Holidays Around the Blog....Hot Cocoa Themed Party

***This post contains affiliate links***     Welcome to...  

  Some of my sweetest TPT peeps are linking up to give you great holiday ideas for your classroom.   This is a special time of year. A time when family is number one and the kiddos are filled with joy.  I have little tradition in my room. It allows parents to be with their kiddos and with each other and just enjoy themselves.  I call it a Hot Chocolate Party. I live in an area where parent involvement is waaaay below average, but this party is always a hit. It usually draws in 90% attendance. 

I created this FREE editable invitation poster for you to use in your room.  Click {here} to download it.

SO what is a Hot Chocolate Party? It is a party with lots of hot cocoa (of course), lots of yummy treats, lots of holiday music, and a chance for your students to shine in front of their family. Oh, did I mention we are all in our PJs? We usually have grandparents, aunts, and even babysitters attend. We welcome parents to the sound of holiday music, a slideshow of all the pictures taken throughout the year, and a cup full of scrumptious hot cocoa. Everyone mingles and eats to their hearts desire.  After their bellies are full, I have the kiddos pull out some of their special projects from the year. They even show off their interactive notebooks and anything else they are proud of.    Towards the end, I present a class project. A poem read by ALL the kiddos. In the past, I've recorded the students reading 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. The past few years, I've had them read the whimsical, Snowmen at Christmas. I've had parents cry while listening to their child's sweet voice. This year, I'm going to have the students create their own iMovie for their parents to watch.  

  Need some creative, fun, and engaging resources for this story (ps one of my favorite stories)? Look no further! I've that covered. Click {here}!    Want to link up your fun holiday idea? Join us below!  

Another awesome iPad tip!!!!

 

What have we been up to this week?

My Snowmen at Christmas Activity Pack (Bonus Craftivity) is just what I needed this week. My precious little ones have been bouncing off the walls with Christmas energy. The book, centers, and writing activities helped them gain some focus, while still having a blast. We worked with this book all week AND we're still not done with all the Christmas fun. Do you need something to help you survive until Christmas break? Grab a copy of this packet and have an almost stress free week. Don't have the book? That's okay. Included in my engaging packet is the link to read the book online. Click {here} to grab your copy.

How cute is this little guy?! Seriously adorable. We worked hard on writing a persuasive letter to Santa. The goal was to persuade Santa to let the Green Nosed Reindeer help out with Christmas. Their letters were so inventive! The writing paper comes from Whimsy Workshop Teaching. It is a freebie!!!

I saw a similar snowmen on IG. I knew the moment I saw it, I HAD to have my kiddos make it too. Oh how they loved making them. SOOOO much fun. Thanks Apples and ABCs .

My kiddos earned themselves a cookie decorating party. They had a blast!!!! I could not have done it all without the help of an awesome parent volunteer. She brought in all the materials to make marshmallow snowmen. LOVE!!! I think I'll be adding this to my list of classroom traditions. 

iPad Tip

I've signed up for an iPad professional development course. The first thing I learned was something so simple, yet something I never knew how to do. So I thought, "If I don't know about this, other teachers must not know. I have to tell them!" The tip is how to lock a student into one iPad Application. That's right, they can't secretly sneak out of the app you want them to use. How awesome!!!! Read below for step by step instructions on how to use this iPad feature. 

Go to the iPad settings. Click General and then click Accessibility.

Click Guided Access.

Turn Guided Access ON.  Then turn Accessibility Shortcut ON. Last, Click Set Passcode.

Enter whatever passcode you'd like. 

Now pick an App. Click the home button 3 times. Your screen will then look like the above picture. Click Start. Now your student can only access that App until you enter in a passcode. 

To end the lockout, click the home button 3 times. Enter your passcode. 

Your screen should now look like this. Click End. 

I hope you found this tip helpful! Leave some love in the comments section for me!

Thanksgiving F-F-Fuuun....New products...and a giveaway!

I've linked up with Reading and Writing Redhead to let everyone know what we are thankful for. Here are my 10 things that I am thankful for the most:

What are you thankful for? Leave a comment below.Wanna link up? Click {here}

What have we been up to in class?

We read the delightful book, 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving. I had the students sit in two groups and read to their peers. They all listened intently to each other. They even clapped for each other at the end. I explained their task and sent them off into groups of three. Each group grabbed an iPad and watched the story on YouTube. Their task was to create a sequencing map of the story. They were all working so hard and doing great when...... the teacher next door popped in and said she had extra materials to make butter. She wanted to know if we wanted to do it. Well of course!!! Who could pass that up? 

We had an amazing impromptu lesson complete with a hands-on how-to writing lesson. The kids did a wonderful job writing and I got an extra grade out of them before break. Win-Win all around! 

Here is how you make butter:

You need-

-baby food jar 

-heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

-fill jar 1/2 full with heavy whipping cream

-tightly close the lid

-shake shake and shake for 10 minutes

-open jar and pour out excess liquid

-tightly close lid

-continue to shake for 3 more minutes

-check for anymore liquid...if you have none, your butter is complete. If there is still some liquid, pour it out and shake for another 3 minutes. 

-salt to taste and ENJOY

Christmas in November Giveaway

What could be better than a marvelous giveaway??!! Easy Teaching Tools is having an amazing giveaway. Click {here} to enter for your chance to win and win BIG! 

Speaking of Christmas in November....

Have  you checked out my latest Christmas products?

I've created a math packet (geared for kindergarten and first grade) AND an ELA packet. My ELA packet is to the story Snowmen at Christmas. 

Click {here} to get to my store