Polar Express Pajama Day!

Did you think I disappeared?! It sure has felt like it this week. I haven't looked at a single teacher blog in a few days, including my own! This is a weird record for me! I'm addicted to blog hoppin! So what happened?? I'll tell ya... Sickness and Christmas! I have had a HORRIBLE sinus thing which made my asthma go crazy so I cough a bunch, plus it was the week before holiday break. I never caught up from the 2 sick days I took off last week thanks to a mean old stomach bug. Either way, it's been an exciting week! Now I'm OFFICIALLY ON HOLIDAY BREAK FOR 2 WEEKS!!!!

So today was Polar Express PJ Day in Lower El. My staff forgot my tradition and asked if A) I spent the night at school or B) Didn't feel the need to shower and get dressed this morning. I quickly informed them my day would be so much better than theirs because I got to hang out in my PJs, drink cocoa, and have Christmas in the classroom all day!

The best thing about PJ Day is my secret present every year... My mom and I sew brand new PJs for each kid in the class. This year I have all adorable boys, so they got matching jammies this year! Super cute!! I should have gotten a close up of the pants. They have super cute little snowmen wearing scarves. Have I mentioned how much it kills me to cover their adorable smiles!! I'm pretty sure the parents sign release forms for photos, but I think it's only for the official school site, so I feel weird putting kid faces out there for everyone.

One little guy was TERRIFIED of the Polar Express! He was plugging his ears and begging me to "fast forward 3 minutes!!!" I had him sit on my lap (the wonders of a private school where I won't get sued for loving my little gems) and whispered in his ear that the whole movie is about the magic of Santa and there is no way anything bad would happen on a magical train ride to meet Santa. By the middle of the movie he was telling me our classroom was the Polar Express and we were having a magical journey!

We also had our holiday singing thing. Does it have a real name? I dunno actually! All I know is my class sang Rudolph and Up On The Housetop. And by "we" I mean all but one little guy. I teach kids with disabilities, and do you know what happens when you put one in a crowd and step just slightly out of sight... a crying fit! One little guy was positively sobbing! I had to rock him in my lap while a counselor took pics of the rest of my kids singing. They were super cute, but sadly I didn't think much about it because I felt so bad for my little guy who was so upset.  It's quite a challenge to quietly sooth my little guys in an insanely crowded room full of parents and students. Thankfully he calmed down. I got to meet his extended family who were in town for the holidays and they were all raving about how much better he is doing since I've been his teacher. They've seen an incredible difference in his ability to talk to them and share things compared to the gibberish he spoke when I met him this summer. He literally could not form a sentence, and now he's cracking jokes. Love it!

My kids and their parents spoiled me rotten this year! I might have the most amazing group of parents and kids this year than any other year since I've been a teacher. They have been so patient and understanding despite the constant chaos in my room. Teaching 3 grades at once, with gigantic ranges in both academic and social skills has been a challenge to say the least. This is by far the biggest academic/social range I've ever had. Every parent is very grateful, thoughtful, and understanding as I'm doing everything I can to teach each of their super diverse kids.

This is one of my awesome gifts from a parent! She made me an adorable crochet purse in my favorite color! She might be the most talented crafty person I've ever met. You should see some of the other amazing things she's made!

Here is the finished product of our snowman presents the kids made for their parents. I got the adorable boxes at Michael's for 50 cents each, maybe less with the teacher discount actually. 

This week I also got an email from a parent of a child no longer at my school. The mom was telling me how she was thinking about me and misses having her son in my class. So sweet!

Snowman Parent Present

Hey bloggers! I went back to school after 1 1/2 days out sick. Honestly, I probably should have stayed home, but the nightmare of doing sub plans from home made me come in. It went fairly well as I kept cough drops and a tissue box in the middle of our table. What are the odds that I'm perfectly healthy for our field trip tomorrow?!

A mom came to check out my class and see her son in action. By the time she left she shook her head and laughed, "If I had your job, I'd call in sick 365 days a year! I don't know how you do it! FIVE of these boys ALL DAY!" She stayed for story time, and me teaching 2 things at once math time (coins to kinder, double digit add/subtract to 1st/2nd). The wonders of K-2 sped...

Today we started making our snowman crafts for the parent presents. You can find my original post about how to make them here. Thanks to the fabulous art teacher at our school, I discovered the wonderfulness of Model Magic by Crayola. This playdoh is sooo much better than the one I made from my recipe. Plus it was on sale at Michael's this week, and with my teacher discount it was only $14 for a 2 lb. tub instead of $20ish.

The art teacher said it won't crack when it dries like the other one did. My head fell off of the sample snowman I made for the kids! Oops! Not a headless Frosty!!! Take a peek at how the kids did! We'll paint them once they're dry.

Today I also started a speech jar. I have one little guy with HORRIBLE speech. He has a medical condition that caused it, but we're trying are darndest to correct it. He's totally getting better, but it's not without a lot of prompting. My other kinder boy is also struggling a tad bit too, so the speech teacher and I decided to start a speech jar. I often hear, "I fink" "I'm firsty" and "I have free cards." All of which should have had /th/ instead of /f/. I got the idea from Simply Speech.

Here's what my jar looks like. It says "spotted using good speech" but you can't really read it in the picture thanks to the curve of the tub I used. It's actually a soup container from Safeway. I put a marble in if I catch them (or they catch themselves) using a speech sound correctly. I take one out if I catch them using it wrong. I suddenly had a ton of "thank you's" today! Previously known as "fank you!" Whatever works :)

I'm off to get some more rest before tomorrow's trip! Ta Ta For Now!

Sleigh Full of Goodies *Freebie + Crafts!*

Happy Holidays Friends!!!

I have to start off by saying how adorable my class was today! We had Gingerbread Week last week and one of the boys brought the whole class gingerbread men at snack time today. The kids instantly started running around singing "Run, run, fast as you can, can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!!!" Then they turned it into a game of gingerbread tag. Super creative and so darn cute to watch!


So it's my turn on the fabulous Sleigh Full of Goodies bloghop! Thanks a bunch to Beth from Thinking of Teaching for starting this!

I LOVE the holidays! There are so many things to learn, so many projects to make, and just plain cheerful excitement! I seem to have an endless supply of holiday crafts, but I like to rotate them. I teach K-2, so I can't do the same thing every year when my students loop with me for 2-3 years. This means, I have lots to share with you!

Ok, so in signing up for this amazing little blog hop, I realized some of you are at very scrooge-like schools that ban Christmas. So you are getting snowmen! Plus, a goofy little Santa craft I made up just because. So you'll find 2 snowmen crafts, 1 Santa craft, and a snowman freebie as you happily read along.

Snowman Craft 1: (starting simple)

 This little gem was created several years ago, so forgive the smushy face. It should be much fluffier when you have it freshly made! All you do is cut out a circle out of something stiff (tag board, cardboard, or in my case the side of a cereal box). Hole punch two holes in top for the string before it gets all gluey. Then pull apart some cotton balls to stretch them out and glue them on to the cardboard. The face is made out of hole punches from black construction paper, and a scrap of orange paper.

Snowman Craft 2:

Forgive the cracks, I'm working on a different clay type

This adorable little clay snowman is going to be the parent gift this year! I'm super excited about my little idea because it covers the kids with families that do not celebrate Christmas. So I'm deciding if I'm going to use this clay recipe, or find something else like the clay you bake in the oven after the craft is made. Please share awesome clay you can make or buy if you know of one that doesn't crack! My snowman slowly started forming a bunch of cracks as it dried, although I'll be honest, I did transport it to work before it was dry. The kids saw my project and are begging to make one, and they said they didn't care about the cracks. So we'll see. I've included step by step photo instructions below! NOTE: I've discovered Model Magic by Crayola is great for this!! Skip the dough recipe below and use that instead!!

1) First I made the clay/dough using this recipe and cooked it until it looked like mashed potatoes. I love that it's perfect "snow white" color. Then I let it cool.

 2) Next make three balls (small, medium, large)

 3) Make 2 tiny balls (smaller than the head). Squish one flat, and push the other down just a little. These will make the hat.

 4) Stack the first 3 balls together to form the snowman. I used a toothpick down the middle so it will stay together once the clay dries in case the clay pieces don't stick together all the way.

 5) Put the 2 flattened pieces on to form the hat. I also used a cut toothpick to secure it (poke it in the head, then put the hat on top). Yes I know I'm really technical, poking poor frosty in the head!

 6) Stab in 2 toothpicks for arms (or sticks from outside work too) Then tie a little bow. The bow can wait until it's dry, but I was rushing the process for this little sample to show you/my class.

7) When the snowman is all dry, draw the face and buttons with sharpie markers. The hat can be painted with tempera paint.

Santa Craft- Just Because!

 This craft is easy-peasy! 

1. Cut an ivory circle
2. Cut a triangle shaped hat (I did this free-hand) 
3. Add some wiggle eyes and draw the face
4. Thumb print some white tempera paint for the beard. This works best if you do one layer, let it dry for a while, then add another layer. It can be done with cotton balls too, but I was trying something new today. 

Now time for your FREEBIE!!

This 8-page story can be printed using 2 pieces of paper. Here is the printing instructions for making it double-sided:

•Print pages double sided

•Cut pages in half

•Put the top pile on top of the bottom pile

•Staple together

Click the  image to get this *freebie* from my TPT store!  

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Don't forget to keep blog hopping! Look who's next! These are just the next few days! There are 12 days of goodies heading your way!

 The Flying Teacher
Teaching My 3

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