

"I think Leprechauns can fly." (One little girl decided this because the footprints were only on our tables...)

Lucky needed our help to find his hat. More clues came throughout the day but I forgot to take pictures of those!

Of course we had to have a craft...

And a snack. (This was actually a thank you from Lucky for helping him find his hats. The hats were from Dollar Tree and the kids loved that they got to wear them home!)

 

How do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day in your classroom?

Dr. Seuss Week: Day 1

Today was the first day of Dr. Seuss week. I've got lots of fun activities planned that I'll be sharing with you.

Today's activities are mostly themed around The Cat in the Hat. I did have to throw a tie in though since it was "Wear a tie or scarf" to school day in honor of Hop on Pop.

 

We created word family ties to go with Hop on Pop.  I found a tie clipart and they decorated them however they liked using our words of the week (ay & ai). Some students had striped ties, while others had crazy colorful ties. All students had words on their ties. :)

We created a fraction hat to go with our study of shapes and fractions. They used 1 inch (you could even do 2 inch) strips to create a patterned hat. Then, they filled in the fraction for each color and how many total parts were on their hat.

 

I managed to fit two crafts into today and still taught everything else I planned to teach! How exciting!

A self-portrait of me in my scarf for our first themed dress up day.

 

Tomorrow is pajama day! As one little boy said: "We get to wear pajamas to SCHOOL!"

Flash Freebie: Speaking of Math

I spent the day getting a math activity ready for my firsties for Valentine's Day. It's similar to an activity I used to do with my second graders and I'm excited to use it with my firsties this year. I've adjusted it to fit the standards and I think they'll really enjoy it - it does involve candy hearts after all!

I've even more excited to offer it to you as a flash freebie! Click the link below to get this pack for free until February 12th.  (Please remember to leave feedback if you enjoy this activity!)

What has the little elf been up to?

Well, I introduced my Elf on the Shelf to the class on Monday. They were beyond excited to receive a box and letter from Santa...

 

Before I opened the box, I had them guess what might be inside. I got everything from "a gift from your boyfriend" (I'm guessing this one stems from the flowers he sent a couple weeks ago) to "a toy." No one actually guessed an elf. They had lots of fun guessing and it was a good way to work on our predicting skills. I even gave them a few clues as they guessed.



 

 

After we opened our elf, we read the book that goes with him and then voted on a name. There were several suggestions, including "Happy Face" and "Furby." Marco ultimately won though and I think it suits our little elf quite well.

 

After selecting a name, I introduced their Elf on the Shelf journal that will be their morning work for December. We filled in the first page, which has them share his name and how he arrived. Every morning, they will come in and complete a math page of the day and write about what the elf is doing. This all comes in the packet that I have listed on TPT. If you'd like just the journal pages, I have them listed as a freebie here.

 

Each day, they have a math page to complete and a picture to color:

 

Along with a journal page to fill out about what the elf is doing:

This journal set has my kids so excited about writing in the mornings. Now, just to get them to take their time on their drawings!

 

 

 

On his second day in our classroom, Marco found some friends. He decked them out in Christmas clothing and they played Candy Land together.

 

On the third day, he decided to make a mess on my table trying to get a flower and to hang out on the phone. This day didn't go so well for my firsties and I actually had to write a note to Santa about all of their talking.

 

Marco returned on the fourth day with a note from Santa telling them they should listen to their teacher and be quiet. He sat in the front of the room and watched them all day (I forgot to snap a picture). They were much better and even surprised me by all being at the top of our behavior chart by the end of the day!

 

On Friday, he got creative with the board markers. He even found a green one to use! (I normally use blue.)

 

What has your little elf been up to?

 

Link up with Seusstastic!

 

 

 

A little fun for the holidays! Enter to win my Elf on the Shelf pack from TPT!!



 

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December Currently

It's December!!! Wow - where did November go???

Since it's a new month, I'm linking up with Farley for December Currently!

 

Listening - I've been working on Christmas themed materials today (such as my Elf on a Shelf pack), so I've had the Christmas music going to keep me in the spirit!

 

Loving - I'm loving that I get to see my boyfriend for Christmas. We've been doing long distance dating since mid-May and I haven't seen him since October. I'm excited that I get to spend the holidays with him and his family this year!

 

Thinking - December is going to be BUSY. I filled in my wall calendar yesterday of all the things I've already committed too and it's a lot. Then, today, I realized I forgot to put a couple of things on the calendar.

 

Wanting - I'm wanting to finish decorating but there's still a couple more things I need to get ready for my kiddos tomorrow.

 

Needing - I could really use another day of vacation to work on things!

 

Favorite Tradition - I have always loved hosting a good holiday party. This year is no exception - I've invited friends over for Christmas Fun on December 7th!!  

 

Head on over to my Facebook page for a FREEBIE. 

(You can find the link at the top of my blog.)

 

Don't forget that the big TPT sale is Monday & Tuesday! My store will be participating. :)

Time to Bring Out the Elf!

Last year, I purchased an Elf on the Shelf after seeing so many great ideas on Pinterest!

Last year, I made things up as I went - it was a last minute purchase after all. I decided to go in armed with ideas this year!  So, after some Pinterest browsing, I've created a plan for the upcoming year!

Here's what I came up with. If you click on the picture, it'll take you to a PDF with links to my "Elf on the Shelf" Pinterest board and a free TPT activity I found.

Here's some shots of "Tiptoe" the elf from last year:

 He came in a box surrounded by "snow" from the North Pole with a letter from Santa.

He was waiting in the classroom for them after special area one day. I remember wondering if anyone was even going to point him out. They all came in, sat on the carpet, and no one said a word!

 

He left them a good morning message with our Scrabble Junior tiles.

 

He watched from the behavior chart.

 

He got into some copy room mischief one day and forgot to throw away the evidence!

 

He even thought he was a puppet!

 

 

My second graders really loved looking for him each day. I'm hoping my firsties get  just as excited this year!

 

I'll tell you about the advent calendar he brings in a post tomorrow. The kids enjoyed it as well. :)

 



Linking up with Flapjack Resources:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Before we left for break, I created a Thanksgiving photo booth in my classroom. The kids loved it. After I took their pictures, I had them printed and they made cards for their families. The leftover pictures are posted on our classroom door.

Here's the props. If you google Thanksgiving photo props, you can find free, printable ones to use. (I plan on doing a Christmas booth next!)

And here's a shot of me in the photobooth since I won't share the kids photos on the web. I had one of my kids take this shot just for y'all!

Five for Friday

This has been a week. I can definitely tell that Thanksgiving Break is right around the corner. On top of all of that, I've been battling a cold in up and down weather.

It's been a while since I've done a link up so here goes...

 

 

Last Saturday, I went to a local women's expo with my mom. It was a lot of fun, complete with free massage and lots of goodies. It was nice to spend a girls day out together.

 

 

 

Sunday night was spent writing for a Noir themed event. I even dressed the part. I've had so much fun participating in NaNoWriMo this year!

 

 

 

I got some fun new things in the mail through an online exchange. :)

 

 

 

We made some super cute turkeys today in math to wrap up our Fact Family week. I used this Turkey Craftivity as inspiration but altered it slightly to better fit my classroom. I love the way they connected Part-Part-Whole and Fact Families. This really worked well with my kids. I completely forgot o take pictures today (see #5) but I will snap some on Monday to share with you!

 

 

My boyfriend has unfortunately had to hear my complaints all week. I didn't even realize how many little problems there had been in this week until today when he sent me flowers to brighten my dark week. It nearly made me cry. Amazing how he does a great job as my boyfriend even from across the country!

 

 

How's your week been? Link up with Doodle Bugs and share all your fun!