Last Minute Christmas!

Hey yall!

 

We are 6 days away from Christmas vacation....I think I can, I think I can.

We'll be spending this week and next immersed in all things holiday! We'll be using activities from my two newest packs: Holiday How To Writing and Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Math Centers.

 

 

This sweet little pack includes 6 different holiday how-to writing organizers and writing paper, including:

*how to build a snowman

*how to wrap a present

*how to decorate a tree

*how to catch an elf

*how to eat a gingerbread cookie

*how to make hot cocoa

 

Each writing includes a graphic organizer and four choices of writing sheets.

 

 

This holiday pack includes 9 math centers and 1 whole class activity. It meets 9 different standards!

*Place Value Stockings (1.NBT.2)
*Ornament Ordering (1.NBT.1)
*Elf Statements (1.NBT.3)
*Tens of Penguins (1.NBT.5)
*Frosty Time (1.MD.3)
*Santa Scoot (1.OA.6)
*Gifts of Measurement (1.MD.2)
*Reindeer Games (1.OA.6)
*Snowmen Graphing (1.MD.4)
*Candy Cane Tens (1.NBT.6)

 



 

Since its so last minute, you can snag this pack for 50% off until Friday! Click on the pictures above to grab your copy.

 

Now, I'm off to wrap some presents :)

 

6 more days, people!



Do you love a good freebie...or 50?

Hey yall! Happy Friday!

 

I thought this week was going to take forever, but it has actually gone by pretty quickly. This girl is sooo ready for the weekend, baby!

 

How am I going to spend my Friday night, you ask? Downloading freebies!

 

Have you heard about the Winter Holidays EBook? It is FULL of freebies that are geared towards 1st and 2nd grade....over 50 of them! And you just might find one from me in there as well :)

 

Click on the pic to download the ebook.

 

 

And today is also the kickoff of a fun Facebook Frenzy that I'm apart of! Myself and 21 other first grade bloggers have put together a fun hop that is chock full of holiday/winter goodness!

 

 

Start the hop at my FB page and snag my freebie! I'm offering my Polar Express Unit...for free yall!

Then just continue the hop by clicking on the snowman.

 

If you get lost, here's the map to help you find your way :) Click on the picture to open the PDF...it has all the links you'll need!

 

 

 

Happy hopping, friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey yall!

 

 Just wanted to drop by and tell you...

 

Do you know what I'm thankful for? All of yall!

 

Seriously...it means the world to me to have such loyal and supportive followers. And to show just how thankful I am, I am offering my Granny Swallows Christmas unit for free today only. Click on the picture below to snag your copy...but hurry! It's only free until 10 pm tonight.

 

 

And I'm so excited to tell you guys about the HUGE upcoming sale over at TPT! On Cyber Monday {and Tuesday!}, everything in my shop will be 20% off. Use the code CYBER at checkout to receive an additional 8% off! So get those wish lists ready folks...Monday will be here before you know it! Click on the picture below to start stocking up :)

 

Adorable graphic from Jen Jones

 

Now....get off the computer and spend some time with your precious family!

Take Me Back Tuesday: Room Mom Gifts!

Hey yall!

 

Anyone else already on Thanksgiving break? We have the whole week off and it is glorious! Sleeping in, hanging out in the jammies til 2, shopping, catching up with my girlfriends....loving every second of it!

 

So since I'm trying hard to not do anything productive, I'm joining Hope for her fun linky :)

 

 

This is a post from awhile back where I shared the gifts I gave my room moms at the end of the year. I thought with December just right around the corner, they would also make great gifts for Christmas! Take a look and let me know whatcha think :)

 

Originally posted on June 2, 2012

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

Hey yall! Happy Saturday!

I have been on summer break for about 12 days now and it. is. fabulous.

I feel sorry for you poor souls that are still locked away in a school building. But only if you promise to feel sorry for me when I start back to school in early August, while you are still enjoying the summer through Labor Day! That is, if  I get a job!

Anyways, I wanted to share with you guys something that I did last year for my room moms. I was super broke at the time, so I needed to make something incredibly cheap and easy, but that still looked cute.

Now, I cannot take credit for this idea. I found it somewhere on the world wide web. This was pre-Pinterest, and before I became a blogstalker, so I honestly have no clue where I found this idea. If anyone knows, let me know!

Here is what I made for my room moms:



They are little Chinese takeout boxes with chocolate dipped fortune cookies and a tag that says "I am so FORTUNate to have you as a room mom!"

Now, when I made these last year, I didn't cutesify everything I made.

Shock! Gasp! Aww!

I know.

So, of course when I decided to share this with you guys, I just had to make some cute little labels to go with it!



I thought it would be cute to roll these up fortune cookie style and attach them to the takeout boxes. This would be mucho adorable than my lame index card label that I made last year. Ha!

Click on the picture below to get a copy of the labels. It also has step-by-step directions on how to make the cookies....not that you will need it, because they are seriously super easy to make!

Graphics by The Digital Cake Shop.
Fonts by Kevin and Amanda.

I have also included tags that say 'room parent' instead of 'room mom.'

If you have something else, say a room dad or room grandparent, just shoot me a quick email and I will be happy to make a different tag for you :)

Alright yall, off to wash my car and clean my room!



It's a Holly Bloggy Christmas!

Hey yall! Merry Christmas!

 

I hope you all are spending today with the ones you love. I know I sure am! We're off to Christmas #1 with my family. We'll open presents and have a BIG breakfast there, and then head off to Christmas #2 with my in-laws. Presents and lunch over there, and then it's back to my folks house for dinner. I see a lot of food in my future.... :)

 

Who all partciipated in the Holly Bloggy Christmas Exchange???

 

I got my package the other day, and was sooo excited when I opened it! It was from sweet Beth Ann over at Taming My Flock of Firsties.
 

 



 

Beth Ann sure does know me well! This sweet lady sent me...

1. Owl stickers

2. Owl bookmarks

3. Owl picture holder

4. Owl necklace

5. Christmas scented candles

 

Now do you see why I was excited??? Thanks so much, Beth Ann!

 

This is the package that I sent to my partner, Tamera over at My Heart Belongs in First. She has a love for owls, too! This made shopping a breeze...I just knew if I loved it, then she would! It was fate :)
 

 

 

What did yall get for Christmas???

 

Merry Christmas, friends!

 

Christmas Craze

Hey yall!

 

I am officially on Christmas vacation! I am so stoked to spend the next two weeks soaking up time with friends and family. I am also done with school for the semester, and got my grades today-all A's! Whoo-hoo!

 

Hopefully, you will be seeing a little bit more from me, now that I'm not struggling to keep my head above water.

 

Before the break, we had lots of Christmas fun!

 

We did a study on caribou, using graphic organizers from What the Teacher Wants. We completed an informatonal writing piece on caribou, and made a super cute little reindeer hand craft. Unfortunately, I forgot to snap some pics :( but they looked like this...

 



 

...except for we didn't make ours into ornaments.

 

We also had on Polar Express Day on Monday. My littles all came to school in their PJs....they were all so cute!

 



 

I told the students that morning they had to earn their ticket to watch the movie. Throughout the morning, students that were well behaved earned their ticket. Then, when it was time to watch the movie, I punched their tickets. They were so excited to have their very own tickets!

 

We read the book, watched the movie, drank hot cocoa, and completed lots of activities from my All Aboard! The Polar Express unit. If you need some quick activities to do for your Polar Express day, click the picture below.

 



 

The next day (our last), we had a surprise from our elf Jack on our desks. He brought us some Elf Kisses and our very own bells from the North Pole!

 



 

Their excitement was almost palpable :)

 

We spent the morning writing about what we would do if Santa was stuck in our chimney, and made a little craftivity to go along with it. Of course, I forgot to snap a picture {I've been so bad about that lately!}.

 

Then it was time for our party! We made a little snowman ornament craft, had a book exchange, and then ate some yummy food! I had gotten all my littles books for Christmas, and when they opened them, they started chanting "Pete the Cat!" over and over again. It was too cute.

 

 

Speaking of gifts, I was trying to figure out what to get my team for Christmas. I am so thankful to get along so well with the other teachers on my team, because you never know when starting at a new school. I ended up getting them some chevron striped insulated cups from Hobby Lobby, put their initials on them, and filled them with candy. Simple :) and I think they liked them.

 

 

If you like the tags I made, you can grab them here. There are 2 different sizes to choose from.

 

Now...I'm off to finish enjoying my first day of vacation....ahhhh :)





Winner, Elf Fun, and Monday Made It {whew!}

Hey yall!

 

Are you ready for this? It's a long one :)

 

Today our Elf on a Shelf came to visit!

 

It started when our para brought me some packages. She said they had been delivered that day at the school...and they were for our class!

 



The package was ice cold! We found a note on the package and learned that it was all the way from the North Pole! The note was from Santa, explaining about his little helper that he was sending to us.

 

 

When we opened up the little box, out came our elf! Then we unwrapped the other package and found a book! We read it to learn all about how to treat our elf.

 

The book said to name him, so I took some suggestions and then picked the top 3. My littles then voted on the 3 and the winner was.....Jack!

 

Jack sure is a mischevious little fellow....when we left to go to specials, that sneaky guy moved all our clips alll the way down to orange! He hung around to see our reaction.

 



After the shrieks (and a few tears!) died down, we wondered why Jack had moved all our clips down to orange. We concluded that he must have been trying to tell us we have been naughty today {which, in fact, they were}. We discussed how to change our behavior so that Jack would have a good report for Santa.

 

Don't worry...by the time we came back from recess, good ol' Jack had moved everybody right back up :) 





Now...onto my Monday Made It! I am linking up with Tara for her monthly party.

 



Remember those READ letters that were all the rage of pinterest-addicted fiends over the summer? Well, I took that concept, but made it Christmasy :)

 



 

They are helping to make my mantle more festive.

 



 

Now....onto the winner from my 100,000 pageview giveaway! I was supposed to pick a winner last night...but you know how that goes...

 

And the winner is....Cindi!!!

 

  

Yay congrats Cindi! I am so excited she won, because I got to meet this fun lady over the summer when I was in Gatlinburg! We met in the mountains with Kerri and chatted for hours! Such a great time :)

 

Whew! Did you make it??? I barely did :)

 

Night, friends!

 

Freebie on the First {and a little giveaway}!

Hey yall!

 

Can you believe that it is already December???

 

If you live in the south, its even harder to believe with this amazing weather. Today was a BEA-UTIFUL day with temps topping out at 70 degrees. Perfect day to get some Christmas decorations and a tree :)

 

Today I am linking up with Freebielicious for their Freebies on the First linky.

 



 

Raise your hand if you have a Polar Express day at your school.

 

That's what I thought.

 

Pretty much every elementary school (at least around here!) has some sort of Polar Express day in December. This little writing sheet is *perfect* to use that day to coordinate with the book OR the movie. Click on the picture below to get your copy!

 



 

And guess what else???

 

This little ol' blog has reached over 100,000 pageviews! Wha-hoo!

 

To celebrate, I will be giving away a copy of my All Aboard! The Polar Express Literacy Activities unit.

 



 

To enter, just leave me a comment below telling me what your class/school does to celebrate The Polar Express. I'll pick a winner Sunday night at 10 pm Eastern time.

 

Happy December, friends!

All Aboard!!!

Hey yall!

 

Does anyone else have the Sunday night blues?

 

I've got 'em...bad :(

 

I have had such a glorious vacation and I am most definitely not ready to get back to work yet.

 

Can't I have just one more day....please???

 

Well, I guess there is a silver lining about tomorrow....the BIG sale!

 

Is your shopping cart full? I can't wait to check out and see all my new goodies!

 

I have been working really hard to get some more Christmas units ready in time for the big sale, and I finished one more today :)

 

Click on the picture to get your copy!



 

 



 This unit is full of literacy activities that coordinate with the book "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg, including:

*Story Sequencing: cut-n-paste sheet OR pocket chart activity
*ABC Order: center work with recording sheet OR pocket chart activity
*Noun/Verb Sort: center work with recording sheet OR pocket chart activity
*The Polar Word Search: individual sheet
*Venn Diagram {book v. movie}: individual sheet
*Writing Prompt: a variety of different prompts for all ability levels
*Train Tickets: something fun to give your students

 

Don't forget...sale starts tomorrow!!!

 

I am also throwing a little BOGO sale on my holiday items {Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patty's Day, etc.}. Here's how it works: if you purchase a holiday item, just shoot me an email with your TPT username and the item you purchased. Then let me know which holiday item you want for free :)

 

Click on the picture below to start filling that cart!

 

 

 

Happy shopping!