Winter Words

I'm working on a few activities to get my kids started when they return to school. First on my list was to update my winter vocabulary board! If you purchased my board last year be sure to upload the newest version. I've added more graphics and words. My kiddos cannot get enough of these!


I know several of my students were going to be traveling out of state during the break so I created a quick graph about snow for us to complete the first morning back. I leave for Seattle this afternoon and unless we plan a trip to the mountains I'm pretty sure we won't see snow! (But we will see me in a scarf, boots, and sweaters! Take that warm Texas weather!) Click on the picture to grab your copy. 


I pinned this cookie recipe early in December from Two Peas & Their Pod and I've been wanting to make them so badly! Let's face it- peppermint and chocolate are a heavenly combo! But I ran out of time, then I knew I would be traveling. I had this genius plan to give my sister a Christmas apron in hopes she would make these cookies....she didn't. In fact she didn't make ANY Christmas cookies. 
AT ALL. 
NO ONE DID. 
WHAAAAT?!


I've totally got to get in shape in the new year, but I will have to make an exception and make these so I can get my fix!

Blogger Meet Up and Christmas

Last night I joined several fabulous bloggers for a Texas blogger meet up! We had loads of fun and gabbed for ever!


Yikes- my hair looks awful! Humidity-BOOOOO


Here are the ladies that were there! If you aren't familiar with some of them be sure to check them out! (For the life of me I can't get them to center!)

I also received my Teacher Blogger Exchange gift from the super Jessica from Tales of a First Grade Teacher! Super cute scarf and earrings and a Starbucks gift card. I'm obsessed with the gingerbread latte! I rocked my new earrings today! 


My exchange partner was Sarah at Yeehaw Teaching in Texas. I kind of fudged and didn't grab her my favorite things. I made her one of my favorite things instead. I saw that this was her first year teaching and I just got so excited. A holiday photo album. You HAVE to have a cute keepsake from your first year! 


I'm heading back to Seattle tomorrow for a few days, but I pinky promise I'm working on new posts and new items for the second half of the school year. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Someone Touched the Elf!

{GASP!}

It's true. A sweetie with special needs was visiting my room and touched the elf. The kids were devastated! We talked a bit about how Santa knows when things are an accident and cannot be helped. I love that first graders are so understanding of others! BUT although they were understanding I still had to tell them that I would email Santa about needing some more magic for our elf.  Did you know Santa makes sure all teachers have his email address? It's true!

Well, I went home in a panic and a sweet blogger friend led me to the Elf Magical Recovery Kit! I used my glitter from Silhouette as my magic dust. When my kiddos came in this morning poor Rosie was still lying on her side with Santa's letter and magic dust next to her. We followed the instructions in the letter and went off to our assembly this morning. When we returned Rosie had moved! It worked!!!!!






Student Gifts

I finished my student gifts last night and set them out for my kids this morning!

Student gifts
It takes a little planning and you have to shop in the summer when school supplies are on sale so you don't break the bank. I buy pencil boxes at the dollar store and crayons when they are on sale at Target for ¢40. I decorate the front with paint pens and add a few other goodies like Christmas erasers, pencils, and stickers. I make sure to buy only two different color pencil boxes that could work for either a boy or a girl. One year I had 18 boys and 4 girls. CRAZY! 

The kids love having BRAND NEW CRAYONS! All kids love having their names on something too!

On Friday our elf surprised us by moving MID-DAY! She came back with a special envelope for us. (This is all from the Christmas Around the World with the Elf on the Shelf unit from the ladies from Dancing in Our Teaching Shoes)




The kids were beyond excited! "I've never had a secret mission before!" So. Stinkin. Cute. 
The kids are so excited to gather information for Santa about different countries and this unit is so different. 

4 more days folks! We can make it!

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary


My heart goes out

My heart goes out to the families of those harmed yesterday. Farley has planned a blogger day of silence. Please check out her post HERE. I cannot begin to understand why such a tragedy has occurred. I cannot imagine how hard it will be for those teachers to return to school. Join me tomorrow in a blogger moment of silence.

12-12-12 Linky!

I'm so excited to be linking up with Stacy at Simpson's Superstars tonight for 12 random pictures this 12th day of the 12th month!




1. My pink tree in my classroom! (Not allowed to light it up. WAAAA!)
2. It's been 80+ degrees here for most of December but this week it's chilly enough to wear boots! Hooray!
3. Our class elf, Rosie, holding our calendar number today. She had flipped all the numbers upside down in our calendar.
4. I giant puffy heart love chevron print and pink is m y favorite color. I made this for my classroom this summer. My kiddos told me I should take a picture of that and....
5. My sassy Christmas apron. I have lots of aprons! All of them are from Foodphyte on Etsy. My kids love them and really, without an apron I would totally lose my pink pen and projector remote! (Please ignore the "I'm almost late to school and I haven't moved our elf yet" hair. Cra-zy)
6. After school today I took my niece to see Santa Claus. That's us standing in line. All through the mall, "I need to see Santa. I need to see Santa Claus RIGHT NOW." So cute!
7. After seeing Santa and riding the train we had dinner and ice cream. This was just after my niece said, "Aunt Jenny I love ice cream!"
8. I found boots on sale! Hard to tell from the picture but they are extra cute with buckles and straps. Almost 40% off- "Honey, think how much I SAVED!"
9. The candle that was a mistake. At the store it smelled heavenly. But my entire apartment smells like it now even though I have never opened it or lit it! TOO STRONG. Ugh.
10. A new Santa. Isn't he awesome?!
11. 121212Concert- relief concert on tv (Martha Stewart in the back!)
12. AND my new glitter to use with my Silhouette projects- which have been few and far between lately. 

I hope everyone had a great day! I thought it was Thursday ALL DAY LONG. I was psyched that tomorrow would be Friday. We're almost there folks!



Get ready for 12-12-12!

Woohoo! I can't wait! I love an excuse to be extra creative! 


Stacy from Simpson's Superstars is hosting a linky party tomorrow for 12-12-12. Take 12 pictures of whatever you want and then we can share them. I'm thinking I need a theme.......I'm also thinking that this is a great opportunity for my kiddos to write about Rosie, our classroom elf. I threw together a quick activity for tomorrow. Just click on the image below to grab your copy!

I'm thinking Rosie will steal the number 12 out of our calendar tomorrow!

Tell Me Something Good- Christmas Style!

*Don't you love the blinky in the corner and that it's SNOWING on my blog?! I had to get snow somehow! Big thanks to Barbara who has the blog  Grade ONEderful and also does blog design at Ruby Slippers Blog Designs! Be sure to check her out!*
I have the NORAD Santa app on my phone.  I just opened it and saw that Santa was coming in just 14 days, 5 hours, 20 minutes, and 38 seconds! WHAT?! Where is the time going?! So before it's time for Santa to pay us a visit I thought I would have another Tell Me Something Good linky- Christmas style!


Just like always tell me something good that's happening your classroom or school, and something good from home! I'd also LOVE for you to share something good you've purchased for a gift in the past or something you've gotten or are planning to purchase this year! (I'm in need of some ideas for my husband!)

Something good from school: My kids are in great holiday spirit! We've been listening to Christmas music every day and I just love hearing them sing along! I've also discovered that on You Tube there are Wii Just Dance Kids videos. They make for a great body break. OR if you have someone throw up in your room, like me on Friday, then you pile into another teachers classroom and have a dance party! It's AWESOME!

Something good at home: Y'all will think this is strange, but this time last year I was thankful for Prozac for my cat because she is nuts. She pulls out the fur on her belly when she is nervous or upset and without Prozac she was half bald. She is no longer on Prozac! Yahoooooooooo!

Gifts purchased in the past: For my husband the techie past gifts- An Apple TV, Logitech Harmony Remote, Roku, Bose noise canceling headphones. But I have no idea what to get him this year!

Now it's your turn to link up! Happy Monday!


Gingerbread Pirates

Next week I am planning on being full on ginger-tastic! I've got so many gingerbread books and so many activities on my to-do list that we may not get to them all! One book I especially love is "The Gingerbread Pirates." It's different and sweet and the kids get a kick out the the gingerbread men being pirates. It also has a happy ending, which I am a total sucker for. 


 I wanted to make some activities that my kids could do independently or in small group with me while still incorporating our gingerbread fun! I've been working on it for a few days now and I just posted my 



I'll send a copy to the first 3 people to leave a comment WITH their email address!

Our Elf

Last year when I saw all these great posts about how bloggers were using and Elf on the Shelf in their classes I was so JEALOUS. I love all things Christmas and I wanted to participate so badly. But I just knew that if I asked my administrator I would be told no.

This year I started reading more about Elf on the Shelf in the classroom and nearly all of my students have their own elf at home. I was extra super jealous. I decided to email my parents and ask if it would be ok. Guess what?! Everyone was on board! I'm so excited!
***
Our elf showed up while we were at recess. She had her note from Santa rolled up in her arms and the Elf of the Shelf book behind her! Christmas music was blasting and I was of course so annoyed. (Wink wink!) "WHY is Christmas music blasting?"
"Mrs. Tice! We have AN ELF!"
"WOW!"
"Don't touch her! She'll lose her magic!"
"It's a girl! She has earrings!"
"What does her note say?!"


It was great! We voted on her name and it's Rosie. (My favorite choices were Pinky and Glitterbell! I do LOVE me some glitter!)

I'm using a great product for my Elf in the Classroom that you can check out here!

Rosie graffitied our classroom with her name. Here' how my students will find her tomorrow morning:


Seriously, I hope she doesn't fall. I'm so short and was standing on a desk when I did this. I couldn't actually see what I was doing!

PS: If you read my Currently you should know I STILL haven't unpacked. Ugh. I hate unpacking! My poor husband is one of those people that unpacks thirty seconds after we return from a trip. I know it's driving him nuts!

Gingerbread Freebie

Do you love gingerbread? I love gingerbread. I love making gingerbread cookies and I LOVE the gingerbread latte at Starbucks. And like the true clip art addict I am- I have tons of gingerbread clip art too.  Well, Casey from Second Grade Freebies was having a holiday freebie linky party and I had to join in! Then I saw that Teaching My Three  is having a holiday linky party too. There are tons of freebies already listed on both sites and I've already found a few new blogs that I wasn't familiar with! To download click on the picture. I would love a comment if you choose to download!