I am linking up with adorable Michelle at Fabulous in First, for this cute and fun linky party! I love reading all about how everyone celebrates Christmas!
Hot Chocolate or Eggnog?
Hot chocolate. I love the SMELL of eggnog, but I do not like the snotty texture. I really hate milk though, so it is sort of like thick milk. Ugh. I do like eggnog flavored ice cream - so go figure.
Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them underneath the tree?
He does NOT wrap. But he does work his butt off setting everything up - opening up packages (I am in love with Amazon for their frustration free packaging), putting in batteries, getting it ready to play. Santa does not bring everything though. Mom and Dad wrap. Each of our kids gets their own type of wrap so it is easy to see who gets what!
Colored lights or white?
Colored!
When do you decorate?
This is a HUGE issue in my marriage LOL! We don't decorate until after December 2nd because that is my oldest son's birthday. I would like to decorate the third. My husband however INSISTS on a real tree, and not getting it until the 15th or so.... so we kind of compromise. The house is pretty much decorated now, just no tree. I find it irritating, but marriage is all about compromise I suppose!
Real or Fake Tree?
Real, always real. Real messy and real. See above.
What Tops Your Tree?
A star or a snowflake.
Favorite Christmas Memories or Traditions?
My favorite memories are Christmas Eve nights at my grandparents house. Our whole family was always together, I can still smell the house. My grandma used to cook a lot of German food (she still does, but we are rarely all together). There were presents from the back wall all the way to the front of the room. My grandpa dressed up as skinny Santa. We always got matching Christmas jammies with my cousins and when it was time to go home my grandma always gave us a Santa plate of fruit and nuts and Santa candies.
Our family has a few advent calendars (I still have the one from my childhood) and the kids love it. I love our yearly trek to see Santa at the mall, and I love that we always make birthday cake for Jesus and sing Happy Birthday.
Do you remember your favorite gift as a child?
Is it weird I don't really remember? I remember what all the presents looked like under the tree, and I remember the feelings.... I just don't remember one specific gift. Maybe nylons. I remember being so nervous to ask for them (I was about 10), but I did and my parents told me I was not old enough for them. But then they got me some. I was happy and embarrassed. I remembered hating them once I had them (I still do), but I was glad to get them. I got so many gifts, but I don't really remember them. I just remember how I felt.
Do prefer giving or receiving?
Giving for sure. I feel kind of embarrassed receiving gifts.
What is your favorite Christmas song?
Be Born In Me. Gives me the shivers!
Candy Canes. Yuck or Yum?
I pretty much like them. I love mint. I just don't really like their shape or texture that much. I LOVE those mint sticks that are kind of soft and chalky (which is weird because I hate chalk so much!).
Favorite Christmas Movie?
I love Christmas Vacation, and Elf and Polar Express.... and Miracle on 34th Street, and Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas.... it just depends on what day you ask me.
Do you shop online or at stores?
Almost entirely on-line. Amazon Prime is my best friend. I kind of keep waiting for them to come out and recognize me as their number one customer, but alas, they never do! I have also become kind of obsessed with www.pickyourplum.com. I have bought all of our teacher gifts through them, and a few other things. I check it constantly. If you have not tried it, check it out. They have amazing deals on a few items everyday until they run out. It is kind of a rush!
Photo, Letter or Store Bought Card?
Hmmm..... I don't do either, is that awful? It just gets so crazy around this time of the year I don't send either. But I love getting photo cards. And I really do pray for all my friends and family and wish them all a very Merry Christmas, I just don't usually get it onto a card.
I have put my four favorite winter products on sale through Friday! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/In-That-Room My favorite Christmas book ever (besides the Bible) is probably Auntie Claus, so I made this little unit out of love. My class LOVES this unit, It is full of fun reading and language arts materials. It has a cute little snowglobe craftivity that my kids LOVE! Glitter city! It is a great unit for that last week before break when everything is wonky. It can be done in pieces or as a whole. If you don't know this book, go check it out!
I have my SNOW unit planned for the week after Christmas. It is a fiction and non fiction unit based on four great snow books. I love Snowflake Bentley so much I threw his book in there. My kids are always fascinated by him and we always compare his character to other great people we study in social studies. He showed great perseverance and passion and left his mark on the world. I love this unit because it can be broken up as needed and used in different ways with different kids. My students have LOVED the snowflake symmetry activity as well! The unit has a lot of fun activities for comparing and contrasting and a lot of POETRY!
One of my biggest products is Hot Chocolate, Mittens and Snowmen, Oh My! There is so much in this, it is perfect have around as a "just in case" unit, in case you ever need a sub. It is full of reading and language activities. It can be used in small groups, in whole groups, as homework, you name it!
And finally I have The Mitten Unit. The unit compares and contrasts two versions of this famous folktale. Kids love this story and I love that these two versions have so many similarities and so many differences.
Sweet Cassie at Adventures in Teaching is having a fabulous giveaway!!! She has a store full of fabulous, creative, fun and adorable materials and is home right now like I am - trapped by the ice! Go check out her fabulous giveaway for a $25 gift card to TPT!
I wanted to share my new Exploring Even and Odd Numbers Unit - so I am giving away 20 FREE copies in a Pin It to Win It Giveaway. a Rafflecopter giveaway
I have been MIA from my blog the past few weeks or so. Things have been crazy here. But tonight I decided to link up withe the Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday.
Today we had an ICE DAY! The city of Dallas and the surrounding areas are covered in 3 inches of ice. We are more or less trapped inside. It could not have been better timing for our family. Yesterday we had a memorial service for my father in law. He was such an incredible and wonderful man. We all loved him so very much and he was taken from us very quickly. We are all having a very hard time, so having today to snuggle and play and cry together has been healing. I will miss this man for the rest of my life. I am so blessed to have had him as my father in law and "Papa" to my babies.
I was only really at school this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. Strangely, Wednesday was 80 degrees. The kids were complaining of being hot at recess! LOL! Of course, I chose this day to try a new natural deodorant. Ummmm.... I do NOT recommend this to anyone. I smelled like a spicy hobo, and ended up slapping Purell under my arms at some point of the day. I loved the smell of this stuff when I bought it, but combined with me...Epic Fail. To be fair, I did not reapply it throughout the day as people suggested.
Today my son Alex, decided to try his skates out in the street. We had THAT MUCH ice.
My daughter Eden, decided to take it easy. This is what she decided to wear.
We spent time eating chili, drinking hot chocolate, sitting by the fire and taking selfies! LOL!
I F-I-N-A-L-L-Y finished my Exploring Odd and Even Numbers unit. My thinking about math has changed so much in the past couple of years that I am finding a lot of things I used to do are not working for me anymore. One subject area I really never gave much thought or energy to was odd and even numbers. I used to read Even Steven and Odd Todd, teach the kids that odd numbers end in 1,3,5,7,9 and even numbers end in 0,2,4,6,8 and do a few worksheets. I'm not proud of it, it's just the truth. I have been reading and working and working and reading...and I have come up with this new little unit, which actually came out to be rather big. I am putting it up as a FLASH FREEBIE until tomorrow at 3:00 pm. If you go and grab it, please leave me some feedback. If you find something that you think stinks or I have made a mistake on, I would love if you would send it to me in an email or leave me a question on TPT instead of leaving negative feedback. I will use your feedback to help me make a better unit! Thank you! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Exploring-Even-and-Odd-Numbers-999624
Today we did one of my favorite activities - Contraction Surgery. Let's face it - contractions are not that interesting - at least of the grammar variety. But I think this little activity and craftivity help to make it easier for the kids to understand the concept behind contractions. We have been working on contractions in class and talking about why we use them and how we make them. Today I explained that when we make we are kind of like surgeons. We cut out the parts of words that are not needed and "stitch" them back together using an apostrophe. The kids liked the idea of that. I showed them an example and they were ready to go. We donned "surgical gear" - aka - dust masks, science goggles and gloves from the custodian and got to work using my Contraction Hospital packet. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Contraction-Hospital-Craftivity-366691 The kids LOVED it. We used cheapy dollar store band-aids to "stitch" the words back together and write our apostrophes on. Their "hospitals" were adorable and they had a very hands-on experience that I am hoping they remember for a long time to come!
Our class was so honored to have Jack, a retired veteran, come and visit our classroom. Jack was paralyzed in a night jump out of plane four years ago. His night vision googles came off as he jumped and he was not aware of how close to the ground was. He has had to learn a whole new way of life.
He came to talk to our second graders for Veterans Day. He was so amazing. He told our kids about his military career, his tours of duty, his experiences, his accident, his super cool wheelchair (the kids were AMAZED by all it could do) and his love our country. He told the kids that even knowing what he knows now, he would not have changed a thing, he was so PROUD of his work to defend our country. He answered 84,000 questions that ranged from, "Did you get to keep your guns?" to "What do you like to eat?".
Our kids were so proud to present their donation to the Wounded Warrior Project. They made over $700 selling Popcorn for Patriots. Jack explained how much that money would mean to our veterans coming home learning how to live with new disabilities. It was a great way to celebrate and honor our veterans. Our kids are now all fired up about writing letters to veterans.
