Student Christmas Ornaments {I'm OBSESSED!}

I am obsessed with the student ornaments I am giving my kiddos this year...

Take a look- I made this one for my little nephew to show you the finished product!

I bought the round, flat-ish ornaments (similar to these on Amazon) at Michael's and used my Cricut to cut each students' name with the year... and, of course, a heart!  I placed this on each ornament.

I have tons of small pom-poms and I'm going to let my students choose about 20 to put inside of their ornaments, which I think they will absolutely LOVE!

Did you see my post over the weekend with my favorite easy parent gift ornaments?  Click the link below to find out more!

I've been out sick the last two days, so I'm looking forward to heading back in to see my cherubs tomorrow!  Hope all are hanging in there on these last few weeks until the holidays!

Easiest, Cutest Student Made Ornaments!

You read that right... you have stumbled upon the easiest and CUTEST student made ornaments!

These are so simple.  No cutting, no painting, no days to dry, no gobs of money to spend... in fact, you only need five items to make these and I guarantee that you have FOUR of them in your classroom right now.

You need:

*gluesticks
*popsicle sticks
*permanent markers
*pipe cleaners

Those are the four things you already have.

The only things you need to buy are holiday cupcake wrappers.

Seriously.

Students take 3-4 cupcake wrappers.  My kiddos used three big ones and one little one.

Flatten them.

Rub glue on the back of each one, fold in half, rub glue on the half, and fold over again.

Then, arrange on top of each other like a tree.

Teacher adds a stick on the back with hot glue, students write their name and the year, punch a hole in the top, and twist on a pipe cleaner!  I got mine at the Dollar Tree!

I loved seeing my students' faces light up when they saw the finished product... the best part... it only took 30 minutes to do this entire project with my class of 26 second graders!

Of course, if you want a more ambitious project, you can check out what we'll be doing this coming week.  We're making another ornament using pre-cut wood slices.  I got these from Amazon for around $18.00 for 30 of them.   (Click either pic to check them out on Amazon- affiliate link!)

We'll be starting these in the upcoming week.  Here's the sample I made... I just painted three of my fingers white, pressed on the wood slice, and decorated with Sharpies when the paint was dry!  I know my kiddos will LOVE making these for their families and they'll have a pair of ornaments to take home for the holidays!

That's it!  Two cute, easy ornaments that are perfect for my kiddos and yours this holiday!

An Oriental Trading Holiday {with a Thanksgiving FREEBIE!}

Can I just shout from the mountain top that I LOVE ORIENTAL TRADING?????

They sent me this...

... full of these Christmas goodies...

Be sure to check out their HOLIDAY stuff.  It's pretty rad!

I will have each class down to the library in December and I will read my favorite Christmas books to them.  Then I will give each kiddo a candy cane and a holiday sticker.  I did this for Halloween and the kids LOVED it!  And my teachers loved getting a little breather too!

...I got these winter items for my school prize box!

...and these for my teachers!  Every holiday I have the staff do a little activity and the prize is a box full of goodies!  I can't wait to fill these cuties for them!

...I also got these stockings and fabric markers.  Shhhh... it's for a Christmas surprise for my staff!

I am so thankful for Oriental Trading sending me these goodies.  Head over to their site to get some great goodies at some amazing prices!

And now... for the Thanksgiving FREEBIE!

I said above that I do a little goodie box for my staff.  This month, I used the "pie favor boxes" that Oriental Trading sent me in October.  I put one card from the pack below in each staff member's mailbox.  They had to find a complete meal and then come show me to get their "dessert"... a cute pie shaped box full of goodies!

Click the link below to download the freebie and spread some Thanksgiving love around your school!

Holiday Party Saga: The Control Freak Teacher {Aaaaand... Freebie!}

Admit it.  You're a control freak too.  And, nothing brings that out in more more than class parties.  I love them.  But I dread that feeling of out-of-controlness... so mine are organized.  Maybe more organized chaos than strictly organized.

BUT... I have to run stations and students rotate through them at scheduled intervals.  I am usually lucky to have a plethora of parent helpers so that I can meander through the room, snapping pictures, and having fun with my kiddos.

Tomorrow is the day for our Christmas party!

We will be...

1.) Playing "Christmas JINGO"... I have the JINGO games for all holiday parties and LOVE them.

2.) Making edible Christmas trees... always a sugar-ified hit.


3.) Making an ornament craft.  Hello 60% off of Christmas at Michael's!  I stocked up and bought some for next year too!

4.) Playing a "Roll and Cover" multiplication game from the fabulous Fourth and Ten.  I printed these in color and slipped into page protectors.  Students can check off boxes and wipe off for the next crew!

5.) Making Christmas cards... silently at our seats.  Click the pic to score this freebie!  I'll even add more for other holidays as the year rolls on.

So, for about 40 minutes, students will be rotating through those five activities.  I may even get wild and crazy and not assign them where to go but instead just put a limit of 6 kids at any activity at any one time.

How's your week looking?  And... are you crazy about controlling your parties too?  The thought of it turning into a giant free-for-all is petrifying to me!

Blog Post Rewind- Christmas Party Ideas Freebie! {And Important File UPDATE!}

Now that Thanksgiving is done and all of the left overs have been eaten, the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals have been had... it's time to start planning for class Christmas parties!  If you're looking for some new ideas, check out the free classroom guide that we put together at my blog... it's full of ideas from other bloggers!

Click the tape to head to that old post and get some new ideas!

If you have any of my Christmas Around the World files... the Flippy Books all got a huge facelift about three weeks ago.  And yesterday the PowerPoints all got additional info added as well as new timings, so they play a bit slower.

Or click the pic to check them out!

You'll need to go to your purchases at TpT to re-download the updates!

10 Quick and Easy Holiday Crafts

My friends at Marygrove College are at it again!

They've just put together a GREAT guide that has 10 quick and easy holiday crafts that your kiddos can make next week!

And, I'm honored that they featured my gingerbread ornament activity!

Click the picture to download the book and get some great craft ideas for your classroom- I LOVE LOVE LOVE the string of lights craft!

Getting Ready for Next Week!

Tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!!

I'm so excited about next week- we switch our students but we're keeping our own kids for the WHOLE WEEK!

This gal has some fun things on the agenda...

First things first... reading a Christmas picture book every day!

Here are my favorites...




Yeah, I know they're in 3rd grade, but I LOVE this one!


We're also reading The Best Christmas Pagent Ever to the whole 3rd grade next week so we can watch the movie on Friday.


Monday- making ornaments!

We're making these reindeer that I posed about last year and the gingerbread ornaments from last year too.

Tuesday- making one more gift... more info to come!

Wednesday- wrapping, cards

Thursday- PARTY!

Friday- Read in during the AM and a movie with a hot cocoa bar in the PM.

I'll also be doing Christmas Around the World next week too!  And some math (hoping to have them play Suit Up Santa! for multiplication) and reading!

What fun things are you doing with your kiddos?  And who else goes through Friday next week?

Will Share a Freebie for Comments!

This blog feels like a barren wasteland!  If your classroom/life is anything like mine at this time of the year, I *SO* understand!

Today I'm just popping on to share a little freebie... I'd love to know if you like it!  :)

We're working on present tense verbs this week so it's just a short and quick hallway or classroom hunt (I LOVE doing these!!!) for students to write down correct subject/verb agreement for present tense verbs... and it's Christmas themed!

Just click the picture to check it out!

Wednesday in Pictures... Come and See! And a Big Ol' Have You Seen THIS?

That is what we did today... used the thesauruses we got from Donor's Choose to do a synonym search!  It was so much fun... and I loved listening to the conversations as students looked up words and used their new reference tools!

And on to CHRISTMAS!

The stockings are hung on the closet door with care...

I've been doing these "stockings" for several years now.  Students decorate a stocking with their name on it and glue it to a paper bag.  I ask families to donate enough small items for each kid to get one and then we open these at our Christmas party!  It's always a hit!  Click HERE to download the note I send home.  You'll have to download it and open it in WORD to make changes... and if you don't have my fonts, it might not look as pretty... but there it is!

And... here's my room!

I had to leave the lights on... it was too dark with them off.  But... can you see my white lights strung across the room?

My mom made me this tree when I was still an undergrad.  It used to live in my bedroom... but it's decorated my classroom at Christmas for the last 7 years!

And here's my classroom tree full of ornaments I've gotten over the years and the ornaments I have for my kiddos!  I give my kiddos personalized ornaments every year.

This year, I found these cute clay creations at Big Lots!  I added the names and... ta-da!

And now for the big ol' have you seen THIS?!

Last year, I put together a collaborative book about classroom Christmas parties!  It's full of ideas for snacks, games, and fun.  I'd love for you to download it and check it out.  The cover looks horrible when you open it in Google Docs... but if you download it, it looks great!

Do you have something you'd like to contribute?  I'll add any new comments to the book at the end of the weekend!

That's all for today friends!