Trying To Move Forward

I am struggling with many emotions. I am finding it so hard to write a post about the fun things we are doing and the happiness my days are filled with. With what has happened in Connecticut, everything that I am doing with my little ones sends a pang of sorrow through my heart. All I can do is think of the sadness and grief that these families are experiencing. There is also a fear creeping up in me that I never felt before. This horrific tragedy has me thinking about things in a completely new light. I have rethought my 'code red' plan and have devised it in such detail, dissecting every move that I would make. How could we live in a world where as a kindergarten teacher, I must think about what I would do if a person armed with multiple guns burst into my room?? I know that it is not about me or how I am feeling, but as a teacher - no - as a human, this shocking disturbance has rocked me to the core. All I can do is send my thoughts and prayers to the families and friends of the beautiful angels whose lives were so senselessly lost. I hugged each of my little ones just a bit tighter today, thankful for each of their quirky, innocent smiles that were beaming up at me.

I am going to try to move forward, though I know that this sadness will stay with me for some time, hiding in the back of my mind. I hope that you too will keep your thoughts and prayers with the members of the Sandy Hook community. As I attempt to maintain the consistency of my everyday life, please know that it is not without sorrow and mourning for the lives affected by this catastrophe.
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This week we were gingerbread crazy in our room! Gingerbread week is one of my favorite each year :) I'll have to post about the gingerbread fun tomorrow, I have to bake 6 dozen cookies for our school cookie exchange tonight - sheesh!!

So for now I will rewind back to snow week briefly and share a messy, but awesome activity we did! If you intend to try it, please heed my warning: put something down under the bowl. ALSO, use a bowl that is big enough to contain everything. Unfortunately, I made both of these mistakes and ended up with a snow day in our room - ahem, my poor custodian! So here's what we made: FROSTY FLUFF!! Below is the recipe to make it. To grab your Frosty Fluff FREEBIE, just click the picture below!

Here's how it came out:

Oh what a beautiful mess we made! Had to switch bowls midway through because it was too small, sigh.

They were so excited when I let them squish their hands in it too! Luckily one of my kindies seems to have a future in photography. How awesome is this picture for a 5 year old?!

Here's how it looks when it is all done! It is just soooo soft and fluffy. It's also moldable. The kids LOVED making snowballs and snowmen with it!

After making our snow, I filled a baggy full for each child and stapled the recipe to it. I sent it home so they could play in the snow with their families!

 I posted about our December family project last week - Snow People! To read all about it and get your free Snow People letter click HERE! Here are some of the adorable ones that the kids sent in:

 Didn't they do such a great job?! I was really impressed. So that concludes our snowy Florida days. I promise I'll be back tomorrow to share all of our gingery craziness! Well my friends, I better get to the baking. Only 6 dozen to go!  See you tomorrow :)

Ready, Set, SNOW! (and a freezbie - ha)

Happy Saturday everyone!! Only 9 school days left until Christmas break friends, and three of those days are half days. WOO I'm so thrilled! This week our classroom was filled with snowy Florida days (not something you usually hear about). We read some of my favorite snow books:

 
I just LOVE winter stories and so do my little ones! They really enjoy hearing about the snow, since 90% of my students have never seen it before. On Monday we began learning about what snow was and how it is formed and the difference between solids and liquids. To help them understand, I tried to relate it to something they could understand! We discussed that when you put water in the freezer it freezes and if you put it in the oven it would melt. That is what happens with snow - in the Northern states it is cold (like the freezer) so the snow stays solid and in Florida it is hot (like the oven) so the rain becomes a liquid! It definitely helped them to see the difference between the two. We then created a chart to compare solids and liquids. Students cut pictures out of magazines and glued them on the appropriate sides.

I had to remove the picture of the pretend martini glass that one of my kiddies cut out of Oriental Trading magazine. Hey, at least he put it on the correct side :)

Next we filled in solid and liquid poems by adding the missing sight words. You can check this out in my TPT store by clicking the picture below or clicking HERE.

Then we played the "Melt an Ice Cube" game from Litte Giraffes. Click the picture below to snag it for yourself!

On Tuesday we grew our own snowflakes by using boiling water, borax, and pipe cleaners. The kids bent and connected their pipe cleaners to look like snow flakes and we soaked them in the borax water overnight. Little "ice" crystals grew on them! How neat :)

Later in the week we made a chart to share what we would do if it were a snowy day in Florida!

 

 

I just looooove the snowball fight and the snow angel :)

On Thursday we created puffy snowman by mixing shaving cream and glue. I love the texture that it becomes when it drys. It is fluffy and puffy! The kids were surprisingly mess-free after it was all said and done. I used the same formula to make moons last year and my kids were absolutely covered in the stuff from head to toe. I think I learned my lesson and set better boundaries this time around. HA! Didn't they come out sooooo cute?!

 And finally, yesterday was the best of all! We created Snowman Sundaes!! YUM! This was the kids favorite snow activity, of course!

  After snacking on our delicious snowman treats, we created a graph to determine what our favorite part of the sundae was.

I was surprised to find out that they loved the Twizzlers the best! I sent home the recipe with the kids to share with their families at home. If you would like to get your copy of the adorable recipe card and the materials for the graph, click HERE.
What a crazy cold week we had. For our December Family project the kids are creating a Snow Person! I supplied the kids with 3 sturdy paper plates (small, medium, and large) and a letter explaining the project. Click on the picture below to get your FAMILY PROJECT FREEBIE!

And here's a little elf update... We found Sprinkles bungee jumping from the ceiling using a slinky! That silly elf :)

Next week it's gingerbread time - my faaaaavorite! I'd love to hear what you do for gingerbread week with your kids. Have a fabulous weekend friends :)