Five for Friday: Winter Minions, Hanukkah, & Directed Drawing

I saw this quote this week and I loved it! So true!

This was something I found on Pinterest and I will definitely be searching for more. It was a directed drawing with a reindeer. I always post a sample on the board for the kids to use as a model while they are working so I thought this would really be a challenge. However, I was just tickled with the variety they made =) We read "Who'll Pull Santa's Sleigh Tonight?" to tie it all in.

So, I told you that I don't like coming back from break with the previous holiday still up so we made Winter Minions to decorate our wall. The kiddos wrote about the 'MINION of reasons we love Winter!'.

 

Lots of informational text and fictional stories about Hanukkah this week as we read about the holiday. I had some old wall paper books that they cut up to make their candles on the menorah. I was able to find a cute snack to make as a dreidel because who doesn't love a snack when learning?! LOL! Kiddos put frosting around their marshmallow before rolling in sprinkles. They added a pretzel and a Hershey kiss to top it off. It was a hit and they were begging for more!

This was my own creation because I really couldn't find anything to go with this book and I love Mrs. Wishy Washy!! We talked about the elements of the story and then made the bath tub to display our work =) I enjoyed reading their connections to the story. Hilarious!

 I would hide in the barn.

 I would run to my grandma's.

I would run away to the farm. 

 I would go to Mexico. (LOL)

I'm sure many of you will be having lots of holiday gatherings coming up and this was a fun game my sons and nieces played together that I thought I would share. It is similar to the HEADBANDZ game where you have to guess the word. They downloaded the app "Charades! Kids" and then you put the word on your forehead for the others to guess. Lots of squeals and laughs with this one!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Five for Friday: Is it Christmas Break Yet?!!

haha!!! December is definitely one of the most challenging months of the year for me =)

My kids all kept asking what anchor chart we were going next since we were done with the turkey. I had all of my holiday write the room cards out and just started creating after we were listening to Christmas music with the crackling of a fire. I started with the bricks and then added the mantle before I even decided to start grouping the words. The kids started calling out words that they wanted to be spelled and I began categorizing them. I couldn't believe the difference in their writing when they had the opportunity to use this all week. It was amazing! I will keep it up until break.

The first day back from break was so great. I had the music quietly playing, they were writing, and everyone was on task. Then reality set in on Tuesday when everything was back to normal. LOL!

Speaking of baking....this little one woke up extremely early and asked to bake cookies before school. You can see the large smile on his face (and the blackness of the morning in the windows)...hahahaha. He took some of our snickerdoodles to share with this friends so all was good!

Well.....it happened...my treadmill has died and I was extremely sad as I am on this every morning for an hour while watching my soap. I was telling my husband that it seemed to have a real bounce to it lately. You can imagine my surprise when I hear him calling me to come take a look. He lifted up the belt to expose the board that is broken and cracked all the way across. Luckily, it was cyber Monday! Merry Christmas to me! I explained that he could pay for therapy for me or replace it as it would be like not having a vehicle for me. For real! On the down side, the new one doesn't arrive for two weeks. EEEEKK! 

We've been reading all kinds of reindeer books this week and the kids made their own along with a writing activity!

Update on the punch cards....I am still in love with them! I created and added new components over the holiday break so the kids were a little surprised to see the different template this week. These were great to show at conferences and it gives me affirmation that I am covering all of my standards. I also love that I conference with each kiddo in the morning to see their understanding of the material.

Have a great day!

Five for Friday: Bring on December!

It has been a very long week and I just cannot manage to stay up past 9 p.m. It's that feeling of exhaustion that you made it through the week and a long weekend is ahead =) Only three more weeks and then we get a nice long break. I can hardly wait!!

We finished up with all of our Thanksgiving projects this week with some writing prompts, creative turkeys, and the Mayflower ship.  I love letting the kids do crafts to help improve their fine motor skills but we sure have sailed through our supplies of crayons and glues very quickly. I foresee some donations being needed after Christmas break.

Our Thanksgiving in our new home was a success! I love hosting and filling our home with family and friends. It's the feeling of the 'house' turning into our 'home' with love and laughter. We managed to fit us all at one table and plenty of food for everyone. I'm so thankful to have the family that I do =)

My turkey cheese platter =)

My favorite little turkey celebrating her first Thanksgiving!

We stopped at a local farm and they had this cute centerpiece in their store. It was very pricey so we decided to replicate it. It smells so yummy and added some nice decor to the serving table.

We are note big turkey people in this house so our main dish was chicken cordon bleus that I made. They were a hit!

The view from the landing but I got almost everyone in!

I don't know about you but I hate returning from break and seeing all of the decor we have to take down so we prepped our room with some Santa mobiles to hang from our ceiling and we put up our December write the room activities too. All of the turkeys went home. 

Our new home has a two story great room so our little six foot Christmas tree looked a little silly. I found a 12 foot tree at Home Depot online with a coupon. Wooohoo! It was a little time consuming to put up so it may stay that way for a while. LOL! I love my little helpers. Don't you like the swim top on the little one? He dresses himself and I can't argue on the weekends =)

I have been looking to get a new laptop and have been waiting for the iPad pro to come out. I really love the large screen and the fact that I can do my PowerPoint on it. I was a little frustrated that I couldn't get all of my clipart on it and was planning on returning it until I read this blog about using an ixpand on apple products. It has a USB on one end with a lightning adapter on the other. I have been spending the past couple of days transferring pics over on it. It works great!!

Enjoy the long holiday weekend!