Christmas Door & Hallway Decorating

This year for our classroom door decoration I went with something simple.  In our religion book, there was a lesson on the meaning behind the Advent Wreath. 

I decided to have the children make a wreath for the door and one for over the window in the hallway.  There other first grade class made one too.  We wrote, Silent Night Holy Night on them. 

Both first grade classes made these cute candles I found on Pinterest as well.  It added to our Religion lesson and bible quote, Jesus is the Light of the World. 

 

Two in One Art Project

I am a little late posting this idea, however it was a cute idea.  The original idea was posted by Kristin on her blog, A day in first grade.  She had her students make this cute art project.  

A day in first grade

I loved the simple tissue paper trees.  So I decided to change it a bit.  I have a large class this year and I knew that 24 of these paintings would not fit on my bulletin board.  So I had each child fill in one white construction paper worth of tissue paper.  Then we cut them into large triangles.  We created a class mural.

I thought it turned out great.  I stapled cotton balls onto the bulletin board for snow.

Then we used the scraps from the tree project to cut smaller triangles and we added white sticky tape for snow.  We punched snowflakes and stars for more embellishment.    

We created cards for our 4th grade reading buddies.

Each student wrote a message inside their card and drew a picture.

I added a candy cane for a special treat and put them in baggies so it would be easier for the children to pass out.  

There you go, two projects from one piece of contruction paper and tissue paper.  

Merry Christmas

Can you tell from my family picture that I am a mother of three boys and one girl?  Most families have a movie night together; we have the Packer game together.  Several times throughout the season we get together for Packer parties.  Even the girls in the family know a lot about football.

Merry Christmas

Last Minute Fun Christmas Idea

I found this fun activity to do on the ipad for the last day before Christmas break.  I took a picture of each child and cropped it and put it into the elfyourself app.   You can only make five elves in a video so I had to make five.  

Then the app makes a hilarious musical video of dancing elves with the children’s faces. 

I know my first graders will love this.  Here is a picture that appears at the end. 

I wanted to show it on the smart board however the app would not work on the smart board when I emailed it to myself.  So I will have to show it on the iPad.  

Two More Poems for Christmas

I feel as though I say this each week but I just do not know where the time goes.  Each week I have I promise myself I will blog some of the great things my first grade class is doing and each week I just do not get to it. 

I love teaching first grade again. However it just takes every minute of my day to organize, prepare and find great ideas to teach each day. 

I have two poems for you this week because I did not get around to posting last week. 

Last week my class did the poem called SNOW SURPRISE.  It was perfect because it snowed two days and my little first graders were enjoying the snow at recess.

Click Here for a  Free Copy

 I also created a homework page for the children to follow up with at home.  

This week my first graders are going to read the poem,  SANTA’S ELF.  I have to be honest.  I changed the words a bit in Santa’s Elf to make it fit my phonics needs.  We are working on blends right now and I wanted my poem to have more blends.  This poem was called Myself and the Elf and I wanted it to be more Christmas, so I changed it.  I hope the author doesn't mind.

Click Here for a Free Copy

 I make a homework sheet each week.  

Happy Reading

Free Poem about Christmas Trees

Click Here for Your Free Copy

I am a bit behind this week.  I just can not keep up with everything going on at school and at home.  Last week my class did a poem about trees.   I structure all my poems the same.  I have a copy I introduce to the children on Monday.

We review all the basic skills that the children will encounter on the homework sheet and review rhyming and sight words.  I use lots of colorful highlighters.  Then the children illustrate the poem and put it in a 3 prong poetry notebook.

The children take the homework page home for review.  

I always put a copy in the poetry baskets for reading enjoyment in the reading center.  The kids are always surprised to find the poems in there.  I don't know why.  They love to read them to their 4th grade buddies.

Another Turkey Poem

This week I am sharing a poem with you that my new grade partner shared with me, Albuquerque Turkey. 

I introduced it to my students today and they loved it.  They thought the name was very funny.  Each group who game up to guided reading with the poem enjoyed every little bit of the word searches. 

ClickHere is you would like a free copy for your students. You actually get three things:  a student black and white copy for a poetry book, a color copy for your poetry basket and a homework page to practice phonics skills.

Happy Thanksgiving