December Hapenings

So, I can't believe that December is almost OVER!!!!  It is SOOOOO close to Christmas, and I still have SOOOOO much more to do to get ready myself.  Not to mention all of the stuff I need to do for my class!!!! 
To Do List:
1.) Wednesday : Polar Express Day

2.) Wednesday Afternoon : Perform the Grinch Who Stole Christmas at the Nursing Home (My After School Drama Club)

3.) Wednesday Night : The BIG Performance!!!!  ....eeeek....

4.) Thursday Morning : Sing Christmas Carols at the Nursing Home

5.) Thursday Afternoon : Christmas Party

Now, that is our agenda.  I still have to get the kid-os presents, clean my room, make sure I have all of the permission forms for both class and club, get hot chocolate and cookies, finish props..........and the list goes on.  I will be THANKFUL for Thursday afternoon!!!!

So, anyways, enough belly aching....on to what we have been doing lately.  We have had so much fun this past month.  I love my kid-os, and boy have they been loving me this month.  Every day, we have had something fun to do.  Of course, I tie it in with academics, but it’s the change of activities that they have loved!!!!  The other day, one of my kids said, "Dude Ms. Britney you’re the bomb, and something about a bag of chips!!!!" Translation : You’re the bomb, all that and a bag of chips.  Than another day I had one say to me, "Ms. Britney you are the BIG BOMB and we are the little bombs, we are just that good!!".  I love the things that come out of their mouths.  Make me so proud, happy, and crack me up!!!!  Now, on to the PICTURES!!!!!!!!

First up....Our Wreaths.  We had to count the number of strips that we made, and write each number on each strip.  After that we got to cut the strips out and staple them to make the wreath.

Next, we cut out berries, and we had to count how many berries that we used.  Later, we hung them in the hallway.

These are our Elves that we made.  I made a template and cut out all of the pieces for everyone.  They had to follow the directions, as we put them together.  Listening is something that they REALLY need to work on.  So, I love doing activities like this. 

Boys had green bodies, and girls had red bodies.

We made pattern stockings.  They each got white strips for the legs, they chose red or green.  Than they had to make a pattern.

  

After they finished, we glued our Elf Application to the front.  We read the book "How Santa Got His Job."  We loved it!!  We also talked about how we have to fill out job applications when we get older.  We talked about the different community helpers around this area, and what we wanted to be when we grew up.  This was a perfect tie in to our Social Studies unit, "My Community".

They had SOOOO much fun doing these!!  I loved how they turned out!!

Here are some shots of my Drama Rama Club that I teach every Tuesday afternoon.  They were painting props for our play, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." This is the Grinch's cave.

This will be Mt. Crumpit.

This was a Who House for the Who Village.

I had some special help the other night.  Jingle the Elf decided to draw pictures of everyone in the classroom.  He also added mustaches and funny objects in them.  My 3 brothers came to help.  1 real brother and the other two are basically my brothers.  This is my lil brother JK.  He is drawing some pics for me.

Ben drawing some more pictures.

Here are a few.

Ross helped clean my classroom. 

Jingle hung the pictures everywhere in the classroom.  He also went to Mrs. Hand's class and tied their elf Sonic up, and wrote a note. 

The kids went WILD when they found him actually holding a marker!!!!

Yes, sadly, this is what happened the other day.  One of my lovely kid-os decided that she wanted to open up and dump out all of my letter buckets.  After I found this, she has had to sort them every day until she finishes.  I was NOT a happy camper!!

  

Parent Gift!!!!  This year I bought the 0.98 cent chargers from Wal-Mart.  They came in Red, Green, Silver, and Gold.  I chose the red and green.  The boys did green and the girls did red.  I dipped their hand in the opposite color paint, and placed it in the middle.  After they dried, I let the kids write Merry Christmas, their name, and the year on the edge of the plate.  Then I wrote a poem on the inside of the plate.  They turned out SO cute. 

Poem: Busy hands are happy hands.  Making spririts light.  Hang the stockings, trim the tree.  Keeping Christmas bright.

Here we are doing our label Santa activity.  We read a story about Santa, and then did a labeling activity.  We also did a writing activity. 

We did another circle map, and tree map.  We love doing these.

I had to test on Friday, so I ran some pictures of bells and Christmas trees off on some transparency paper. Voilà, sun catchers.  They color them with markers, and they turn out beautiful!!!!  We hung them in the window. 

 

We also made Christmas trees.  I told them that they had to put the strips in order from smallest to largest strip.  I showed them a picture, and then I had them do it on their own.  They turned out really good.  We also took a pencil, dipped it in white paint and made snow all over the paper.  THANK YOU Pinterest!!!!

Yesterday, we had a parent volunteer come in and do a special craft.  I didn't get a picture of what they made, but it was so cute!!!!  They made wreathes with bells.  We broke down into centers.  This center they had green play dough and shapes.  They made Christmas trees.

They also got to build "gingerbread houses" with blocks.

Here, they were able to use paint pens, and make gingerbread people.

  

Here they are making Christmas lights.  They had to write their name down on a sheet of paper.  They had to count how many letters were in their name. Then they had to trace a Christmas light for each letter of their name.  After they traced them, they colored them, and cut them out.  They then had to glue them on a strip of paper.  When they got finished they took a black marker and wrote their name on the bulbs.  After they wrote their name, they had to fill out a strip of paper that said : My name is ________.  I have ____ letters in my name.  After we finished this, we graphed the results on the smart board.  They loved this. 

Oh my goodness, so i finally finished that post.  It took FOREVER!!!!  I know it's a lot.  Hope it doesn't overwhelm you too much.  Well, Merry Christmas EVERYONE!!!!  Hope you have a GREAT and HAPPY Holiday!!!!

-Ms. B

The TRUE Meaning of Christmas....told kindergarten style

So, as you know, everyday Jingle brings us a new book to read.  On Friday, he brought us the book, "The Story of Christmas".  A little risky I know, seeing as how I teach in a public school, but I read it anyways.  Before I read the book, I wanted to see what my kids already knew about Christmas.  I know that almost all of them go to church on a regular basis, and honestly talk to each other and to me about God and Jesus.  So, I was just interested in what they thought the true meaning of Christmas was.  Here are their answers.

*We celebrate Christmas because it is God and Jesus's birthday.
*Christmas is made of thanks like Thanksgiving.
*It's when you give and spend time with your family.
*It's not ALL ABOUT YOU!!!!  It is for thanks.  (Sounds like someone’s momma has been talking to them.)
*Jesus made a present for his family and that made him happy.
*Jesus, God, and Grandma Ruby, cuz she's up there with them.  That’s what Christmas is about.
*Do God and Jesus have Christmas together?
*You have Joy.
*At church there was a Mary and I was the Jophus.  Brother was baby Jesus. 

I couldn't resist writing them down and posting the answers.  They were too cute, and they were all right answers in my book.  I love to hear what they have to say about things, and I love their interpretations of different things.  That is one of the best parts.  They tell you how they feel.

Well, that's all for now fellow blog hoppers.  I'll be posting pictures of some more things we have been doing soon.  Happy Monday!!!!

-Ms. B

Amazingly LOOOONG Picture Post

Well, I told you I would post pictures, so HERE THEY ARE!!!!  (You will soon find out, I am addicted to pictures.  I am a very VISUAL person.  I need to see pictures.)

Here are two of my boys making paper chains!!!!  A/B patterns

I have taught my kid-os that if they want the picture to go on my blog, I can't see their face.  So now when we take pictures they are constantly ducking their heads, even if I don't want them too. 

Here are some shots of our Christmas centers.  This is at the listening center.  We get to share the laptop to work on Christmas Lists, letters, and play on Christmas websites.

We also have 2 Ipads in our classroom.  I use one during small group, and they use the other during center time.  We downloaded some fun Christmas activities to work on.

This is our library center.  They have a selection on Christmas books they read.  When they get done reading, they have to write the title of the book, and draw a picture about it in the reading log. 

He was SOOOO excited because he has this book at his house!!

This is our see it, build it, write it, draw it activity.  They pick a picture, use the blocks to build the word, than they get to write the word, and draw a picture of it.

I introduced this into our library center today.  They were so excited.  I dumped in 3 tubs of letter sound sorts.  They reach in and sort it according to the beginning sound.

At the writing table they get to do a "special" write the room.  I got a pad that says Santa's List on it.  They get a sheet of paper, and they walk around and practice writing each others first and last names.  They are making Santa's good list for him.

Here they get to look in the toy catalogs to find toys they want.  Than they write it down on a letter to Santa. 

These is our Christmas Words List.  They pick a word, write the prompt, "I see the____" They fill in the blank, and draw a picture of what they see. 

Here they practice writing.  They get a card, write a special message in it.  They write Love, and their name.  Than on the outside they write who it is for. 

These is our Christmas word match game.  Next week I will take the matches, and I will put it in a sheet protector.  They will practice writing the words.  Eventually they will try writing them without the words to copy. 

This is our homemade card station.  It is also part of the writing center.  They get to use stickers, stamps, paper, markers, and glitter glue to decorate a card for someone special.  Than they write a special message in it. 

Finished product

Our special writing table Christmas pencils. 

Our Smart Board center.  They get to play Christmas games, and activities. 

We LOVE Leapfrog stuff!!

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays the WONDERFUL and MAGNIFICENT Ms. Kaity comes in to work with us!!!!  WE LOVE HER!!!!

Building snowmen on Starfall

These were our counting books.  This week we learned about the teen numbers.  They did really good with them!!!! 

We made a counting book where we wrote the number, the word, and drew that amount of things.

They turned out pretty good.

So, Jingle decorated our classroom.

We hung our chains.

Our tree, decorated with the kids ornaments.

Special snowman lights in the writing center.

We love our advent calendar, THANK YOU AIDAN AND ELIZABETH!!!!

There's Jingle, caught him hanging from a wire of our smartboard.

This was the CUTEST BOOK EVER!!!!

Our wonderful REINDEER!!!!

Girl Reindeer.

We filled out these worksheets that I made.  This one said that a dog would be better because it can be fast. 

Boy reindeer with glasses. 

This one says a cat would be better because it can run.  I loved the picture with the jingle bells around its waist.

 

During small group this is what I use to practice tracking, blending, sight words and so on. 

I was blog hopping one day and stumbled on this magnificent little find.  I now keep a notebook.  In the notebook the first page says letter recognition, followed by; initial sound fluency, rhyming, blending, ending sound fluency, and middle sound fluency.  I wrote my kids names on a post-it note.  We started off with the first page.  When they master that I moved them to the next page, and each time they master the skill I move them up.  I LOVE small group now.  I used to hate it, but with this system I feel so much better.  I feel like we are actually getting things accomplished.  Sometimes I work one on one, and sometimes I call a group of kid-os back that need the same lesson. 

We also practice our sight words every day!!  We put all of our skills to use on Tuesday when our Care Tutor comes, and she has them read our small take home reader with them.  On Wednesday they read another take home reader with me, and we highlight sight words, and important words.  On Thursday we read our last set of readers. 

These are our word family Christmas trees.  They loved making them.

Again, I taught them to hide behind their work if they wanted the pic on the Internet....haha..