Friday Freebie

So I meant to post this awhile ago, but I completely forgot about it. While I was planning for the time I was going to be out, I had trouble figuring out our science and social studies activities. We don't have a real curriculum to use to carry out our standards. We get Science and Social Studies Weeklies to use. They are pretty good but they need a lot of supplementing. I decided to work on animals some while I was going to be out. They kids love animals and we've already started talking about them. But they needed something to do, so I whipped up this little tree map and writing activity for them to do. I thought maybe you could use it. The clipart is from the 3 AM teacher. This was the first time I've ever planned for three weeks at a time. I think that might be the way to go as long as I'm not writing sub plans. It was difficult writing all those sub plans. I'm all ready for next week. I didn't think I'd have the energy today to do any planning. I figured just being at school was all I could handle.
 Next week when I get back to school, we're going to start a geography and map unit to get ready for Christmas around the world the last two weeks before school starts. Anyway, I thought I would share this activity. If you can use it, please consider leaving me a comment and following me. Thanks.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Since I've been out recovering from knee surgery, I've spent way too much time online, specifically pinterest. That website is so addictive. I have found some fantastic Christmas ideas for the classroom and home. I thought I would share a few pins that I think would be fantastic for our class party. Maybe you'll get a few ideas for your holiday festivities.
This first one is a snack that I think the kids would enjoy making themselves.

Source: bettycrocker.com via Kerri on Pinterest

The next idea is for a drink I know my students would love. Some grinchy punch. They love fun punches and floats.

Source: blogs.babble.com via Kerri on Pinterest

This blog has some great ideas for minute to win it christmas themed games. I think my kids would have a blast playing these games. We did some minute to win it type games at our end of the year party and it was so fun.

Source: oncloud8.blogspot.com via Kerri on Pinterest

I also think a hot chocolate bar would be fun for maybe a Friday afternoon treat while watching The Polar Express.

Source: makeitluxe.blogspot.com via Kerri on Pinterest

This is the last pin for parties or snacks. I think these snowmen are super cute and fun. I think I might make these for the party as my contribution.

Source: dukesandduchesses.com via Kerri on Pinterest

I am lucky to have a parent that I can send these ideas to and she'll see what she can do for getting the party together. I'm so blessed this year. I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to get the kids for Christmas. I usually give them a personalized ornament for first grade. I keep my kids for two years. I still have my ornament from my first grade teachers and treasure it. This pin was a cute gift.

Source: leighannesmith.blogspot.com via Kerri on Pinterest

The next few pins are some fun activities and art projects I've found on pinterest that I'm thinking about doing with my class. (Too much time on my hands is making me go a little plan crazy for when I get to return to school)
Our Elf will be coming to school starting next  week. Last year, our assistant principal let us borrow her Elf on the Shelf and the kids named him Rainbow. They had a blast and so did I. This year I picked up an elf from Hobby Lobby a month or so ago. I plan on having Rainbow write the letter to the kids rather than Santa because I know they'll wonder what happened to him.

Source: pickleheadsoup.blogspot.com via Kerri on Pinterest

I love this particular idea. There are some great ideas out there for the Elf on the Shelf. Now for a few arts and crafts ideas that I think are pretty cute:

Source: allkidsnetwork.com via Kerri on Pinterest

Source: littlewondersdays.blogspot.ca via Kerri on Pinterest

Source: shareandremember.blogspot.com via Kerri on Pinterest

Source: littlekinderwarriors.blogspot.com via Kerri on Pinterest

Source: thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com via Kerri on Pinterest

And a couple of Christmas pins just for fun:

Source: women3.com via Kerri on Pinterest

Source: pinteresting5423.weebly.com via Kerri on Pinterest

This post ended up being way longer and picture heavy than I had planned. But as I started to look at my Christmas board I found more and more ideas I had forgotten about. What do you have pinned for Christmas? I thought about making this a linky. If you would like to link up, let me know and I'll get it going. After all that, I'm ready to decorate my house for Christmas!

What I got from the Sale -

So the cyber Monday and Tuesday sale is over and it is probably a good thing. I spent way too much on goodies. My store did do decent during the sale which is nice but I definitely spent more. Anyway, I thought I would share a few things that I bought that I'm super excited about.
I bought 2 things from Babbling Abby that I can't wait to use.
The first is the Snowy Day Inferencing Investigation. My student loved the candy corn bandit and I think they'll love this activity. (I tried to figure out how to get a picture of the cover to show you but no such luck.)
I also got her First Grade RTI Pack. This will be perfect for some of my students that still need some work on sounding out words and finding sounds.

I also got  Math Attack and huge pack of additon and subtraction activities from A year of Many Firsts. This has been on my wish list for a while. I can't wait to get back to school and starting doing some of these activities with my kids. They are going to love it.
I got some great clipart from Ashley Hughes. She's an awesome clipart artist. I can't wait to get creating using the great art I got. You have to check her stuff out if you haven't.

I am also pretty excited about the fluency pack from Jodi Southard I got. I've been eyeing these for a while. I've read some rave reviews on other blogs for them and fluency is a big focus for me with my first graders. I think it's the key to them becoming good readers. So I got her January fluency pack and I also got her January Poems and Songs Pack. I've bought several of those from her and love them. They work great for fluency practice and poetry work. While I was linking up these files, I noticed she still has her store on sale. I recommend going and checking them out.

So that's just a peek at some of the things I bought. I'm ready to get back in the classroom and use some of the great items I've got. I've also got some great Christmas activities from some good friends that I plan on using in the next few weeks. I'll be sure to share them when I get that going. I hope to be back soon with some actual good suggestions and activities that I'm using in the classroom. I hope to be back on Friday with my kiddos. I find out tomorrow when I go in for my post op appointment. Send good thoughts and prayers my way that the doctor thinks I'm doing as well as the physical therapist says I am.

Flowers

Just a quick post to show off the beautiful flowers that my school family sent me. I seriously work with the best people. They have made my recovery so much better. I have a great assistant who is keeping my room going. I've gotten cards from other teachers and my students. Our art teacher fixed me a whole care package of things I would need. She went through the same surgery a few years ago. It makes me realize I need to do better sending cards and such because it really does make you feel loved. Hopefully I'll be back to work on Friday.
Did you get some good stuff at the sale? Tomorrow I'll be back to share what goodies I got. I'm pretty excited about a few of the items.

Monday Monday - Freebie

I am going stir crazy being at home. It is so hard to just be at home alone. Chris's dad has been in from Africa since October and they are going back in a week or so. So he's been spending a lot of time with them. I haven't been able to do some of the things and I just haven't been up to it. I'm recovering well from my surgery. In physical therapy today they said I was way ahead of schedule. So I'm feeling good about that. Just bored. I spent part of today talking to my assistant at school about truancy issues. Then I spent another part of the day catching up on celebrity lives. I now know where the stars of The Hills are. I caught up with Kourtney Kardashians new baby. I also got to read about Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds wedding. Thanks to my teaching bff. She brought me some trashy mags and dvds last week. I also have been creating. Last week when I was at my parents I didn't have my laptop and more importantly didn't have my external hard drive which has all my clip art on it. But I was definitely inspired by some of the fun holiday clipart I've acquired. I've got two of my activities posted and hope to get the rest posted today. But it might be tomorrow with cyber monday going on. The first is 4 math workstation activities called Mistletoe math. I blogged about it the other day. The second that I got posted is Deck the Room. It's a write the room activitiy.

You can check this file out here.
But I have a freebie for you from this file. It's the short and long a write the room with a recording sheet. I hope you enjoy it.

I'm linking up at Classroom Freebies for Manic Monday. Be sure to check out the other freebies.

I've been doing some cyber monday shopping today on TPT. What did you buy?

Cyber Monday Sale and New Christmas Products

I'm still recovering from my surgery just a week ago. My husband and parents have been taking good care of me. I stayed with my parents about 5 days. Thank goodness they live so close and were willing for Chris and I to bunk with them. I don't think I would be in the greatest spirits if I had to spend all this time by myself. It is hard not being able to do things with the crutches. We went to Chris's family and my family's thanksgivings. I was worn out from it all on Friday. So I stayed home all day. I got busy working on a math workstation pack called Mistletoe Math.

Click here to check this out.

I was so inspired by the cute holiday things that all my bloggy friends were making and some new clipart from some talented clip art gals. This particular pack doesn't have any of their cute clip art but you need to check out Nicole from Lanier's Lion's clipart. She has a super cute santa pack I plan on making a pack with soon. You also need to check out Oodles of Doodles from Mrs. Messenger's Printibles.
Be sure to check out my store for some activities made with these lovely ladies clip art.
I'm participating in the Cyber Monday and Tuesday sale on TPT so be sure to check out what I have out. You can get up to 28% off of your order.

Thankful linky party

I am linking up with a year of many firsts and her stuffed with thankful thoughts linky. I had my surgery on Friday on my knee and I'm hanging out at my parents house during some of the recovery. I am using my mom's iPad so i don't have the cute graphic but I do have a lot to be thankful for.
1. I am so thankful for my husband! We've been married now 5 months and I don't know what I would do without him. He's taking really good care of me as I recover.
2. My parents. They are the best under normal circumstances. They have always put my sister and I first. But this weekend they have let Chris and I have their room while I'm recovering and my dad is taking great care of me while I'm home.
3. My sister is my best friend. I am so blessed to have a great friend in my sister.
4. My nieces. I have 2 sweet nieces who are sassy and make me laugh a lot. I love being an aunt more than I could have ever dreamed. Sophie came to visit Saturday and she was hugging on me. It was sweet. She knew I was under the weather.
5. My school family- I love where I teach at and they have been so supportive with my surgery. Our art teacher fixed me a really sweet care package. She tore her acl a few years ago and she's been great resource.
6. Church and that I have a loving God who died for my sins!
7. That I have a warm place to sleep and food and so much more than I ever need.
8. Access to good health care. I feel very thankful that I have pretty good insurance and everyone I've encountered through this surgery was so kind.
It has taken me 2 days to write this post. All the medicine I'm on knocks me out off and on. I have a freebie I hope to share later this week and several ideas for things to create. I'm also participating in the cyber Monday sale on tpt Monday and Tuesday. Be sure to check out the party over at a year of many firsts and see what others are thankful for!

Wordless Wednesday

Here are a few pictures from my week. We had a shower for one of my teaching besties. I've been getting ready for my surgery and being put for 2 weeks. We made fact family turkeys. Our librarian sent me 2 bags of books for my time off. The last picture is of a cookbook we made for my fellow teacher that is getting married.

November Currently

I have been a bad blogger. Like worse than usual blogger. It has been almost 2 weeks since I last posted. I just couldn't motivate myself to do anything last week. I didn't do my lesson plans until Sunday night and I usually get them done on Wednesdays. It was our first spell of cold weather and it was rainy and I didn't want to do anything. Plus we had our centennial celebration of our school over the weekend. I'm planning on posting about the history of my school. It's pretty amazing.  Anyway, I missed October's currently but I'm back for November. So here's my currently

 

I have had my surgery on my mind since I was trying to sleep last night. Today is the last day I can take most pain relievers before surgery. So I only have 10 days and I have a lot going on. We have report cards, parent conferences, a shower for one of my co workers, 2 inservice days, a library board meeting and I think that it is. In between all that I need to get my sub plans done for the 2 weeks I'm going to be out of school. I've never been out of school for this long of a time before. So that's stressing me out a little bit. I also want to get some meals premade in the freezer so Chris and I can eat while I'm out. Not that Chris can't cook but I think we'll get tired of grilled cheeses and soups. Plus it would just make me feel better to have some meals in the freezer. I should probably get the house all cleaned up. 

Anyway, I'm getting a little nervous and scared about surgery and everything that goes with it. I'm trying to just give it over to God. I know that he'll take care of everything but it's hard to do.
I wanted to explain my music choices as well. My aunt gave me the Jackson 5 greatest hits right before I first started teaching. It is pretty upbeat and a great way to start the day off. I use to play quiet relaxing music but I've read that that just puts kids to sleep. So we try to get energized in the mornings. Not that they need a lot of help in that area. We also listen to a lot of Dr. Jean. She's my favorite to play and sing a long with.
So that's where I'm at this month. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a post all about the centennial at my school. It was a pretty cool experience. Meanwhile, be sure to check out the other posts over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade.