Happy Holidays!

Hi there, sweet teachin' friends! I am so happy to be back here tonight posting on this little blog of mine. It is so hard to believe that the holiday season has already come and gone! I've been out of school for a week now and I still feel like I'm catching my breath! I hope everyone in this bloggin' community had a happy and safe holidays! If you're like me, you're already gearing up for our return to school in just one short week!

Tonight, I hope to share some of our wonderful Christmas activities with you. Unfortunately, I left most of our precious little projects still hanging up in my classroom, and completely forgot to take pictures! Fortunately; however, I got a brand new camera for Christmas, so I will be sharing those as soon as I can get my booty back into my classroom! Until then, I will share with you what few photos I was lucky enough to snap!

As I mentioned in my last post, the late-ness of Thanksgiving this year totally threw all of my Christmas teaching plans into chaos! I must admit, I am definitely overly ambitious when it comes to planning for Christmas. It's just that there are SO many wonderful, Christmas themed texts and activities that there is just NO time to fit it all in! Therefore, we were forced to squeeeeeeze gingerbread week into one teeny tiny day! It was exhausting but so FUN! 

We began the day by reading several different versions of "The Gingerbread Man" and talked about the many ways the books were similar and different. Next, I split the class into 4 groups and assigned each group a story element (characters, setting, problem, and solution). The kids then worked with their group to compare/contrast their story element in each of the texts. It was so great watching the kids work together, and they were so engaged in the activity, I not once had to re-direct them! When they were done, each group shared their findings with the class and we displayed their answers on a GIANT gingerbread house (picture to come), that I stole from here. It was so fun and such a great visual! Our gingerbread house is now safely hanging in our hallway at school awaiting for me to return and take its picture to share with you ;)

When we were done, we taste-tested gingerbread cookies and then used adjectives to describe them! I used this wonderful snack as a springboard for discussing similes. I recorded all of their responses on the following anchor chart. Yes.... that is an "ou" and not an "a" in delicious. Can you tell my cursive is rusty?

Some of their adjectives just astound me....scrumptious, crumbly?! I was so impressed! When finished, the kiddos created their own simile to describe their cookie and then got to make their very own {construction paper} gingerbread man.

Unfortunately, the template for these fellas are also in my classroom. I will post it with all the other missing pictures.

 The rest our time together before break was spent attending our first field trip of the year, practicing and performing in our annual Christmas concert, and celebrating the holidays with a class Christmas party! Whew! It was a whirlwind!

Although this is only my second year of teaching, I have already discovered that one of the best parts about being a teacher this time of year is all of the sweet letters I get from my students. This year, I got one that especially melted my heart:

I'm telling you, I just about cried when I saw this. Notes like this help me remember why I became a teacher in the first place. Now, I'm using all that inspiration to get ready for the upcoming weeks of school. To do so, I have put together a couple units that I hope will be helpful to you as well!

For a closer look at either activity, you can click the pictures and it will take you right to my little shop! Please feel free to e-mail or message me should you have any questions! As always, both items will be on sale until tomorrow night! Go snag em! 

Have a wonderful Monday, friends! Enjoy your break!
Happy teaching!