A Little Elf Magic

Does one of Santa's magical little friends visit your classroom each year?  If not, you are missing out on some much needed sanity at this time of the year!  Our Elf on the Shelf, Elfie, made his appearance Monday when we came back from Thanksgiving break and my sweeties have been absolutely wonderful these past two days.  What's even more fun is that I've incorporated the Elf on the Shelf all in our learning this week using my Elf on the Shelf: Literacy and Math Activities.  I just realized how yucky my pics look.  I guess that's what happens when you leave your "real" camera at home and use your phone instead.  Sorry!

Syllable Sort

I held up the pictures and called on a student to name the picture and clap while saying the word to tell how many syllables the word had and then added it under the elf with that number.  They do the same for the recording sheet and color in the elves to show how many syllables are in the word.

Patterning

There are several different pattern cards.  On the back of each is a small envelope.  The cards to duplicate the pattern on top, extend the pattern in the middle, and create a pattern on the bottom are placed on the back of each card in the envelope.  On the recording sheet they cut and glue to extend the patterns.

Here's Elfie!  And yes I'm cheap like that!  We have a plush Elf on the Shelf that was $18 compared to the $30 ones.  There's my note from Santa and of course, he sent one to the boys and girls as well.  The middle pic is of our behavior forms Santa sent for me to fill out at the end of each day.  Elfie takes them to Santa at the North Pole each night so Santa knows if our class was good or bad that day. It's working!  We're 2 for 2 on the smilies.

Elf on the Shelf Craft

We're making these tomorrow.  Each one will have the same hair and eye color as the student who makes it.  Then we will do a little writing so Elfie can let Santa know what we want for Christmas.

Beginning Sounds

Students match the picture each elf is holding with the letter that it begins with.  For the recording sheet, I just have them turn over an elf card and say the picture name and write the beginning letter sound.

Counting Candy

Students count the candy on each card and match it to the elf with that number then record it in the correct spot on the recording sheet.

Number Sequencing

Students line the elves up in number order 1-10, 11-20, or 1-20. 

Count the Room/Write the Room

Students find the elves hiding in the room and record their answers on the recording sheets. 

If you need some Elf on the Shelf magic for your room, you can check it out here or by clicking the pic below.  It's on sale now for $5.20 plus you can get another 10% off by using the code CMT12.



{FREE} Let's Talk Turkeys! Craftivity

We've been gearing up for Turkey Day the last couple of days with a couple of craftivities.  Our first order of business was to make these sprawled out turkeys.  I think they turned out absolutely adorable but MERCY ME if you have a student that has a little difficulty following directions and you want to keep all of your hair, you may want to forego the turkey making process with that child.  Totally kidding (sort of)! 

We read some informational texts about turkeys and made a tree map.  I forgot to snap a pic of the tree map but we included things that turkeys are, can do, and have.  The students were able to supply words to complete each section based on what they had learned about turkeys from the texts we read.  We then used the tree map to fill in the blanks on our Turkey Talk writing page.  You can get this FREE packet here or by clicking on the pic below. 

We also made the little indian children that you can see in the display.  I tied these to math and we learned about pattern cores.  They glued their pattern core to their little headbands on their indians.  Then they extended the pattern on a sentence strip.  And NO the pattern strips are not beside the indian children that they go with (with the exception of the redheaded indian child).  We totally ran out of room on the wall and ended up sticking them up wherever there was room.  Can you believe they only get to stay up for another week and then it'll be time to deck the halls??? AHHH!  Where has the year gone?

Last Week's Literacy Centers

We had so much fun reading There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie last week.  The kiddos love The Old Lady books and this one was no different.  With the exception of the few kids who may have thought that perhaps it was going to be me that may die while I was reading the book.  Something nasty hit last week and left me without my voice and looking like I probably was on death's door so it's no wonder a few were a little teary as I croaked out the words to the story and sounded like somebody really was dying.  Seriously, I think they were REALLY worried the old lady was going to explode and die.  Their little eyes were as big as saucers.  I hope I haven't traumatized their sweet little selves.  Since she lived we were able to have lots of fun with her during literacy centers. 

                                                    Sequencing the Story with a Flow Map

Students worked on sequencing the story.  They cut out the pictures and glued them in order on the flow map. 

Save the Sight Words

Students had to help save the sight words from being eaten by the old lady by writing them in the correct places as fast as they could.

Alphabet Soup

In this center students worked on beginning sounds.  They turned over a card, named the picture and the sound they heard at the beginning, and colored in the pot with that letter on the recording sheet.

Where's the Old Lady?

This was a whole group game we played.  I hid the old lady card behind one of the pies.  The students took turns coming up and reading the sight words.  If they read the word correctly, they got to look behind the pie for the old lady.  They loved this and it made them want to learn those words! 



Congrats to Kelly and Kim!  You are the winners of the giveaway last week.  Your files have been sent to your email.

November Homework Sheet {Editable} FREEBIE and a Giveaway

To download the editable homework sheet for November, just click the pic below.  I love the ease and simplicity of keeping the same sheet throughout the month and just making quick changes each week.  I hope it helps some of you out as well.

Thank goodness for getting Election Day off!  I've gotten so much done.  Plus I think I'm (finally) getting my creative juices flowing again.  It's been quite awhile since I've posted any new products and I was able to finish up 2 with my time off so I'm going to do a quick giveaway.  Just leave a comment with your email and I'll choose 2 winners with rafflecopter sometime tomorrow afternoon.  Here's what you can win.

 I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie



Help Save the Turkeys! 

I'm Back!!! and an Editable Homework Sheet Freebie

It's been a long, long time friends but I'm so glad to be back!  I have lots of catching up to do but it's not all going to be today.  Hmmmm.... let's see school started.  Yeh, I know-- about 6 weeks ago but it's still worthy of being mentioned.  I have the sweetest little (if you call 24 little) class of 4K and 5K students this year plus one 3K student.  They are so energetic and know how to keep me on my toes.  Throw Common Core implementation and a new reading series into the mix and you can see how one could totally abandon their blog for almost 2 months.  Couldn't you???  I do have a teensy, weensy freebie for you that maybe some of you can use.  After weeks of typing my homework sheet at home and emailing it to myself so I could print it off at school and forgetting to email it to myself and having to make an "ugly" one at the last minute, I finally got smart and made an editable one for the month.  That way I just have to type in all the little details I want included for that week and print it off.  It's easy, peasy and cute to boot!  At least I think so.  I'm going to make one for every month and will post them at the beginning of each month.   You can click on the picture to take you to my TPT store to download for free.   

Back to School Sale and Wishlist Wonders

TPT is having a Back to School Sale starting Sunday, August 12th and ending on Monday, August 13th.  Everything in my store will be 20% off.  Combine that with the 10% TPT is offering off by using code BTS12 and you can save 28%.  I've already added tons to my wishlist and I'm sure I'll be adding lots more.  Here are a few of my favorite finds that I just have to have! 


I had seen Caitlin's A to Z Letters for Bulletin Boards or Banners packet and fell in love with the way she used it for her word wall.

The only problem was that the colors wouldn't match my classroom:(  You don't know how excited I was to find out she was making a primary colored set.  She already has it made and posted for those of you that need primary colors.  You can find it here. 

And just look at these cutie patooties!

I love everything Teri from A Cupcake for the Teacher makes.  I'm pretty sure she has more creativity in her pinky toe than I have in my whole body.  Ughh!  Makes me jelly! But I still love her stuff lots!  Especially these little All About Me craftivities.  They will be so cute to start back the school year with.  Just click on the pic to find them in her TPT store.


  

I can't wait to get my hands on some of Krissy Miner's things either.  Her things are always so cute and functional.

Her 1st Day of Kindergarten packet looks AMAZING and will be a wonderful time saver and stress reliever for teachers trying to plan the 1st day of kindergarten.

She has also bundled her Stamping Centers and they are a GREAT deal!  This bundle will save you lots of money and time.  Just click on the pic below to check them out at her TPT store.

I love Donna Glynn's things.  Her stuff was some of the first TPT items I ever used and they're always awesome.  Her Back to School Kissing Hand packet is filled with activities and centers to start off the school year.  

I can't wait to purchase all these great items! Let's hope I can wait until the sale starts.  Patience is not my forte. 

Where Have I Been?

Well, sweet friends, it has been a LONG time.  I didn't plan on being an absentee blogger for the past few weeks but that's what happened.  Here's a quick recap of what I've been up to these past weeks.  We went on vacation to the most magical place on earth, Disney World and I'm just going to tell you it's not that magical in 90 plus Florida weather and lots and lots of people you don't know surrounding you at all times.  No really .... despite the temps and crowds we did have a great time!  Here's a couple of pics of my sweet girls from our trip.

While on vacay I noticed my face swelling a little.  I could especially tell when I looked at pics that one side was bigger than the other so last week was filled with visits to the dentist and oral surgeon. I am a tee-total WEENY when it comes to dentists.   I do NOT like them at all!  And the absolute worst thing that could ever happen at the dentist happened.... I didn't get all the way numb and they started working on doing a bone graft on my jawbone (with cadaver bone... Is that not the grossest thing ever?).  I know you other dentist haters are gasping out loud with me here.  To say I was traumatized would be an understatement. 

I have been able to work in my classroom a few days but don't have pics to share yet.  I changed my classroom theme yet again (Do you think I might be indecisive?) so I'll give you a tour with the theme I went with soon.  It's super duper cute and I LOVE it!  There's still a few things to be done but I plan on enjoying my last few days of summer break and waiting until I go back next Monday to get those things finished up.  Who else is going back Monday??? Where did summer go?

The Magical Product Swap

Oh my! I just got on the computer for the day and my post didn't post.  Why?  Because this gal scheduled it for tomorrow.  Ugh!  Sorry!  I hate to be late so this has me in a tizz! So without further ado, here's my post- only 10 hours late.

Jessica from Mrs. Stanford's Class had this great idea to pair bloggers up to swap products and do a review of the other blogger's product.  I was paired with Karen Stamp from Mrs. Stamp's Kindergarten.  We do take home reading each so I was excited to get to review her RAH! RAH! Read at Home packet.  Everything you need to track progress and motivate students to read each night is included and it's super duper easy to keep track of everything without taking away extra time from you--which is so important for all of us teachers. 

There is a RAH! RAH! Read at Home!! individual student recording sheet for each month that is sent home with students for the corresponding month. A parent letter is also included in her direction section so parents know exactly what to do to help out their child. Students color in a row for every 20 minutes of at home reading.  **I didn't see that Karen had already added the 's at the top until after I wrote my name so kindly ignore that.  I love the little cheerleader graphics she's included.

At the end of each month you see how many students met their goals and color in that many rows on the RAH! RAH! Read at Home!! class goal chart.  She has included 5 different charts that vary according to the number of students you have in your class all the way up to 30.   I really hope no one has more than 30 students.  I don't know what I'd do with more than 30 little sweeties everyday.  Karen color codes her class chart by coloring in each month with a different color.  I think that's a great idea so students can easily distinguish between month to month when looking at the chart.  Great way to tie in some math standards too!

I can't wait to incorporate this into my take home reading program this upcoming school year.  Don't forget to stop by and visit Karen at her blog and her TPT store. 

 

Congrats and a Flash Sale

Hey friends!  I have a winner for the 500 Fabulous Followers Giveaway Galore. 

Congratulations to Sara Hatch!  Check your email if you haven't already Sara!  You should have lots of goodies waiting for you.  A huge thanks to everyone that donated items for the giveaway.

Also, I'm having a flash sale at my TPT store to help celebrate my birthday today.  The more you buy the happier my birthday is!  Hehe!!  Totally kidding friends!  I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!  I'm off to celebrate!

More of My Candy Theme

Hey ya'll!  Besides finding the candy theme plates and cupcake liners at Hobby Lobby awhile back, I have not had any luck finding anything to go with my candy theme.  So today I got busy and made my behavior chart for next year.  Last year we "floated boats".  This year we'll just move our little gumball machines.  I don't have a cute rhyme for it. :(  Sorry about the picture being blurry.  I had to use my phone to take it.  And I don't know what's up with the black edge. 

Everyone will start the day out with their gumball machine on green (and hopefully stay there).  Don't I wish?!?  Yellow's a warning.  Orange loses some recess time.  Red is a note home.  This doesn't happen very often.  Thank goodness.  Knocking on wood now after writing that.  I thought about adding blue and purple for them to move up to for random acts of kindess and such but I'm not sure that my 4s and 5s won't get confused by that. Do any of you that teach K use those clipcharts that move up as well with your kiddos?  If so does it work well with them?  

Here's a closeup of their little gumball machines glued onto clothespins.  They were not fun to cut out.  I didn't even attempt to cut around that little blue star at the top.  I would've chopped it right off!  My hand is just not that steady.

I'm heading downstairs to watch the DVR.  I'm thinking lots of Toddlers and Tiaras were recording earlier today plus a new one I believe. I don't know why but I love watching it.  Maybe it makes me feel like a really, really, really sane mom after watching some of the moms on there.  I will however not be watching Real World tonight.  Nor did I get to watch the full episode of Teen Mom last night! I'm one of those lucky DirecTv customers that has lost MTV while this whole Viacom situation goes on and I'm NOT happy about it!