Christmas Fun and the End of the World

We are all ready for Christmas in our room!  We have been working hard writing about what we want to give others for Christmas.  

It's easy to write about what we want for Christmas so we decided to write about what we want to give the people we love for Christmas.  

First we came up with some ideas of what we could give our friends and family.  We discussed that just because you want a new bike doesn't mean that mom will want a new bike!  :)  

Here is the class book we made from my Night Before Christmas Activity Pack: 

Then we wrote about what we could give someone we love for Christmas that doesn't cost any money!  That was tough for some of my kiddos.  Some of them thought of really sweet things.  

My kiddos wrote on a paper that I created in my Night Before Christmas Activity Pack and then I covered it with wrapping paper (their choice of color and pattern of course), bow, and gift tag to make it look like a real present.  

We placed our presents under our Christmas tree.  I got this idea from the wonderful teacher I did my student teaching with.  Here's a couple pictures: 

I told my kiddos that last weekend I spent a lot of time baking and one of the goodies we made were buckeyes.  If you're on Ohioan you already know what these are!  It's peanut butter dipped in chocolate to look like a buckeye and they are delicious!  This girl was excited about giving some buckeyes.  :)

I hope your kiddos are enjoying their last few days before break.  I know we're having lots of fun!  

My kiddos still haven't brought up the Connecticut tragedy, but we did have to discuss the end of the world on Friday.  Apparently the 'big kids' were talking about the blackout that's going to happen on Friday this morning on the bus and that really scared some of my kiddos.  

I told them that NASA says we're safe and we're going to believe them!  

I was/am prepared to discuss the Connecticut tragedy if/when it comes up.  I was not prepared to discuss the end of the world.  I think I reassured them that we would be okay, but I think they're still worried about missing Christmas!!   :)

Fantabulous Friday Freebies- With Love and Prayers!

My heart is broken over the sad news from Sandy Hook Elementary School.  I am in tears even as I type.  My weekend will be full of Christmas shopping, baking cookies, and wrapping presents while families in Connecticut are mourning the loss of their children, students, teachers, administrators, and friends.  

I'm at a loss for words.  All I can say is that I am praying for all of the families affected by this tragedy.  I can't even imagine the pain and sorrow they feel.  

We had a practice lockdown with police yesterday and that made some of my kids nervous.  I can't imagine the horror those kids felt and saw today in Connecticut.  My heart is just breaking.  

I had already typed the following post so I will share it with you because I found some more great freebies, but I now share them with a heavy heart....

Only one more week before Christmas Break!!  Next week we will be doing some Christmas review activities and I found these great freebies from some fabulous sellers on TpT so I had to share them for this week's Fantabulous Friday Freebies!  

Click the pictures to go download them.  If you download them, make sure you show your thanks.  :)

This is a great review of double digit addition and subtraction...and it's cute!  :)

This is a cute Christmas penguin craftivity!

We are celebrating Christmas Around the World next week and I'm teaching about Christmas in Australia.  I found this adorable Snow Globe Santa and I'm so excited!  Isn't he cute?!?!

My kiddos already made these gingerbread fact family  houses and loved them!  It was a great review of fact families.  

These aren't specifically Christmas, but I love these snow globe organizers!  They can be used all winter!  :)

Hope you can enjoy some of these freebies! 

If you're done with school I hope you're enjoying your time off!  If you have one more week left like me, good luck!!  :)

Night Before Christmas Activity Pack

I wanted to get my Night Before Christmas Activity Pack finished back at the end of November, but that didn't happen. I did finally get it finished over the weekend though!  

Better late than never I guess!

Here is a preview of what's in it:

I have created a couple of the activities in this pack based on the story The Night Before the Night Before Christmas by Natasha Wing.  My kiddos love her stories and they're so fun to read!

The book isn't necessary for this pack, but it would be a great addition!  

The greatest thing about this activity pack is that it doesn't require any cutting or laminating.  My kiddos have already used most of these activities and loved them!  They're all just ready to be printed!

Included is a class book which my kiddos LOVED to make and reread!  We wrote about what gifts we would like to buy for someone we love.  I have a basket in my classroom library devoted just to books we create as a class.  It's a favorite basket!

I'll give this pack away for free to the first *5 people* who leave a comment with their email address and share their favorite December activity!  

Hope your kiddos enjoy it!  

Fantabulous Friday Freebie- Christmas and Nonfiction

It's Friday!!  Time for Fantabulous Friday Freebie again!  :)

I have found a few more Christmas freebies and a nonfiction freebie I want to share with you.  We have been discussing nonfiction text features this week and I found a great freebie to show my kiddos!  

Here they are: 

This is a cute little activity.  The kiddos read the poem and try to figure out the last word of each line.  They can then draw a picture of each word as they go and at the end they will have made a Santa.  Love this idea!  

These cookies are a great way to review silent e words.  This will be a fun way to practice reading and spelling those tricky words this week!  

This is another great freebie from Amy Lemons!  She has several fun Christmas activities in here.  

We have been learning about nonfiction text features in my class so I have been looking for nonfiction activities.  As I was searching I found these great posters!  This shows my kiddos exactly what I'm talking about when discussing nonfiction texts.  

Make sure to say thanks if you download any of these great freebies!  It's always appreciated!  :)

We only have 3 more weeks of school before Christmas break, but who's counting?!  

FREE Christmas/December Math Games

I haven't blogged in a week!  Things have been busy around here as I'm sure you can relate.  

We don't have school tomorrow so when I got home from school today I started cleaning, putting all of my fall decorations away and getting all of my Christmas decorations out!!  I'm so excited.  

I'm all about celebrating Thanksgiving and I have honestly never done this before.  Hubby has never let me decorate before Thanksgiving, but we're going out of town this weekend so I convinced him I had to decorate early!!  

Tomorrow we're going to get our Christmas tree.  It's a family tradition to go to the Christmas tree farm and cut down our own tree and haul it home in the truck.  Tomorrow night I'll be decorating the tree, watching Christmas movies, and visiting with friends.  I can't wait!  

I have had Christmas on my mind for awhile.  I've been looking for December/Christmas math games I can use during my guided math time.  I'll share with you what I have found.  Most of them are free too!!  :)

Click on the pictures to download or purchase! 

Latoya created this cute fact family game!  It's a Christmas math game that is quick and easy and it's a FREEBIE!  :)

Froggie Went a Teachin created these great Bump math games and they are also free!  My kiddos love these games.  They think it's so funny to bump somebody off their spot!  :)

Games 4 Learning created these 2 Christmas math games.  We played 12 Days of Christmas and it really made my kiddos think.  They have to put three cards in a row to make 12.  Love it!  

Sunny Days created these four free math games, but they aren't specifically Christmas or December games.  However, they are free and my kiddos LOVE playing Snake!  It's an addition game that only requires dry erase boards, markers, and dice.  Quick, easy...and free!!  :)

This pack is full of addition and subtraction math centers for Christmas.  It's from Rachelle at What the Teacher Wants!  Her stuff is great!!  This pack is only $5.00.

I hope you can use some of these math games with your kiddos!  It takes me a little time to find good ones and get them ready for my kiddos, but it is so worth it.  They love them!  

Happy Thanksgiving!!