It's December Already??

Ok, where did November go?  How is it December already?   December is such a magical and crazy time of the year.  I'm excited about all the great activities I have planned... I was able to get a ton done over the Thanksgiving holiday so December will be enjoyable.  Here are a few ideas I've been working on for the month of December.

Kindness Elves

These super cute elves arrived this past weekend and I'm so excited to share them with my kiddos.  Instead of doing the whole Elf on the Shelf thing I wanted to combine these elves with our character education word for the month of December (kindness).  

These Kindness Elves will visit our classroom each day to give us a way to spread kindness in our classroom as well as our school.  Each day when my kids arrive they will need to find the elves in our room and then read the task the elves have given to us.  Some tasks will be easy like giving our turn and talk buddies a compliment to something a bit more involved like making a card for our lunch monitors. 
Here are the notes I have prepared for the this week's tasks.

  

 Last year we completed random acts of kindness during December and it was a big hit so I'm sure the addition of these elves will make this year even better!

Gifts for Families

The last few years I've had my kiddos decorate Christmas ornaments with fingerprint snowmen.  Last year I waited a bit too long and spent a ton of money on ornaments because I couldn't find any cheaper options I went out this past weekend and found 30 balls for $12... thank you Walmart!  I can't wait to decorate these with my kiddos.  I kind of want to get them done either this week or next so it's one thing I can check off my list!  

Christmas Tree Craft

I have 3 large bulletin boards outside my room and I struggle each year to fill these boards and keep up with the holiday/themed crafts so I don't have bats out in December.  This year I decided to keep one board up year round.  This board has pictures of my kiddos and information about each of the kids so guests can "explore" our class whenever they want.  

That being said I still have two large boards to decorate and display work and its tough to keep up. I love this Christmas tree craft and I do it every year.  It requires little prep and the kids love it.  To prepare I cut out small circles from Christmas scrap-booking parer.  Then the kids use the circles to form a Christmas tree.  Typically I use black paper and draw an inverted triangle to give my kiddos a general idea of the shape they are trying to build.  These always turn out cute and I enjoy displaying them in a tree shape on the bulletin board.  

Student Gifts

I'm ahead of the game with student gifts.  I picked up 24 of these playing card sets at Target and I'm going to type up a few math game ideas the kids can play with these cards.  I'll also include these cute erasers and a pencil and the gift will be all set... now I need to get them put together so I can check it off my list.  

Teacher Gifts

Thank you Target dollar spot.  I found these cute pads and pens at the dollar spot that I'm going to give to my first grade colleagues.  What teacher doesn't love a cute pad and a few new pens!  I'll also put together these mason jars with some candy treats for some other teachers in my building as well all of our special area teachers.  Just a cute little something to show all these teacher/staff members that we are thinking about them at Christmas time.  

Happy December and Merry Christmas... enjoy the craziness that Christmas brings to your classroom!!

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Five for Friday: It's Over!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for 

Friday. 
  

Longest week ever... between finishing report cards, having 12 conferences in one afternoon/evening, and having my husband begin his wrestling coaching duties it was a crazy busy week!  Glad it's over and we only have two days next week.  Only down side is it's Thanksgiving already!  

Here are some highlights from my week.  

ONE: Report Cards and Conferences
This almost empty organizer can only mean one thing... I finished all my assessments for report cards.  One lonely assessment still remains.... but we weren't assessing it on the report cards, it was just for my own data so I can assess whenever I get a chance. 

I had twelve conferences on Thursday, with 10 of them back to back every 20 minutes.  It was pretty  much THE longest day ever.  Arrived at school at 7:00 am and left at 7:45 pm.  It was great meeting with parents but it makes for such a long day when we have kids in the morning and then conferences in the afternoon and into the evening.  

TWO: Pumpkin Investigation
Don't judge... we just got to our pumpkin investigation this week.  I mean pumpkin pie is a thing we love eating at Thanksgiving so I didn't feel too bad continuing the pumpkin theme into the week.  The kids went CRAZY when they got to count the seeds in our pumpkin... 487 to be exact!  

  THREE: Turkey Math Games 
My kiddos loved these math games we've been using the last two weeks during guided math.  I put them together quickly to review some of the skills we've been working on in math and they've been a hit.  We were able to use the tubs for two weeks because I created most of the games with spinners... they're always getting new numbers to add or work with so the games don't lose their luster!  Just started a similar set of games for December!

Four: Quiet Critter Jar
We filled our quiet critter jar at the end of last week so our class voted to have a Teddy Bear/Stuffed Animal Day this week.  It was a huge hit... even I brought in a few of my favorite stuffed animals. 

Five: Thanksgiving Celebration
We just started learning about the first Thanksgiving and I gave my kiddos these "quill pencils" to use during our social studies lessons and the kids LOVE them.  They are begging me to use them ALL day.  Love first grader enthusiasm!

Thanks for stopping by... Have a wonderful weekend!

 Don't forget to visit Doodle Bugs Teaching!

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Five for Friday

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for 

Friday. 
  

Cannot believe we are a full week into November already.  Time needs to slow down so we can enjoy Thanksgiving and all that goes with it before we turn our attention to Christmas.  
Here are a few highlights from our week.

ONE: Report Cards
These pictures can only mean one thing...it's that time of the year already.  This week I spent a ton of time doing assessments so I could start report cards.  By the look of this stack I need to get started.  I have two weeks to get report cards filled out and comments entered in.  I love and hate this time of the year.  I love to see where my kiddos are at this point and where we need to keep working.  But at times I feel overwhelmed by the time it takes to fill out each of these report cards.  It will get done... it always does. 

TWO: Friends of 10 Party
We had a party today for the friends of 10... based on a cute youtube song that my kids adore.  More to come on the blog this weekend about the party.  Let's just say the kids loved the party this afternoon and they really learned the "friends of 10"!

  THREE: Veteran's Day
I really wanted to begin a mini-unit on pumpkins this week but I felt learning about and celebrating Veteran's Day was a bit more important.  We began our week by reading this book and we learned a ton about veterans and this important day.  

We had a great discussion about the sacrifices veterans make to keep us safe and the kids seemed really moved by the courage of our military.  I think the word that came up the most was HERO and because of that, I had my kiddos do a short writing piece about why soldiers are heroes to us all.   

Four: We Are Bucket Fillers 

We had a new student join our class last week and I thought it was a perfect opportunity for us to review behavior management in our classroom.  All my kiddos definitely needed a refresher!  I decided after reading Have You Filled a Bucket Today I wanted each of my kiddos to write about one way they could fill a bucket.  They enjoyed writing their idea on a smaller bucket and they were so excited to share their ideas with the class.  

I love the bucket filling concept for 6 and 7 year olds.  It makes a very abstract concept (kindness) more tangible and easy for  kids to understand.  I even had some parents come up to me during our Halloween celebration to tell me that their son or daughter is using this at home as well... mission accomplished.  

While the bulletin board display is a nice visual reminder I also have our class recite a Class Pledge each day.  After reading we always discuss ways we can LIVE the pledge each day and the kids have really responded to this.  

Five: Book on CD Organization
I had a few minutes this afternoon and I finally got a chance to tape these CDs into the books they belong to.  I've had these books/CD for about two years and I've struggled how to store them so I remembered I actually had a CD to go with the book.  For lack of a better idea I taped the CD jackets into the back of the books.  At least I'll know what books I have on CD now!

Thanks for stopping by... Have a wonderful weekend!

 Don't forget to visit Doodle Bugs Teaching!

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November Currently

Happy November!

I'm linking up with Farley from Oh Boy Fourth Grade for this month's currently!

Listening: I'm listening to the New York Giants football game.  Giants have to get going ... down a few touchdowns at the half!  There is nothing better than prepping for the week ahead while watching football all day... and night!  Let's go Giants!!

Loving: I'm loving these fall weekends.  Cozy weekends inside as the temperatures drop are my absolute favorite.  The trees in our backyard have finally begun to change so I've got a great view this afternoon!

Thinking: I'm thinking I need to post a few products that I've been working on.  The products are practically fnished but I just can't seem to get them finished.  Oh how I need another day between Saturday and Sunday!

Wanting: I'm wanting more time to create products.  I have a ton of ideas for the months of November and December but I haven't had a chance to start these products.  It always seems like the ideas are there but by the time I get around to creating, it's almost the next month already!

Needing: I need to begin assessments and report cards this week.  I cannot believe it's that time already.  I'm hoping to get assessments finished this week so I can tackle report cards next weekend as well as next Wednesday when we have off for Veteran's Day.

Yummy: I've been holding off buying Peppermint Mocha creamer the last few weeks. It just felt too early to enjoy this Christmas treat.  I caved this weekend when I went shopping.  I love this creamer at this time of the year.  It really puts me in the Christmas mood... especially now that Hallmark has begun airing Christmas movies!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Best wishes for a happy and reflective November!  

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