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Ringing in the New Year Giveaway!

Happy New Year to all of my friends, readers, and fellow teachers!
To ring in 2013, I'm hosting a fabulous giveaway with lots of goodies for all!  Over 70 teaching resources were donated for my giveaway.  I'm so grateful for the generosity of my fellow bloggers and TpT sellers!

I've arranged the goodies into five categories:
K-2 Math, K-2 ELA
3-5 Math, 3-5 ELA
Clip Art/Other resources 
You are welcome to enter all five categories for a chance to win over 70+ awesome products!  
The entry period will end up on January 9th at 12:00am.  Winners will receive their prizes by e-mail following the giveaway period.  Best of luck to all, and please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
I decided to add a BONUS Giveaway at the very bottom of this blog post, so make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom to win something very $$$SPECIAL$$$.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Cinnamon Applesauce Christmas Ornaments

'Tis the season for Christmas books, crafts, lessons, and activities!  December is my favorite month of the year because of all of the exciting and fun lessons I get to do with my students.  
Today, I wanted to share with you the Cinnamon Applesauce Christmas Ornaments that the kids make to give to their parents.  
I also wanted to share a few of my favorite Christmas books/lessons!  
All you need to make these NON-EDIBLE ornaments is applesauce, cinnamon, and glitter!  I ask parent volunteers to send in the ingredients we need.  I start with about 3 cups of applesauce and 3 cups of cinnamon.  Depending on the weather/humidity, I usually need to add lots more cinnamon.  {Hint: Have lots of extra cinnamon available or you will be begging the cafeteria manager for some!}  Work the applesauce and cinnamon into a dough that can be rolled out with a rolling pin.  

Put cinnamon on your hands, the rolling pin, and the baking mat before rolling out the dough.  Cut the dough with cookie cutters.  Poke a hole in the top of the dough with a drinking straw.  Allow the dough to dry for approximately 2 days.  {I usually make the ornaments on Thursday/Friday, and let them dry over the weekend.}  
On Monday, have students apply Elmer's glue to the hardened ornament using a paintbrush.  Then let the glitter fun begin!  :)  
I let the students choose any shape they want...gingerbread man, Santa, star, stocking, bell, etc., but I've found the easiest shapes to "glitter-ize" are the stars and stockings!  
After the glitter dries, add ribbon so the ornament can be hung on the tree.  Finally, my students wrap their ornaments in several sheets of tissue paper and wrapping paper.  They create a gift tag, and their gift is ready for their parents!  
These ornaments smell AMAZING!  The picture above is of a few of the ornaments I have on my Christmas tree at home.  I made those particular ornaments FIVE YEARS AGO and they still smell of cinnamon!  You won't regret making these ornaments, and the parents will love this sentimental gift.  Have fun!
Here are two books I'm super excited to read aloud in December:
Lesson Ideas for Merry Christmas, Splat:
1. Have students write a persuasive letter to Santa explaining how they have been "good" this year
2.  Have students make a list of things they have done to be on Santa's nice list
3.  Have students write a story about a time when they waited up for Santa
4.  Have students recreate an illustration from the book  (Don't forget Seymour the mouse!)
5.  Have students write/draw about Splat's Christmas gift from Santa

Lesson Ideas for Turkey Claus:
1.  Have students create an alternative disguise for Turkey.  Students can write about it, draw it, or create it with construction paper and art supplies.
2.  Students tell which disguise was the best and support their claim with three reasons.
3.  Students write a letter to Farmer Jake convincing him not to have turkey for Christmas dinner.  
To check out more great books and Christmas activities, stop by the Teaching Blog Addict's latest post.  Just click the button below!  
Christmas Week

Manic Monday: FREEBIES!

Classroom Freebies Manic Monday
Calling all K-2 Math Teachers...You will LOVE my latest FREEBIE!  
These Christmas inspired story problems are sure to keep students engaged before the holidays!
Use these task cards in whole group, small group, at a math center, or as a class scavenger hunt! This freebie includes 16 task cards, an answer key, and a student recording sheet. 



You can download this freebie by clicking any of the images above.  Enjoy!  

Currently December!

It's hard for me to believe that it's already December.  My husband and I got married on December 17, 2011 so it's almost been an entire year.  Wow!  The time has just flown by!  :)

I'm linking up with Farley for Currently December!
Also, I made a Christmas countdown for a friend!  We'd seen a bunch of adorable countdowns on Pinterest, so I decided to create my own.  There are several different styles.  You can print it out and put it in an 8x10 picture frame.  Maybe add a little ribbon or bow to the frame?  Then just write directly on the glass with a dry erase marker.  It would make a super cute Christmas gift!  :)  


The third poster doesn't have a background in case you want to print on festive scrapbook paper!  :)  
Merry Christmas from ME to YOU!  

Cyber Monday Sale!

Have you heard about the HUGE Cyber Monday (+Tuesday) sale on TeachersPayTeachers!?!?  
I've been busy filling my shopping cart/wish list all week!  :) 
Can't wait!
{Adorable button compliments of The School Supply Addict!

Check out my goodies here! 
I think you will love some of my new Christmas math products!  They are perfect for small group activities and math stations in December.  Keep your kiddos engaged and working hard before Christmas break!
FREE Christmas Word Problems!  Use these task cards at a station or as a class scavenger hunt!

These Ten-Frame Task Cards and Part-Part-Whole Task Cards are great for addition/subtraction practice!

Happy Shopping!  


Pinterest Fanatic?

Are you a Pinterest fanatic like me!?!  I pin school stuff, recipes, decor ideas, and tons of CRAFTS!  My friend Kristin and I decided to have our first-ever Girls' Pinterest Night!  We were going to make three different Pinterest projects.  Well, shopping for supplies proved to be very challenging.  After going to Michael's, The Dollar Tree, and Office Depot, we found the supplies for ONE of the projects.  This is the project we were so excited about: 
So adorable, right?
Unfortunately, Pinterest is NOT as easy as it looks.  Check out the final project...
We decided we need a Silhouette before attempting another project like this... Better luck next time!  :)
Happy Friday!!!

Holiday Recipe Linky Party


I love nothing more than a GREAT holiday recipe!  I'm linking up with First Grade and Fabulous and bringing you my favorite Thanksgiving/Christmas recipe of ALL TIME!  Literally, I look forward to this Sweet Potato Casserole all year long.  I never liked sweet potatoes until I had this dish one year at a friend's house.  Now I can't get enough of it!  I hope you enjoy my recipe!

The recipe is super easy to make, but please let me know if you have any questions about it!  :)  
You can join the Linky party but clicking the button above!  

A little bit of this and that...

Great news for TheHappyTeacher!  I've been featured on Heather from Creation Castle's blog!  Check out her post here.

Also, I just posted a new math activity for stations, centers, or small groups!  It's based on my best-selling Ten-Frame Task Cards, and it's VERY festive.  Here's a little preview.  Let me know what you think!





There are four sets of task cards in this product.  (4 sets of 16 cards for a total of 64 task cards)
Set #1: Addition
Set #2: Subtraction
Set #3: Mixed Operations
Set #4: Challenge Problems (2-step) 


Thanksgiving Craftivity!



Thanksgiving is just 15 days away!  
I wanted to share my FAVORITE Thanksgiving project with y'all!  
I make these Turkey Pinecones with my kiddos every year.  Believe it or not, they store really well, and I have a few of them up on the mantle at my house.  I uploaded the directions and a few fun activities to TeachersPayTeachers.

Some years, I have the kids bring in pinecones.  Other years, I buy the scented cinnamon pinecones!  They smell AMAZING, and my whole classroom smells like CINNAMON.  

Note: I like to get fall-colored pipe cleaners for these turkeys.  However, sometimes the kids just want their turkey to have hot pink feathers, and that's OK too.  For the legs, I try to find the giant pipe cleaners that are extra furry!

I've also added several fun, independent activities that kiddos can work on while they are waiting for their turn to make a turkey pinecone!  These are all part of the FREEBIE on TpT!



I usually have most of these supplies in my art cabinet.  If I'm out of something, I can usually beg my room mom or another volunteer for a donation!  :)  Parents LOVE these as much as the kids do!
Have fun!!



Featured!

I was featured on Dana from Fun in 1st Grade's Blog today!  
Hooray!  Check out her post when you have a minute! :)  
I love linking up with Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade!

Happy Sunday!

I woke up to find my "Dunk It Domonies" FREEBIE in the TpT newsletter!  What a wonderful surprise on a beautiful Sunday morning!  If you didn't see it, you can check it out here!

In the spirit of fall and Thanksgiving, a few of my friends are doing AMAZING giveaways on their blogs!  
Be sure to check them out:
...Scroll to the bottom to win my BRAIN BREAKS!...

Finally, Laurah J. from Tools for Teachers is heading up a wonderful project to help teachers who were affected by Hurricane Sandy.  If you were affected by this tragedy, click on the button below to ask for help!  Teachers from around the world are donating hard goods and digital resources to help those affected.  
If you are a fellow teacher and would like to help others, just click on the following button!

Hope you have a fabulous Sunday!  I know I will!  :)  


Congratulations!

I'm so grateful to everyone who participated in my 1st giveaway!  {Kelly...your gift card is officially in the mail.}  
The giveaway was a huge success, and I was able to grow my blog to over 130 followers.  Hooray!  I'm brainstorming my next giveaway.  I'm thinking something around the Holidays would be nice...Gift cards + shopping = awesome!
Leave a comment and let me know where you love to shop!  

Halloween Sale!

Take a peek at my TPT store!  Everything is 15% off until Monday!  
Thanks to Charlotte's Clips for the super cute pumpkin clip art!

I HEART FALL!

Pinterest has me feeling very inspired lately!  I wanted to share a few Pinterest projects I've been working on!  They are all projects for my home, but I still thought you'd appreciate!  :)

I used Glow in the Dark Puffy paint (the kind for t-shirts).  It doesn't "glow" as much as I'd like, but it still looks super cute!
Front stoop decor!  I found the basket at Michael's.  I'm still looking for the perfect fall plant to go inside the basket.  Maybe a mum?
The mantle is super simple....lanterns from Wal-Mart and fall garland from JoAnne's Fabrics.  {I can't remember where the wooden pumpkin came from!?!}  I figured the bookcases were pretty busy so I didn't want to overdue it on the mantle.
I found this darling wreath at Joanne's Fabrics.  I bought the letter P at Michael's and decorated it with Mod Podge and gold glitter.  Gotta love Pinterest!
I fell in love with these when I saw them on Pinterest.  They were SUPER easy to make.  I gave them out as party favors at my Mom's 60th birthday party last weekend.
And last but not least....Mason jar floral arrangements for my Mom's party!  I wrapped each mason jar with burlap ribbon and then tied a lace bow over top.  The hydrangeas were super cheap so this project was fairly inexpensive overall!  :)
Just two days left to enter to win a $25 Target gift card!  Check out the Rafflecopter below!