Bee Craftivity

I know it's December and bees are probably not on your mind. But I thought I would share a bee craft that we do in our classroom each year. Our classroom is decorated with bees so these hang on our clips all year long. I know it doesn't work for December but you can pin it for later.

 First you start with a chubby water bottle. We wrapped them in tape paper. Then we used yellow and black tissue paper to cover the bee and lots of modge podge.Or watered down Elmers glue. Some of the students made yellow faces. Others made black faces. They need to dry for at least 24 hours. Then we added googly eyes. and an antenna.

I have to give full credit to Shelley D.  for this idea. She is so crafty!

Cheapest Teacher Gift EVER!!! 12/12

My two little kiddos are both in preschool. I have to make 4 teacher gifts because both of my children have two teachers. I was trying to come up with something that was cheap but also cute. I as a teacher have always wanted one of these Crayola pictures but still haven't received one. I'm hoping this will be the year. Fingers crossed :) I was checking out Pinterest and there are tons of the cute Crayola letters. However I stumbled across the cutest card ever to go with it.  I found the card idea at www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com I love the name of her site. I feel the same way. I should be mopping the floor instead of writing this post. But this is more fun right?

 These were so cheap basically I bought a cheap frame from All A Dollar, some Crayola crayons, and Tacky glue.. got to love Tacky glue.

 So I made an editable card if you would like to use it as well. The only problem is that your child's name has to have an A in it for the card to work. Luckily both of my kids do. I hope yours do too! If you would like to grab a copy click on the picture below. This is the second time I've made an editable product. So if it doesn't work let me know!! Thanks!!! I used Pea Dacia for the font.

Now for the 12 in 12: I'm linking up with Miss Kindergarten and the Teeny Tiny Teacher.

12. Favorite Movie you watched: I know what your thinking lame. But when you have two kids under the age of 5 these are the only type of movies I get to see anymore and actually it was really cute.

11. Favorite TV Series:  Downton Abbey, I can't wait for it to start in January. I'm so hooked.

10. Favorite Restaurant: Kneaders, It's a local place and I love it. They have soups and salads and killer desserts. I eat there almost weekly. I'm afraid they might start calling me by name.

 

9. Scariest thing you have tried: Selling items on TPT. I know so scary but seriously every time I see that I have feedback I get scared. I don't deal well with criticism and I'm always so scared that the feedback is going to be bad. Seriously SCARY!!

 

8. Favorite gift you received: I know this is going to sound super cheesy but my children. I know I sound like one huge cheese ball but seriously. I believe they're a gift and I'm so grateful I get to be their mommy! I use the word I know A LOT!! Sorry this picture is super blurry!

 

7.Favorite thing you've pinned: I live by this quote, It is seriously one of my favorite and I found it on Pinterest. I think this quote works perfectly with children and their mistakes.

 

6. Favorite blog post: http://www.hive2nd.blogspot.com/2011/01/chants.html My very first post just because I had no idea what I was starting and I'm amazed at how great the blogging world is.

 

5. Favorite Accomplishment: Graduating from College. My parents didn't graduate from college and I was the first in my family. The funny thing is things have changed a lot since then both my parents went back and have now, including my younger brother. I like to think I helped them, I think they realized they could do it too.

 

4. Favorite picture: I'm a picture FANATIC I take pictures almost every day so my favorite picture today is a picture I took yesterday.

 

3. Favorite Memory: My all time favorite memory is skydiving with my husband. I was scared to death and I didn't think I could do it. In fact I even asked if maybe I could stay in the plane while everyone else jumped out. Well that wasn't going to happen. I was glad I made the jump but once is enough for me.

 

2. Goal for 2013: BE ON TIME!! I'm really bad at this and I REALLY REALLY NEED to work on this!

 

1. One little word: Sleep, I really need some right now considering tomorrow I have to get up at 6 and I'm doing this instead. Super Kudos if you read all of this! Thanks and link up too.

 

Place Value {freebie} Christmas Love

I'm excited to be linking up with 4th Grade Frolics on her Monday Made it. I've never linked up with her before. But I love seeing all the fun things everyone is making:
 
Let's start with the freebies first: I love place value if you can 't tell. Almost all my free products in my TPT store are place value. So I once again made another place value freebie. If you would like to get it, click on the picture below. This time I made a chart showing how many ones are in a ten and how many tens are in a hundred. I made it two different ways because in my math series it has the hundreds chart going up and down instead of to the side. So that way you can choose which one you want to use. My students really struggle with this concept so I hope this helps your students out too.

On the next part of my Monday Made It is my Christmas Decor: Here are some of the spots around our house that I just love: first off is the bulbs hanging from our kitchen lights. I love how they shine when the lights are on at night.

I can never get enough of the Grinch. In fact I call my husband the Grinch. He hates Christmas. He told me the other day that he doesn't understand why anyone decorates for Christmas when all they have to do is take it down in three weeks. SUCH A GRINCH!!

I made this Christmas countdown. I found all that I needed at Hobby Lobby and JoAnne's Fabric. I love crafting!

I can't believe how much I love this little guy. We named him Elphaba and he has brought so much Christmas cheer. My kids jump out of bed everyday to tell me where he is hiding. One morning my son couldn't find him and he started to cry because he said he didn't get to say goodbye to him. Luckily we found him hanging out in the lights.
Are you excited for Christmas like I am?

December Currently

I can't believe December is here. It seems like this time of year just flies by. I want to soak it all in. My children are 5 and 3 and this year is the best year yet. They are such believers in Santa and his elves. Our elf in its shelf arrived in the mail today. I told my kiddos that it arrived from the North Pole our package had red circles indicating it was from Target  the North Pole. All night my son has been picking up after himself and on his best behavior because he knows Elphaba (named after the witch on wicked I thought it was a cute elf name) is watching. 

It's time for Farley's Currently. I love reading what other bloggers write. Also it's a fun way to find other blogs to follow. 

I usually don't talk about personal issues but I thought I would mention this one thing:  A family friend's son was in a pretty bad burn accident. Him and several boys were walking home from school. One of the boys found some gas cans and had a lighter. Well a lighter and gas don't mix. 5 boys were injured. Her son was the worst off. He is only seven and he was a bystander. He is still in critical condition. So if you are a person that believes in prayers please pray for him. If you would like to check out their blog the address is leviandkali.blogspot.com  Hug your little ones tightly. You just never know what life is going to bring. 

Christmas Countdown

Don't you just love the Christmas season? I've been busily getting all my Christmas cards out this year. I have never sent them out this early. However I know if I don't do it now, then I'll forget all about them. I actually made my Christmas cards this year. Now that I know how to make products. I figured I can make Christmas cards too. So I gave it a try and I think they turned out pretty cute! My kids are already asking when is Santa coming? So Christmas countdowns have been on my mind a lot. I always buy my kids those chocolate Christmas countdowns. They love getting to eat a little chocolate each day.        For school, I used to make a Christmas countdown in my class with the green and red strips and the kids pulled off a strip everyday. Well I changed it up this year. I made two different countdowns. The first one is a 1st Grade Sight word countdown. Each day they have to read the sight word they take off. My First Graders are really struggling with sight words so I hope this helps! 

    The second countdown is a math fact countdown. It includes: doubles, adding, subtraction,and times tables. That way you can fit it to your students needs. It really works for any grade level. Click on the pictures if you want to check them out. I recently dyed my hair and I hate it! The first person to guess the new color of my hair, you can choose between these two packets. Have a blessed weekend! 
    One last thing! I will be having a sale on all of my products on Cyber Monday and Tuesday. Everything in my store will be 20% off. You can also enter the code cmt12 at checkout to get an additional savings!

Button by: Ashley Hughes

The Best Apple Pie

 First Grade and Fabulous is having a Holiday recipe exchange.This is not teacher related but with the holidays fast approaching. I thought I would share my favorite apple pie recipe with you. Every Thanksgiving I make this apple pie. It seriously is the BEST!! I got this recipe from my mother-in-law. My husband craves this pie. In fact last year I took it to Thanksgiving. He snuck my pie out of the main area and hid it in the laundry room. Hoping no one would notice it was gone. That way he could take it home and eat it all himself. :) I found this tutorial on You Tube. It's the same recipe but at the end instead of crumbling the topping I mash it all together and spread it over the top. Either way it tastes the same. 
 

What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish? 

Making My Classroom a Community

Every year we try to make our classroom feel like a community. We take an individual picture and blow it up to a 8X10 and ask the kids what they're best at. We then display their picture above the words be your best. The students love seeing their picture posted. It also helps with learning others names and they're able to read what the other kids are good at. Their pictures always turn out so cute.

This is my last years picture. You have to add your picture too right? I don't know about you but several of my sweeties call me teacher. This helps them  learn my name too. How do you make your classroom a community?