Catching up!

Oh my WORD!  Where has the time gone?!?  This school year is going by fast (well, that's not such a bad thing is it? Ha!).  Sorry for being such a slacker in the blogging world but I have been super tired lately.  Not sure if it's the weather - it's been really cold and rainy here this past week - but today is a sunny (still cold) day and I have a bit of energy in me (not sure how long this is going to last!).

Here's a bit of what we have been doing in my classroom these past few weeks.  We celebrated Thanksgiving and made this cute paper plate turkey.





This paper plate witch below is such a cute craft that we make every year.  This idea originated from my good friend and former teaching partner, Ms. Alves (who is just so creative!).  The kids painted the plate green in the morning, then in the afternoon they cut out her hat (which was already traced for them using white pencil crayon), cut out her eyes, painted red lips and curled her hair by wrapping the brown construction paper strip around their pencil.  Soooo cute!

This past week we read Going to the Park With Grandpa which is part of our Scholastic Literacy Place language curriculum.  The book focused on seasons so I decided to do an activity where students had to sort the cards according to season.

Click on the picture to download this activity for free.

Remember this...............??????

I made a crayon bulletin board outside my classroom for the beginning of school.  Felt like ages ago!

You can read about that post here.  I had a LOT of requests asking how I made the crayons.  All you need are empty 500ml water bottles (one per crayon) and the crayon template (click on picture to download).

Print out the template onto coloured construction paper.  You will need an additional 5x5 square piece of coloured construction paper per bottle to make the tips of the crayons - just roll them around to make a triangle shape and glue gun them to the bottle.  Then hot glue the crayon stencil (which is the download above).  To make the black oval names, simply create a black oval using the shapes button on Word and fill it in using black.  Then add a text box inside and type the child's name.  *Be sure to make the text colour white so it appears on black.*  That's it!  Pretty easy, huh? 

This is a short week for me - tomorrow is a PA Day (yah!) which gives me the opportunity to finally tidy up and organize a few things in my class that I have been meaning to get to for a while now!  I'll be back this week with updated class photos and an inside scoop on my Literacy Centres...which are going great!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

OH!!!!  I almost forgot........I need your help!  I am heading down to Buffalo, NY in the next few weeks.  I have read many posts about the dollar section at Target and Dollar Tree (which I always go to when I am in the USA).  Can anyone recommend any other hot spots to hit for teaching supplies when I'm down there?  Any and all help appreciated!  Thanks!