Holiday Fun and a Freebie

There are just too many cute projects out there! I can't fit in everything I want to do! This week we made ourselves into reindeer and applied for a job pulling Santa's sleigh. I believe I got this last year from the girls over at What the Teacher Wants but let me know if I am wrong so I can give credit properly.

Love how she kept her hair bow in.

This one cracked me up! I assume "I run God" was not the intention.

Aren't they adorable?! I am a sucker for any project that uses their picture. I read this story with it which puts a modern spin on trying to win a position on the team.

 We also did a project that I saved since last year when I saw it on Cara's terrific site The First Grade Parade. After reading Santa's Stuck, as suggested by Cara, we made these.

 I recreated what Cara had done with one change. For the snow on the chimney we painted with equal parts shaving cream and white glue. I held mine up while it was still wet and purposefully let it drip down a little to simulate icicles. The kids were amazed how it dried puffy.

To say thank you for all the wonderful ideas I get from you all, here is another FREEBIE  for you.
 Click HERE to get a FREE copy of this Holiday Syllable Sort I plan to use this week.

This week is going to be cra-zy! In addition to our class party on Friday, we have 2 singalongs {we can't fit the whole school in the auditorium at the same time} and the whole staff gets up on stage and sings as reindeer dressed in a different theme every year. This year is PJ reindeer which I am pretty darn excited about.  I love to read comments so let me know what fun things your school does this week.

Menorah Making Ten Freebie

"Do you have any Hanukkah math games, Mrs. Bates?" I didn't.  We read some stories and play with dreidels at our holiday party but I had no math games in my tubs. So I whipped up this concentration game that practicing making 10. I am amazed when I tutor older children who still need to count up instead of knowing the parts of ten so I try to give my firsties lots of practice.

My active boys were surprisingly engaged by having to try to remember where the cards were. It made me wonder how many of my students have never played memory/concentration before. I always forget that not every parent takes the time to play these types of games with young children.

If you are worried about the game being too quick, simply print out 2 copies to make it last longer. My kids were happy to keep starting over, keeping track of who had won more rounds.

Click on the picture or HERE to go download this FREEBIE.  I'd love you to leave feedback if you like it.

And the 12 winners are....

Congrats to the following 12 Blogiversary Giveaway winners!

Send me your email and what item you would like and I'll send it right over. :-)

Blogiversary Giveaway Last Day & photos

Don't forget to enter my Blogiversary Giveaway by midnight tonight to be one of 12 winners to choose any item from my store. Have you had your eye on...

See my original post HERE to enter.

I unloaded my camera last night and realized I had never posted these cute Thanksgiving pics.

Pretending we are pilgrims.

Yes, this artist is Asian. Love it!

The bland colors really bothered his sense of style.

"..because you can only speak if spoken to." acting this out was the best part of my day!

 I do the turkey disguise project every year as homework.

The turkey is behind there.

Okay, thanks for going back to Thanksgiving with me. I promise my next post will be in the current holiday.

Student-Made Holiday Gifts Linky Party

Do you have a terrific idea for a holiday gift your students can make for their parents? Or perhaps could you use some new ideas? Let's have a linky party to share!!

Last year, I made handprint calendars I adapted from Little Giraffe's.  This picture is from that site because unfortunately I have none since my laptop failure. I found an alternative to the Santa poem/picture for my students that didn't celebrate Christmas. This is a great project but it is takes time and organization. I started in September and still barely got it done! I remember staying late one night to bind all 30 calendars and thinking that maybe I should look for a project that took less of my time.

I'd love to make these that I've seen around quite a bit. This picture is from A Little Bit Funky

but each year I have a couple Jewish students so I don't feel like ornaments are the best choice.

I found a similar idea on Eighteen25 that I am thinking of trying this year. Adding ribbon to make it an ornament could be optional.

What ideas have you seen? Come on fellow Pinterest enthusiasts, here is your chance to share all those great ideas you have collected!

Join in my Student-Made Holiday Gifts Linky Party by linking up below!
If you are new to linky parties, you may want to read my post on linky party etiquette first.

You can link to a post on your blog or let's try something new and link to your Pinterest board?! I'd love to find some new Pinterest friends to follow :-)

Don't forget to enter my Blogiversary Giveaway if you'd like to be 1 of the 12 winners to pick any item from my TpT store. Click HERE to enter.