Sight Word Pillowcases

I started creating our Sight Word Pillowcases for this year's winter gifts. I created a stencil using my Cricut machine and use fabric paint and a sponge. I used cardstock for the stencil. As you paint, it dries and thickens, increasing the stencil's longevity. Click here for a previous blog post. :)

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Holiday Gifts

We wrapped our family gifts in scented (clean) trash bags. This year my aide and husband painted the hands. I will (hopefully) have willing mommy helpers for 2014-2015 school year!

Here's the detailed post, here.

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"Smartie" Pants

I made 60 tiny pairs of pants for a welcome gift on the first day of school for my kindergartners. I printed them on blue cardstock in a table. Then, I cut them out without a pattern, mostly using my paper cutter.





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Volunteers

Here is what we made for our fantastic volunteers. All 23 of them! The Lifesavers read, "You are a Lifesaver!" and the rock candy read, "You rock!"









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Thanks a Latte

Here are some adorable gift ideas!

(Gift cards are hiding inside.)

(There is a glass vase glued inside.)
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Sight Word Pillow Cases

I am making these pillow cases now so I don't have to worry about it during the busy school year. I will be adding handprints and names to them. I plan on giving these to the children during the holiday season. :) I found the pillow cases online for about $1.50 each and I used fabric markers.


I got the idea from this picture.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOxZzA1456sy0u1-ANpVdxai19abc3gIfYPSfdprQpMzjLzuD8pQSrYMNPqj0ZFxQmqD7hE_tyWc_l3VPOqRl-h8FJDugllC1PqDSOHyPpqr31hYLVmMuevz9UP-9nrh4e3KHZ1d8O/s1600/100+Sight+Word+PCase+snip.JPG

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2012 Calendars

Here is how this year's calendars came out... Without an aide, I had mommy helpers paint and stamp the hands for 12 days. Amazing dedication!

Here's the detailed post, here.

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Happy Holidays!

We decorated cookies at our holiday party, of course. :)

It's a tradition to watch, "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer," with my kinders. I am NOT a big fan of watching movies. Ever (even at home). But I left the subtitles on, so the kids could read also, while watching the movie!

I bought board games for the class for centers.

We made "Reindeer Food".

Ingredients: oatmeal and sugar sprinkles.

Then, the kinders have been making handprint calendars for the last month as a gift to their families. Silly me, I forgot to take a picture of December with Santa. Above, is the back of the calendar. The pictures are backwards. Here is the site where I got the poems from, then I copied them into Word...

http://printables.atozteacherstuff.com/334/2012-handprint-calendar/

I typed every student's birthday and special school events.

The front!

We wrapped them in (new) trash bags. A few student helpers actually did it for me while I tied the bows with curling ribbon.

To/From gift tags.

We also had a Rabbi come in to teach the children about Hanukkah.

They loved playing with the dreidels!

Lastly, as a center, I had the children write in "snow" (sugar) as a center on cookie sheets. One week, we used flashcards to copy the print. The next week, we sounded out winter words and wrote them in the snow.

Thanks, WalMart!

I would just like to give a shout out to WalMart and their Teacher Rewards program. Two managers from the school's nearest WalMart visited our school this morning during our staff meeting. Not only did they bring EVERY baked good for breakfast including fruit platters, but they also brought TEN $100 classroom giftcards... AND I WON ONE! So, thanks WalMart for buying my kinders some extra-special things for our room!

The Perks

I LOVE homemade gifts and this year I had some VERY talented mommies. I included the Scentsy warmer, since the kindergartner who gave me the warmer told me, "When I was a tiny baby, I made those handprints since I knew one day you'd be my teacher." (That fabulous warmer comes with the handprints on it :)

Father's Day Gifts

Photo courtesy of Mrs. ElCid.

The Father's Day gifts turned out great this year. Last August in Target's "One Spot", they had three-packs of picture frames for $2.50, so I loaded my cart with 54 frames. In the 4"x6" frame I put in a picture of each child holding the sign above. On the frame, I hot-glued random puzzle pieces. They frames were much nicer than last year's, so hopefully I find the same frames again!

Also, my husband and BIL wrapped the frames in scented 1 gallon trash bags and tied green and blue ribbon. The same trash bags from Mother's Day, but not in pink.

Our Classroom Gift

Someone "special" visited our classroom during Christmas and gave us new crayons, glue, pencils, and erasers!

The Holidays

During the last few school days before Winter Break, we painted candy cane patterns, wrote in our journals about the cold and holidays, and we had a celebration on Friday. On Friday, it was Pajama Day (again) for the whole school. We sang, decorated cookies, and made/wrapped gifts for our families.

Here are the gifts... They are reindeer candy tins with an ornament (and candy) inside! I printed off 2 quick sheets of Avery 8160 labels for the gift tags.

The Perks

How stinkin' cute is this?!?!?!?! I love homemade gifts...

I Love You To Pieces!

For Father's Day, I buy magnetic picture frames. I take pictures of the kids holding up the "I Love You to Pieces!" sign. The children glue puzzle pieces around the frame, put it in a colored paper bag, and make a sweet card.

Mother's Day

Here is the plate I made in kindergarten. We make the exact same plates (from the same company) for the moms on Mothers Day.

Wrapping 50 plates is pretty difficult, so I just throw them in a pretty bag and tie the bag off with ribbon. The bags are scented as well!

We decorate the tables with cards, table cloths, homemade cookies, bottled water, and mother-child activities. While the moms sit in the kids' tiny chairs, we sing, recite, and dance for them.

The bottle labels are my favorite part.