December, Freebies and Technology

{Warning.... This is a long post!}

I wanted to share what a busy month we had in our classroom.... We were very busy this month!

At the very beginning of the month I got to finally go to a workshop! I was sooo excited! I went to a Love & Logic workshop! Learned some great tips!  My favorite tip from speaker Jim Fay was "I love you too much to argue."  When my teenager tries to begin an argument with me, I just calmly say "I love you too  much to argue" and walk away (of course, she loves to argue and will follow me and try to continue).

Meanwhile... back in the classroom (while I was at this awesome workshop).... the electricity at my school was out! School was released at 10:00am. Any students that did not get picked up went with my sub to a neighboring school, where it was warm! {OK - great day to be gone! I couldn't have taught, tested or did any Christmas projects anyway! But my poor students! I was a wreck all day worrying about them!}

Our school's football played so great this year we got out early lots of Fridays so we could go to the playoffs - which we did! We played in Dallas Cowboy Stadium! It was an awesome game! Of course, with all this madness, I taught new concepts, did some report card testing, DRA testing and  finished up some cute Christmas projects! Want to see what we did?  Okay, this is a long post, but there are some freebies, so please stay with me.......

These were our Christmas presents to the parents. They turned out super cute!

Sarah from Kindergarten Korner created these.
You can find these here and read more about them here

This was the calendar and the picture below is the page I stapled them to - I put a picture of each student on a piece of construction paper (we took these outside on our swing in our school garden), painted their hand and put it on the page and had them write I Love You! and their name. Then I put a label in the bottom corner with their name and Kindergarten 2012-2013. I also put a magnet on the back so they could hang them on the refrigerator if they wanted to!

I am sooo sorry this is side ways - I can not get it to turn around!

My kiddos took a plain envelope, added some strips of red construction paper

and made it look like a present! We put our calendars in them!

They turned out so cute!

This was another parent present we made. I found the idea 2 years ago, when a sweet student celebrated Christmas, but NO Santa Claus {she could not make anything with Santa}, so I found these ornaments and have made them ever since!   

I bought the ornaments at Garden Ridge and used white paint from Wal Mart.

I used sharpies to decorate the faces. I attached a cute ribbon and added a poem.

To send these breakables home, I went to my favorite restaurant, Pei Wei,

and asked for 20 of their take home boxes!

Put a label on, put tissue paper in the bottom of the box, 

added the ornament, taped the top shut and put on a bow!

Super cute and super easy!

Would you like a tag for these? {Click here} I made it for 2013. If you need it for a different year, please email me.

This is the take home box from Pei Wei - perfect to take home their ornaments!

 We made these pretty poinsettias to decorate our tables and to decorate 

the students homes! Aren't they pretty?

For my class Christmas party, I made Gingerbread Play dough for my kiddos to play with and take home.

They had sooo much fun playing with it and it was super easy to make!

I got the recipe {here} and I put a label with the recipe on the bag
(in case their parents wanted to make more). Each recipe made 4 large balls - so I made 5 batches.

You can download the labels {here}  - I used Avery labels 5163.

I gave each student a playdoh mat I got free from Over the Moonbow

  

Our class also had to make this cute Santa craft from Miss Kindergarten!
It turned out super cute and I know the parents will love it as much as I did!

Again, I am sooo sorry - I wish I knew how to rotate a picture! I rotated on my computer, but when I download it, it is always the wrong way! So Sorry!

For the Christmas Party, I had my class make these cute Christmas Trees I saw all over Pinterest
and found some great tips at Kinder Craze.
Some fabulous tips I found:
* Put icing on the plate and the cone on top, to hold it in place.
*Give each child their own small cup with the green icing and a knife to spread it on the ice cream cone.
*Put some of the sprinkles on the plate and let them have fun!
I didn't send them home - I let them eat them!
Then we went to recess so they could run that sugar off!

So my kiddos could take all their goodies home, we made
these cute reindeer bags (using a grocery sack)!

Of course, I also had to teach and test this month!

We learned our numbers 11-15 (and boy, they are having a hard time with these)
To help us with that, we used

Kinderglynn's Number Books - you can find {here} and

Babbling Abby's RTI Number Sense - you can find {here}.

We also used lots of Christmas erasers I found at Dollar Tree for counting out 

on Math Mats from my I See Christmas pack.

We also worked on letters, rhyming and sentence structure.
To make the learning more fun, we used Deedee Wills awesome December Poetry Station!
My class loved it!  I can't wait to get her January Poetry Station!
I know they will sooo love it!

We also used our SmartBoard! My class LOVES it!

We use Lakeshore's Numbers & Counting Adventures.

It is my classes favorite game!

To help my class learn their letters, I used Lakeshore's Letter of the Day Activities.

I use both of these as part of one of my educational centers.
The class loves them!

I want to get some more of their awesome software!

It is amazing!

You can read more about how much I love my SmartBoard {here}

I am linking up with Growing Kinders.
She has a great post on Technology!
I love that she has iPads in her classroom!
I plan to start a DonorsChoose project to get one for my classroom!

Go visit Growing Kinders and see all her awesome technology and get some new ideas for your classroom!

 I am also linking up with Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera!

I hope you enjoyed this long post and got a few ideas for your classroom!

Happy Holidays!