November 26, 2013

The Tw-elf Days of Christmas -Days 4-6


I'm determined to post all 12 days during the Thanksgiving Break. Here is the next installment of days 4-6.

Day Four: Reindeer Poop


Well, if there's anything that peaks student's attention, it's poop and boogers.  I had a good laugh because one of my parents told me that her child would be traumatized by the amount of "poop" I sent home.We read the story "Olive the Other Reindeer" by Vivian Walsh and talked about drawing conclusions.

Day Five: Donut You Know...


We read "Snowmen at Christmas"  and found the Rhyming Words, personification. metaphors and similes.  At the end of the day, students made donut snowmen.  The donut inspiration came from Pinterest and we just used chocolate icing and candy corn to make our snowmen come to life   

Day Six: Elf Kisses


Yet another Pinterest inspired idea.  The elf kisses idea came from anna and blue paperie?  We had weekly assessments this day so the kids just enjoyed the kisses at the end of the day if they were on the nice list.


Enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving!!!

November 24, 2013

The Tw-elf Days of Christmas Revisited

I have so fallen off the earth with my blog.  I have been struggling with being the "new" teacher at a new grade level, new school and new district....not to mention a tough group of kiddos.  I've been trying so hard to learn the new curriculum, teach a rough group and learn the dos and don'ts.   I'm EXHAUSTED. I love doing cute projects with the kids but I have so little time to incorporate anything additional to our curriculum. This is the first time in 8 years that I have not done anything for Thanksgiving.  Where's the fun in that?

Since I have a few minutes over Thanksgiving break to breathe, I'm finishing my post about the Tw-elf days of  Christmas.  I want the kids to enjoy school and learning, so I'm going to make sure we enjoy the days before Christmas Break. One of my favorite activities is Elf on the Shelf.  So here's 12 days of elfish fun:




Day One: Meet the Elf


Day Two: Twiz the Season


Day Three: Little Tree, Little Tree



The Elf left a clue for day three but not before "decorating" our Christmas Tree. We read the poem "Little Tree" by EE Cummings, used context clues to figure out words like spangles and we also made inferences about the figurative language in the poem . Students then made Christmas ornaments to hang on our little tree at the end of the day. Finally, the kids enjoyed cookies and milk because Santa had so many left over from all the boys and girls who left Santa treats by their Christmas trees. 

Enjoy your break!