Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Christmas Comes but Once a Year

....and P.S. IT'S HERE! At least, it definitely was in my class today! Our day was jam-packed with Christmas fun, and I just couldn't wait to share with all of you!!

To start, today was gift exchange day for the first year teachers at my school (there are 3 besides me). I was so touched after reading the poem Erica Bohrer shared on her blog Sunday, that I just knew I wanted to share it with my teacher friends, too! For part of my present to them, I typed up the poem, added a snazzy chevron background, printed it on cardstock, and framed it using a Target 5X7 frame. I loved them so much, I made one for myself too :) Only problem is, that requires me to have free space on my desk to fit it! Maybe one day?


We also continued our gingrebread unit today by doing a little simile activity. I plan to do Cara Carroll's Grinch simile activity on Friday, so I knew I wanted to introduce the concept early this week. That way, they can be total pros by the time Grinch day rolls around!
We started off by reading a book on similes, and then we used a circle map to brainstorm gingerbread adjectives. We then created a few  similes together, and I sent them off to work on making their very own. I found a gingerbead man template on google images that I quickly printed up and had them decorate to glue next to their similes. I have to admit, I think theirs came out even better than mine.



For your free copy of Gingerbread Similes, click the link below.



To continue our unit on measurement, I introduced my class to four new friends, Milly Mile, Franny Foot, Ingrid Inch, and Cindy Centimeter. Or as I like to call them, "The Standard Sisters". I used these ladies to introduce my students to standard units of measure, and easily made them out of scarpbook paper, construction paper, and yarn. We talked about what each unit meant and looked like, then brainstormed what we would measure using each unit. You can see a pic of three of the girls below, poor Franny didn't make the picture.






As silly as they seem, my kids fell in LOVE immediately, and I'll do whatever it takes to help them get it! It was so great listening to them discuss why we use certain units to measure certain things. I could really tell they were catching on to the concept, and that always makes my day!

We wrapped up this crazy busy day with an ornament making activity for our parents. They came out PRECIOUS, but they aren't quite done yet! So I'll save that post for another day. :)

Can't wait to share them with you, sweet friends! I'm off to shop for my last Christmas presents!
Have a great evening!


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