Our Elf on the Shelf!

Hey everyone,
   Our classroom received a wonderful visitor a few weeks before Christmas break... an elf on the shelf. My students just loved her!  They thought of a bunch of great names for her, and after a class vote, they narrowed their choices down to two names- Jingle Bell and Bella.  The class was split right down the middle on these two names so a wonderful little boy in my class said "Why don't we just name her Jingle Bella so everybody is happy?"  My students all loved this idea, so we named her Jingle Bella.  The creativity of these kiddos never ceases to amaze me :).

Here are some pictures of Jingle Bella during her time in our classroom...






Day 1: Jingle Bella tied up our Dr. Seuss stuffed animals with Christmas lights.  :)  She also left suckers for each student at their seat.

Day 2: Jingle Bella decided to curl up in one of our book tubs and read some holiday books :).  She made a bit of a mess...

Day 3: Jingle Bella went shopping while she was at the North Pole and bought herself a cute little skirt.  

Day 4: Jingle Bella made a mess when she decided to zip-line down our skip counting number line.  There were numbers scattered all over the floor that she had knocked down as she zip-lined down the number line.  My students thought it was just hilarious! :)

Day 5: Jingle Bella got into our "Drops in the Bucket" and was giving the kids a drop (the one in her hands) for their great behavior the past few days!

Day 6: She was hanging out with some of the other stuffed animals in our classroom right above my desk.

Day 7: Jingle Bella was hiding in our tree.

Day 8: Jingle Bella decided to hang out in the lamp at the front of our classroom.

Day 9: She found a perfect place to watch all the students... sitting on top of our white board by the clock.

Day 10:  Jingle Bella found an elf friend on our board :).  My students thought this was so funny!

Day 11: Jingle Bella took a ride on one of our butterflies that hangs on our ceiling.

Day 12: Jingle Bella practiced her geography skills

Day 13: During our Christmas party, Jingle Bella sat on top of our easel holding some Christmas lights and watched all  the festivities. 

Day 14: Jingle Bella hung out on our mini Christmas tree.

Day 15: On Jingle Bella's last day in our classroom, she decided to swing on a lay attached to a lantern hanging in our room.  She wrote the students a sweet note and Santa was nice enough to lift her magic for a few minutes after we read the letter so the kids could give Jingle Bella a hug before they left for break.

My students had so much fun finding Jingle Bella each morning... and I had fun figuring out fun places to put her each night.  I can't wait to do this again next year.  Maybe by then I'll have figured out some more fun things our elf can do each day.

(I know this post is a little late but I couldn't find the cord my camera plugged into!)

Enjoy!

Something to put a smile on your face...

Hey everyone,

I just have to share this photo that I took last year!  My husband and I don't have any kids yet... for now our dogs are our children :).  So, of course I had to take a cute picture of them for a Christmas card... and here's how it turned out!  It makes me laugh every time I see it.

Paisley is Rudolph and Buck is Santa

They both look very mad, but you have to admit... They are pretty stinking cute! :)

Have a Merry Christmas!

Enjoy!

CUPS

Hey everyone,

     Recently I had the privilege of attending an amazing writing conference and I came out with so many great ideas to help my little writers!  Writing seems to be a big area of frustration for my kiddos and for me.  I love to write and always model what my students are going to be doing, and they seem to do okay with that part.  But... when it comes to cleaning up their writing... Oh man, it is a struggle.  They can never find anything they need to fix and when a friend reads over their work, the friend can find maybe one capitalization error but that's about it.  So... Here's my new favorite writing tool! CUPS!  I know this has probably been around forever and I am just now learning about it....

     In my classroom I am going to be dividing students up into groups of 4 when it is time to edit their work. Then, each student in the group will be given a job and they will have a "job description" card to remind them of their duties.  One student will look over each group members work and only focus on their spelling.  Another student will look over each group members work and only focus on punctuation... etc...  This way, students will be looking for specific things that need to be corrected rather than scanning everyones writing looking for anything to fix.

     So... Here is what I have made so far...

First- CUPS posters.  These cute posters explain each part of CUPS editing to the students.  It is a great way to introduce this idea to the kids and a great visual reminder for them.  I just love decorating things I make with +Melonheadz Illustrating clipart!  It makes it so much cuter!

You can click on any of the above pictures or click HERE to check out these posters in my TPT shop!

Next- I made student "job description" cards that match the posters.  These are the cards I will use when students are working in a group to edit their writing.  Each student in the group will get a card that will tell them what their job is.

Click on either of the above pictures or HERE to purchase these from my TPT shop!

Enjoy!

In Our Hearts...

Keeping the little angels and the brave teachers from Sandy Hook Elementary in our hearts, thoughts, and prayers.

Image from Melonheadz!

It's Funny... Because It's True!

Hey everyone!

I saw this over at the Realistic Teacher and thought it was just too funny not to share!  It's so funny because it's soooo true!  I can't even tell you how many times a situation very similar to this has happened in my classroom... and I'm sure many of you can relate!

Enjoy!

Comparing Native American Tribes- Updated!

Hey everyone!

I wanted to let you know that I have updated my Comparing Native American Tribes!  If you have purchased it in the past and cannot download the updated version, please let me know and I will be more than happy to send it to you!

I realized that not every class studies the same tribes we do.  So I have now included: the Navajo, Pueblo, Apache, and Cherokee tribes.  I've also included a page that is blank at the top so you can write in whatever tribes you study.

Click HERE to check it out! Or click on the picture below!

Here is an example of what is included on each page...

My second graders always love when we do our Native American unit.  They have so much fun learning about the tribes.  I always assign a tribe to each table group.  The students then learn all about their tribe, build an example of one of the houses their tribe lives in, decorate a cut out person to look like a tribe member, and etc.  They also do a poster that is divided into the sections found on the worksheet above.  Students will then share about their tribe and the class completes the worksheet as they learn all about each tribe from their classmates.  They love it!

Enjoy!

Pencil Sharpener Giveaway!

Hey everyone!

I have been dying for one of these amazing pencil sharpeners!  I have seen them all over other blogs and have heard so many great things about them.  Pencil sharpening is always an annoying task so anything that makes it more pleasant, I am all for! :)  I have entered every giveaway that I have found in hopes of winning one of these sharpeners but sadly :( I haven't won any yet.  But I'm not giving up :).  I have just entered another pencil sharpener giveaway over at Teaching With Love and Laughter!

Click HERE to enter this great giveaway!  

My fingers and toes are crossed!