Rewind.

Hey there! I'm FINALLY back! This girl definitely enjoyed her Thanksgiving vacation way too much to even consider blogging. But, it's back to reality, and I am excited to be back here again to share with all of you! We definitely have some catching up to do…

To start, I wanted to share an activity from our Thanksgiving unit. Before starting any unit, I always like to use a KWL chart of some kind, just so I can get a grasp on what the kiddos already know. The kids also really love this time, because they get to show off all their smarts! Here's our KWL chart for our Thanksgiving unit..

This picture was taken towards the beginning of our unit…hence the lack of information in 2 of the sections. My kids loved referring to this chart during all of our writing activities, and it was helpful for keeping track of all we have learned!

Before the holiday break, we also got to get together as a school to celebrate our recent success. Our test scores last year brought my school up a letter grade in our state-wide rating system. Needless to say, we were proud of our students and excited to share the news! What better way to do so than with a balloon launch!

Clearly, the weather was horrid. But that didn't stop our fun! I wish I could share pictures of my kids faces when they saw all the balloons in the sky. Precious ya'll. I wish I could re-live it again just so I could catch it on video. 

Now, we are heading full blast into all things Christmas, and I couldn't be more excited! Unfortunately, Thanksgiving landed a little too late in November this year, and we only have 2 and a half more weeks until we are off again for Christmas! 

Imagine the horror when I realized I wouldn't have enough time to devote a whole WEEK to our gingerbread unit. 

*GASP* Say it ain't so! 

Seriously though…I am struggling to squeeze in all the wonderful literature and activities I had planned. I wish I could just add another hour {or two} to the school day. 

With no time to waste, my cuties and I have been working over time to fit in all the fun! Our latest project was making text-to-self connections. We started out by reading The Snowglobe Family by Jane O'Conner. If you haven't read this yet….what are you waiting for?! It's a precious book with so much potential for so many skills! After comparing/ contrasting the characters in the story and discussing point of view, we made a little craft about what we would do if we lived in a snow globe. I used this activity last year but decided it needed a little something special this year…

TA DA!

Holy cuteness. I was so excited when I saw how these turned out, that I completely forgot to take pictures of their writing. Shame on me!! 

To make this activity I took a picture of all my kids, printed and cut them out. Then we laid out contact paper and placed the pictures, snow globe outline, and snow on the back. After that we folded the remaining contact paper over and…VOILA! 

We are now preparing to celebrate gingerbread day tomorrow! The time crunch forced me to condense a whole week's worth of activities into one day, but I have faith we will get it all done! If anything, we will definitely be enjoying some delicious cookies…

If you're looking for new word work or Christmas activities, stop by my store! I will be back soon to give more details about the recent products I've posted.

I hope you all have a wonderful, stress-free, and happy week! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!

Happy teaching!