New Year, New Fun!!

Hello my fellow teachers! I hope everyone is having a break as RELAXING as mine is! I am so enjoying having some down time. I literally have not stopped eating cookies & treats, but it's the holidays, so everything has 0 calories! Woo hoo! I've been working hard on adding some fun things to my TeachersPayTeachers store as well and thought I would share my fun new additions :)

First up is a New Year's activity called "New Year Cheer Mix"! It is a creative way to get your kids excited about the New Year. Click the picture below to take you there!

 

The 100th day of school is coming up quickly!! To prepare myself (while I have the time) I created a super cute snack mat and snack mix bag topper. If you would like to make 100th day snack mix with your class, click the picture below!

The Calendar Pal is one of my FAVORITE things that I have ever posted. I use this every single day with my class and it has been one of the most amazing things I have done as a teacher so far. It is unreal what my kids are able to do at this point in the year compared to years before. The repetition really helps them recall the important information. I hope you'll check it out! Click below for details.

And now (drumroll please) onto a very exciting venture that I have recently begun. I am officially making clip art! YAY! I've wanted to do it for so long and am thrilled to have had this break time to get the ball rolling. Here are the two sets that I have for sale at the moment. The first set - the gingerbread cuties - is a bit late, but better late than never! The second set - Pump Up the Party - is wonderful for your 100th day or New Years activities! I hope you will take a moment to stop by and see them, I'm so proud to have them done!

 

 

 So that's what I've been up to lately :) I plan to have a few more things added before the end of break. I am so thankful for all 17 of my followers - maybe one day I'll have hundreds (ha!), but for now I am just proud to have any. Thanks for reading and have a Fabulous Friday friends!

Elfing Around & A Freebie

We have been elf crazy in our room this week!! I just love holiday fun! I think I had more fun then the kids did :) We started by reading the story  "The Littlest Elf" by Brandi Dougherty. It is a super cute story about a tiny elf who is too small to do any of Santa's North Pole jobs, but finds a special job in the end.

 

After reading the story, talked a lot about the North Pole and what the elves can do there! We made a chart listing what we would do if we were elves!

The next day, we talked about how the elves get their jobs at the North Pole. I explained that when adults want to get a job, they fill out an application listing all of their information and why they would be a good fit for the job. In order to become elves, we too would have to fill out an application! I found an adorable application from Rachelle over at "What The Teacher Wants" (click the picture below to grab yours!!).

The kids enjoyed answering the questions and coloring the pictures. It was interesting to see what their favorite toys (some were a bit ridiculous for a 5 year old - an iphone? really?) were and their cutey cute elf drawings!

  I mailed those applications to Santa Claus and he sent us a special surprise in return! A special secret package straight from the North Pole! I wrapped the box in advance and gave it to our wonderful secretary. She called the room and said we had a package delivered to the school. I was sooo surprised that we had a packag - we weren't expecting anything (the kids just ate this up!) So I sent two kiddos to the office to pick up our package. When they returned, they were absolutely beaming, talking over each other, screaming that it was from Santa!

I put it in the middle of the room and let them rip it open!

 

Inside the package were the following items:

-A special letter from Santa telling us all about our magic Elf!

-The Elf on the Shelf in his box

-The Elf on the Shelf book

- A magic elf key

-A special present from Santa to us

I got this idea from Pinterest (where all good ideas come from of course) and decided it would be an amazing present from Santa. Instead of using all whoppers and one red gumball like the original version, I just used all red (honestly - because that's what I had at home already ha). I found these suuuuuuper cute labels for the bags from Anna over at "Crazy for First Grade".

 

  They could not believe that Santa wrote a letter just for them!  

 To get this elf introduction letter from Santa and a farewell letter from the elf, visit my TPT store by clicking HERE

The elf also had a magic key with him! The key had a little poem on it telling the kids that the key was made by Santa and is filled with Christmas magic! This is the key he will use to get in and out of our room each night to fly back to the North Pole. You can get your own magic elf key by clicking HERE

 After reading the story, we had to name our magic elf! Each child chose a name that they would like for our elf. We then voted and narrowed it down to 5 names. We put those 5 names on a graph and each child voted for their favorite by coloring in a little elf and gluing it above their choice. And the winning name is..... Sprinkles!!

Click HERE to grab your elf name voting graph freebie!

  The next day we began our Elf on the Shelf Adventure Log! We colored the cover of our log and filled in the first page - "Meet Our Elf".  The kids will fill in a page everyday chronicling our elf's adventures. They were so excited about this! You can grab your copy by clicking HERE.

 The next day we found our elf (with his key) sitting up by the TV and he had a super special movie with him! He wanted us to hear all about his story! He also brought us some delicious cookies to eat. The kids enjoyed their cookies while watching the movie. If you haven't seen it, you just have to! It really brought it home for the kiddos. They saw him come to life (even though he looks like a toy) and it made the even the skeptics believe! One of the characters in the movie actually touches the elf and they were so sad! It was just a perfect addition to the Elfing festivities!

 

The next day our elf was caught "monkeying around"!

 

 Can't wait to see what he gets up to next. I have a whole calendar dedicated to his shenanigans. Click on the calendar picture below to see what I have in store!

 

 On Friday, we made our Christmas countdown chains to hang from the ceiling! Each day we will cut a link until we reach the star, that means it will be Christmas!! The star has a cute little poem on it explaining how the chain will work.

  You can make Christmas countdown chains with your kiddies by clicking on the picture below:

Wowie! We have started our holiday season with a big elfin bang! I hope you are enjoying your season as well, I'd love to hear what you are all up to! Have a relaxing (yea right) weekend!!

Rockstar Room

As we all know, the beginning of the year is one CRAZY time. I'm not sure how everything gets done, but it always does! This year was a particularly close call.

Picture This: 

It is Friday evening, the custodians are literally standing by my door kicking me out, and my classroom looks like this:

 

Note that there is crap stuff absolutely EVERYWHERE! My school happens to be closed on the weekend and we only had 2 hours to work in our rooms on Monday until open house. EEK! Imagine the horror I was feeling. I have never felt that stressed in my entire life. (I actually had a panic attack while unsuccessfully attempting to remove sticky residue off the wall with Goo-Gone. "Why won't it come off? Why does the world hate me? Somebody kill me!" cry, cry, cry. Overly dramatic? Yes. But my fellow teachers, you, too, understand the stress of an unprepared room.) Even if I worked every second of that 2 hours on Monday, I knew it would never be ready. I called my lovely principal, who is amazing BTW, and begged her to let me into the school on Saturday. This is how the conversation went:
Me: "Oh my gosh, Mrs. P I am so sorry to bother you on a Friday night. I am feeling a bit stressed about my room. Is there anyway possible that I could work in my room for just a few hours tomorrow?"
Mrs. P: "Khrys, does your room look like it did when I saw it earlier this afternoon?"
Me: (completely embarrassed) "Well, I got a few things on the walls, but basically."
Mrs. P: "Good grief. Well the problem is that there is no one to let you in. The custodians won't be there."
Me: (feeling as if every organ in my body stopped working) "Oh, ok, I completely understand. Just thought I would try! Don't worry though (hiding shaking voice), it will definitly be ready on Monday! I'll just have to work quickly (faster than the speed of light to be accurate)! Thank you!"

*CLICK*...... *SCREAM* *SIGH* *CRY*

What on earth was I going to do? 2 minutes into my emotional spiral, I hear: "HEY, I JUST MET YOU! AND THIS IS CRAZY!" (my ringtone - pathetic, I know) and guess who it is?!?! MRS. P! I tried to bury the small seed of hope that was growing inside me.


Mrs. P: "Hey Khrys! I spoke with Mr. AP (our assistant principal) and he said that he would not mind unlocking the doors for you to work for a few hours tomorrow. Would you be able to go in around 10am? "
Me: (jumping in circles, holding the phone away from my ear, silent screaming "HALLELUJAH!") "I can be there! 10 am is perfect! Thank you so much! You are my hero!"

And so it went.... 9:30am rolled around, I grabbed my trusty hibiscus Tervis Tumbler, filled it with my favorite Passion Iced Tea from Starbucks (which you can buy in teabags for only $4 and it makes like 6 pitchers!), tucked my 4 mile long to-do list into my bag, and headed out the door! I worked SO fast and really made a lot of progress. By the time Open House rolled around on Monday, I was actually prepared and ready to go. Can you believe it? Me neither! So here is how the room came out this year. It is much different than last year. I didn't necessarily have a 'theme' last year, my room was just extremely colorful. I guess you could say it was rainbow themed (or as a fellow teacher told me - seizure themed because of the color overload - I resented that comment just slightly) I got SO many fabulous ideas for my Rockstar Themed classroom from Abby Mullins over at http://theinspiredapple.blogspot.com/. If you haven't seen her blog yet (which I'm sure you have!), you must check it out! She is amazing! I also found some great ideas on Pinterest. Here it is:
 

Outside of Our Rockin' Room

My adorable new sign for outside our room!! SO cute!

Morning Check-In Area: Notice the morning steps on the wall. These REALLY helped my students at the beginning of the year and continues to help my *forgetful* students! During check-in students start by doing their sound check and move their guitar pick onto the guitar, put their binders & RED Folders on the shelf, sign their name, and take their morning work from the basket.

The clocks at the top are to keep us on schedule and remind students of important times. Some of them really rely on them! The white board is to write little reminders on (transportation changes, etc.). The Rockin' Walkin' Work bags are for my 'take home' volunteer projects. At the beginning of the year I have students sign up to be 'in-room' or 'at-home' volunteers. I often send home things like cutting out laminate or organizing projects with the kids!

My adorable desk! I was super excited with how it came out!

Above my desk - still needs a bit of tidying up!

The front of the room! It looks a bit overwhelming, but we use EVERYTHING that's up there!

The calendar corner and chit-chat carpet. This is where we start our day!

Our Class Job Chart

The Wizard of Words Wall - Our class sight word challenge!

Our Rockin' Behavior Clip Chart

Bucket-Filling Area

Classroom Library

We have a Kagan school! This is where we write all of the Kagan Structures that we use throughout the year.

The Word Wall

The fabulous treasure box that I made for under $30!!! My kiddos went crazy over this!

My kindergarten bestie gave me this adorable frame! Isn't it the cutest?!

So I hope you love my room as much as I do - I am thrilled with how it came out! Stay fabulous everyone! Talk to you soon!