I Teach Second Linky-Fun with the "G" Word!

Hey there! My bloggy buddies from I Teach Second and I are linking up today to share the ideas that we love most! I decided to share about our fun with a mean, grouchy, green guy who we see at Christmastime :) This is one of my favorite units that we do all year! We are starting ours next week!

**In case you were unaware, it is against copyright to use the "G" word in any products on TpT! So if you search, you may want to search words like "mean, green" or "you're a mean one," etc.**

We always read the book, and make a chart about our mean, green guy's character traits. Then we write adjectives to compare his heart at the beginning of the story to his heart at the end of the story. I believe this idea originally came from Cara Carroll a few years ago?!

We then have our kids write about our mean, green friend at the beginning and the end of the story. They add adjectives to his heart, too!

We also work on antonyms. We use a lot of the character traits and words that described his heart and do a whole group matching game. The kids always love this!

Our mean, green friend stole gifts from everyone in the town, and he always drops the gifts off to our classroom so that we can measure them. He wants to be sure that they will fit into his sack! The kids always get a kick out of this :)

Our kids also work on fractions using the gifts that our mean, green friend has stolen!

Our kids love to make these little crafts {template originally from Deanna Jump} and write about how to be like our mean, green guy. 

By the end of the week, the mean, green guy is feeling nicer, so he brings some treats for our kids to graph. He also brings some candy canes :) At the end of the week, we watch the cartoon movie and have some yummy mean, green snacks! 

This is seriously one of my absolute favorite weeks of the year! We cover so many skills, and our students are highly engaged, which is hard to do around Christmas! What activities do you do during your "Mean, Green" day or week?! I'd love to see and hear them!

And be sure to check below to see more awesome ideas from our iTeachSecond Bloggers!

An InLinkz Link-up

Winner, winner! and a BIG SALE!

Hi friends! Sorry I am posting so late! We were out and about running errands all day, and time just got away from me, and before I knew it, it was Mia's bath time! Mr. Hubs is putting her down for bed right now so I am finally getting a bit of a break!

First off, thanks to everyone who showed interest in this pack! The winner of my Christmas Read Aloud Pack is Brandy! I will be emailing you a copy shortly :)

But don't worry if you didn't win! Because TpT's BIG sale is going on tomorrow and Tuesday! Everything in my store will be up to 28% off with code SMILE at checkout! Click on the image below to check out my store!

Here are some Christmas and winter packs you may want to stock up on! Click on each picture to check them out in my store!

Happy shopping!! 

Favorite Christmas Read Alouds! GIVEAWAY!

Hey friends! I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone! I hope you were able to spend the day with your loved ones and were able to eat lots of delicious food :) I am so excited that Christmas is just around the corner!

If you are anything like me, you LOVE to read lots and lots of Christmas books to your students! There are SO many cute ones out there! I wanted to have some meaningful activities to go along with some of the books, so I created a pack of activities to go along with 7 of my favorite books!

The books I chose for this pack were It's Christmas, David!, Mooseltoe, Olive, the Other Reindeer, Auntie Claus, What Dogs Want for Christmas, Merry Christmas, Splat, and Snowmen at Christmas. If you don't own these books, you can order them, or I am sure your school or public library has copies!

There are anywhere from 3-5ish activities for each book, and besides the craftivities, they are all pring and go! No prep! And we know that quick and easy is super important during this crazy time of year!! Click on each picture below to enlarge so you can see what is included for each book.

So, do you wanna win a copy of this pack? Leave me a comment with your email, and tell me which of these books is your favorite! A winner will be picked on Sunday! 

Cyber Monday & Tuesday Sale!!

WOW, it has been a sweet minute :) I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving... and November for that matter, seeing as I haven't blogged since October. And even then, I don't think it really counted as blogging :) I started work on November 10th, so when I get home all I want to do is spend time with my sweet little Mia :)

I can't believe tomorrow is December!! What better way to kick off the Christmas season than TpT's Cyber Monday & Tuesday Sale?!? Everything in my store will up to 28% off with promo code TPTCYBER on December 1st & 2nd. 

Here are some Christmas and winter products from my store that you may be interested in! Click on each picture to check it out. 

These are some of my favorite packs I have created, I think because Christmas is my very most favorite time in the classroom...even if it can be crazy and chaotic :) Be sure to get those wishlists ready tonight before the sale!! Happy shopping!

Christmas Randomness & Grinchy Fun!

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas filled with lots of fun and family! We had a great Christmas and it was nice spending it with our families! Lots of good food, and Santa was very good to us this year :)

I am going to take you back to before Christmas break! As you may or may not know, we had a few snow days, so that kind of messed up our plans. We decided to do our gingerbread unit after we come back in January... It is too fun of a unit to skip! {That also means we had all our plans ready for the first week back-SCORE!} We did make our gingerbread houses on the very last day as planned though... there was no way we were coming back to that craziness!! :) The houses were a hit, and our parent helpers really made it so much easier!

 

For parent gifts, we had our kiddos make these cute little reindeer ornaments that are floating around all over Pinterest! These ornaments are styrofoam and glittery! Thanks, Hobby Lobby!

 

 

Amy and I gave these gifts to our teammates for Christmas... "Wishing you a holiday season full of peace, love and hope soap!" Another cute idea found on Pinterest!

 

 

Every year our kiddos get to wear pajamas and watch The Polar Express! Our elves brought some bells from Santa's sleigh! The kids were so excited! When we wrote Santa letters earlier in the month, the only gift one of our little girls asked for was a bell from Santa's sleigh. How cute is that?! Looks like she got her Christmas wish! **I downloaded these tags last year but do not know who I got them from! If you know, please let me know so I can give credit!**

 

Okay, now onto some Grinchy fun! Most of these ideas are from my pack, A Mean, Green Christmas. However, as you probably know, it had to be revised, so if you see the "G" word in any of the photos, just know that if you purchase this pack, it will NOT say the "G" word anywhere :)

 

 After reading the book, we listed the Grinch's character traits at the beginning of the book. We also wrote adjectives to compare his heart at the beginning and at the end of the book.

 

Then we had our kids write a few sentences about how he was at the beginning and how he changed at the end. 

 

 

We had the kids write "How to be a Grinch" and we used Deanna Jump's templates for our cute Grinchy friends!

 



 

After comparing his heart at the beginning and end, the kids realized we were using a lot of opposites! So we taught them about antonyms. First we read Straight and Curvy, Meek and Nervy. Our kids were pretty familiar with antonyms, even though this was the first big lesson on them. We made an anchor chart and brainstormed LOTS of antonym pairs! Then we played a whole group matching game, using hearts to tie in the Grinch :)

 

 

 

For some Grinchy math, we worked on fractions! Inside the sacks are the things the Grinch stole from the Whos! They had to write the fraction of ornaments, stockins, and presents.

 

 

The kids worked in partners to practice their measurement by measuring the Whos' gifts! This was a big hit for sure!

 



 

By the end of the week, Mr. Grinch wasn't feeling grinchy anymore... so we did some graphing using gumdrops that he dropped off for us! {you can use M&M's too, or any red and green candy}.

 

 

On our 3rd Annual Grinch Day, we all wore green and enjoyed some Grinch Grub and Grinch Punch while we watched the cartoon version of the book! One of my favorite Christmas movies ever!

 

 

Last but not least, Mr. Grinch dropped off these green candy canes for the kiddos! 

 

 

WHEW. If you made it to the end, THANKS! I hope you enjoy your Christmas break, and let's hope it doesn't go by too fast!! :)





Elftastic Fun!

Has anyone else had a few snow/ice days? We were off Friday, Monday and Tuesday. I will not lie-it was very nice, but I am not going to like it too much when/if we are going to school into June!!

Our elves, Jingle and Jangle, are up to their elfish mischief! Sadly, I have not taken any pictures of our new friends from the North Pole, but they sure are having fun! The first thing the kids do in the morning is look for Jingle and Jangle. I love seeing their excitement :) They sure are loving filling out their elf journals each day! Pick up your free copy here!

Before our ice and snow hit, we worked on our elf applications and Elf for Hire Persuasive Writing! This is by far one of my favorite activities, and the kids were VERY into it! And get this.... Santa even checked our applications!!! Say what?! {He was in the building for Santa pictures} I am so proud of how our kiddos did and they look pretty stinkin' cute hanging in our hallway :)

 

 

 

It's not too late to pick up a copy of Elf for Hire! {A Persuasive Writing Craftivity}! I promise that your kids will just love it!!

 

Oh, and here is a sneak peek at my newest creation! I am ALMOST done with!!! My goal is to post it no later than this weekend! So if you're in need of some snowy fun, be sure to be on the look out!