Best and Brightest Linky Party

It's time for a New Year's Linky Party!  Time to celebrate 2012's best and brightest blog achievements!!  Click below to link up with Christina from Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge.

Most Popular Post and Freebie: 

I Heard Mr. Turkey Say, "Gobble, gobble, gobble...time for a Thanksgiving freebie!"

I think everyone liked the turkey feather template!!!

Most Loved by Me Post: 

Panda Bears, Polar Bears, and Grizzly Bears, Oh My!

The reason I like this post the most is because of the creativity of my kids!  They make me laugh!!!  Check it out for a chuckle!

Products I am most proud of:

Here is my little Remembrance Day product for helping your little ones learn to get along and resolve problems in 5 easy steps.

This is my packet of 10 math centers for learning about the equal sign!  My kiddos had such a blast playing these games.

Last, but not least, is my beginning of the year back to school packet!  This is such an important time of year and I hope you find that the activities match!

My Favourite Blogs:

Reagan Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits is one of my favourite blogs.  She is so creative, inspiring, and generous.  Her ideas keep me going and excited about trying them at school!

Cara Carroll's The First Grade Parade is such a work of art and love.  Her ideas are wonderful, teacher friendly, and most important, kid friendly!  

Happy New Year blogging friends!  All the best for 2013!!  My lucky number is 13 so I am sending out peace and positive thoughts for many blessings on you all!

Reindeer Food, Grinch Day, and Our Christmas Concert

So I got this as a freebie from Reagan Tunstall again over at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits!!  LOVE!!  First, we read the recipe and I made one baggy of reindeer food as an example.  The kids helped me write and sound out the directions.

While the kiddos were writing out their own instructions...

...two at a time were coming up to the reindeer food making station.  The quiet workers got to go first!! This provided real incentive!

 

The kids loved this activity and a few even tried the reindeer food themselves!!!

 

The next day was Grinch Day!  Here is our HEALTHY Grinch Day food!!!  No sugary treats on Grinch Day for us!!  And oddly enough, my kids LOVED it, were quite content with fruit and veggies and there was no sugar crash!!!  LOVE!!!!   Also, check out the cute veggie Christmas tree!!!

Here is my Grinch Day hairdo - not sure if you can see the little mini hat I found that I saved from a Christmas planter from last year.  I'm sure it looked better in person though!!! :$  You can't tell but there is an empty toilet roll hidden under some of my hair! Ha!

Here is my little crew practicing with their maracas for the Christmas concert.  We sang a lullaby and The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy reggae style!  They were amazing.  It is so incredible what 6 year olds can do when you give them the reins.  I told them to line up from tallest to smallest and get into their lines on stage.  They did it every time with very little direction from me!!  So capable and smart!!!

Afterwards, we had hot chocolate and cookies and I caught them all toasting each other!!!  SO  CUTE!!

Merry Christmas friends!!  May peace and joy be yours this Christmas!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland of Sounds...and a Freebie

I always kind of dread the change from warm to cold.  Then I start to adjust and I love the cool nights for sleeping.  Eventually, I remember how I love to ski and I CAN'T wait!!  Here is a little winter wonderland for you to enjoy!

I thought I would make a weeks worth of word work for my muffins focusing on word families.  I came up with a little booklet.  Each child gets a word family to work on.  They pick sounds from the Sound Garden, crossing them out as they test to see which letter sounds at the beginning will create words!  It took a few days but now my sweethearts are right into it, creating word families left, right and center!!  So proud!!!

Check out my little booklet as well as a second booklet focusing on beginning blends!  The Sound Garden is still there - just with different sounds to choose from!

Also, this week, I had to sneak in this activity last minute - I realized I was in charge of decorating a window in the hall that leads to the gym where our Christmas concert will be held.  Thank goodness I had it prepared - it worked out quite nicely - I worked with half the class while the other half were making Christmas present crafts with some creative parents!  We started by reading The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg.

Then, we used a Q-tip and white glue to trace and glitter "esus".

Next, we added a candy cane made from pipe cleaners as the "J" in Jesus!

I cut them out and put them up surrounding the poem below.  Click below for this little freebie template and The Legend of the Candy Cane poem!  

Happy week before Christmas blogging friends!!!  May you stay healthy and sane:)!