Yummy Yummy! Gingerbread fun!

Oh my goodness! This past week has been awesome...I just had to share what has been going on! The students love learning with the gingerbread man! So much fun!

For ELA we have been reading and writing all about the Gingerbread Cookie!! We read the Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett and did this craftivity to go along with it...

Some of my favorite responses: 

"I would hide in the cave with a dragon."

"I would hide under the bed."

Probably my favorite..."I wouldn't hide. I would get my iphone and use the GPS and weather app. I can't get wet!" (What?!?! Why didn't I think of that? Amazing!!)

In math we did this activity with gumdrops. I won't lie...I had to do this activity 2 days. I was SO excited to do this math activity because I thought the kids would love it and be so engaged in the learning. So on day #1 the students were super engaged and loving it, until we came to the "take away gumdrops" part and we started to eat the gumdrops! Umm, guess who forgot to read the label and bought spiced gumdrops! Oh no! Even though I thoroughly enjoyed watching them try to eat the gumdrops and say things like "When you eat this candy is it like brushing your teeth?" (I guess cause they thought it tasted like toothpaste!), I didn't quite hit the teaching objective I was going for! However, day #2 was AMAZING!! :) The students were so engaged in making all kinds of addition and subtraction problems, they were even creating number bonds with the gumdrops on the gingerbread cookie!

During ELA centers students have been unscrambling gingerbread sentences, reading around the room with the gingerbread man, sorting with G gumdrop and G gingerbread and flipping the cookies in to the correct word family pan! 

We did lots of writing in response to our reading this week. I think I saw some of my best writing! The students loved the stories we read, and it was just as entertaining for them to write. Students responded to the question, "What would you do if you were the gingerbread cookie?" Some of my favorite responses were: 

"I would tell the teacher on the Fox." 

"I would go to the North Pole and tell Santa to put the Fox on the Naughty List."

"I would tell the police officer to arrest the Fox."

*Clever little kids!!*

We made these little friends to display our work!

Next week I start my how to unit of writing and we are going to use this gingerbread house packet from Wal-Mart 

and this book template 

to create and record how to make a gingerbread house! How fun!!! I hope the kids are as excited as I am! :)

All of these activities are in my TPT store! I would love to hear what you are doing with the Gingerbread Cookie!!! The first 2 people to comment can have my Yummy, Yummy Gingerbread in My Tummy {Craftivities} for FREE! Whoop! Whoop!

Happy Sunday!

Shopping! :)

I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is over! Whoa! Time is just flying by...it is going to be 2013 before we know it! I have had a fantastic break and holiday with family and friends, but I am looking forward to Monday and Tuesday! Not necessarily because I am going back to work... but TPT's Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale is here!! You can get up to 28% off tons of amazing products made by talented teachers!!

I hope that you are "making a list" and "checking it twice", so that when Monday comes you will get everything you need for your classroom! I am working on a few new units to put in my store...so make sure to come by and check them out! Here is some craftivities from my new Winter Wonderland Unit! I had so much fun making them...my students will love these! :) 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! :) Happy Shopping!!

Home Project Fun!

So I know I am a little behind with this post, but I just had to share these pictures with you! My students completed a "Jack-O-Character" as a Home Project. I actually got this idea from my friend Jackie! So fun!! The students had to choose their favorite character and then create a pumpkin character. They had so much fun and were super creative! Check them out!!

 The parent letter and instructions for this activity are in my Pumpkin, Spiders and Bats...Oh My! Unit.

The next Home Project that my students will be completing is an "Incognito Turkey". Here are some pictures of the little turkeys from last year!

You can find the parent letter and instruction for this activity in my Thankful Hearts on Thanksgiving Unit.

Happy Wednesday! :)

Printing, Printing and More Printing! Ahh!!

I have come across so many great resources that teachers have created and shared either on blogs or TPT. Wow! The things that are available are just amazing! I create, purchase and find so many goodies, that my poor printer must hate me! It can get really expensive to print everything out that I use in my classroom, especially in color! And when it comes having space in my classroom to hang everything up...there is just not enough room! So when I create or purchase something that I would like to display as a poster, instead of printing it I just display it the same way your would a PowerPoint Presentation. In case you don't know how, here's a little "how-to"...

 

 

 



Hope this helps! Check out my TPT Store  for some great resources for The Election & Voting and Thanksgiving!Whoa...can you believe it is almost already here! Happy Weekend! :)

Reading and Writing Muscles

A week or so ago I was really struggling with getting my little friends to work independently for an extended period of time, especially when they were reading and writing. I kept encouraging them that the more they practiced and worked hard, their "Reading Muscles" and "Writing Muscles" would grow. Sometimes group discussions only go so far, right? An incentive/motivator was needed! As I was driving home I was thinking about what incentive I could give the students to help them become more independent. Candy popped into my head, lunch bunch with the teacher, etc...although I love rewarding my students I didn't want this to be a "get something" reward, more like an enpowering "I did it!" kinda thing. So as I was thinking about big muscles what did I think of...why wrestling of course!!!! So off to the Dollar Tree I went and I knew I had a "hit" when the neighbor kids' faces lit up when they saw what was in the bag when I got home! About twenty minutes later I had created these...

The next morning I had these items displayed at the front of the room, and didn't have to say anything for the students to notice them. Someone asked what they were for, and when I explained that they are a reward for students that have stamina and big "Reading and Writing Muscles"...well let's just say that from that day on I have seen such a difference.  Students are attending to text for longer periods of time and as a class we are reading independently for 15 minutes! Wow! During writing I see students who wouldn't have even attempted to stretch out words independently working so hard! The best part is to see their faces and how they feel so proud of themselves- all of them not just the ones recognized that day! They can feel how they worked harder and stronger that day, and say things like "I know I did better today because..." Yay! Well I have been doing the happy dance for a few days now, and wanted to share my happiness with you!