Christmas at Wolfelicious

What do you get your teacher?

  I know that is always a question I have for my son's teacher.  I know that being a teacher you always get lots of great things, however sometimes you get things that aren't so wonderful.  Because I am a teacher I know I always want to get my son's teacher's something they would like and not throw away.  This year I got a lot of awesome and thoughtful gifts!
  Gifts that I will use. 
(sorry don't mean to be mean, but you know the gifts that are super nice but you never use? That you rather just have the $5 they spent on it.)

This year I got tons of an awesome gifts!   Here is a picture of what I got!

There are so many reasons why I love this gift. The Olive Garden (my favorite restaurant), Target (my favorite store), Outback (another favorite restaurant), and so many more!  My parents took the time to work together and make the perfect gift for me that I WILL use and enjoy!  (I feel very blessed).  

It appears that a money tree does exist and Oh boy! Do I LOVE it!  

Besides the wonderful gift card tree, I got a lot of other wonderful gifts!  Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts cups (I guess my students have noticed my choice of a beverage in the morning, hehe). Homemade body scrubs that smell great and homemade cookies.  I definitely feel very blessed!  I truly appreciated all their gifts to me and I love how thoughtful and awesome the gifts are!

Ok, moving on....

The last week before we were off was super busy. (I am seeing a super busy trend every single week). We were finishing up the quarter so I had to finish up my assessments and their grade cards. It always takes me forever to do the comments on the grade cards.  
We made some craftivities.  Last year I saw this Santa on TPT and I know I had to fit it in this year. The Techy Santa!  I love how it looks and it fits nicely in my classroom. I am so glad I purchased it.  We used the iSanta Apps page to draw what the students wanted for Christmas.  They loved being able to choose that many things. 

We made our gift bag for our ornaments. I love making the reindeer bags.  They always turn out so cute. 

We played Heidisongs sight word game, Jingle Bell Bang. I just love this and so does the students. They ask to play it again and again.  

We continued RACKing around our school.  

Surprising the Media Center teacher. (I was hiding around the corner)

More RACKing!  Giving Smarties to another smart class.  

This year I wanted to make a different ornament.  I always make the handprint snowman, but I thought this year it was overdone so I wanted to make something different.  I thought and thought about what my students could make that their parents will treasure.  I had seen another ornament on Pinterest that the person's child drew a picture and they put that inside.  After I saw that ornament I knew that is what I had to make with my class.  I had all my students draw a picture on a piece of white construction paper.  Then I couldn't get the paper to unroll in the ornament.  I thought I found the perfect gift, but I couldn't get it to look correct.  I tried watercolor paper too and not luck with that unrolling either.  So then I thought I would try one more thing.  I used a clear sleeve pocket protector.  I cut them up to about 3" by 3" and had the students use Shapies to draw a big picture.  I stressed to them that the picture had to be BIG.  The pocket protector unrolled and looked fabulous!!  Here is how some of them turned out!

As you can see, I added a great big bow and it made them look super cute!

Here are the cups I made for my son's teacher's.  I think they turned out Wolfelicious!  Yes, I added their name and the Keep Calm.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you and your family had a Wolfelicious Christmas and New Year!

 

Paintings, presents, RACKing Oh My!

This week we have been working on our Christmas presents, assessments for the end of the quarter, and going on our first field trip of the year. Oh, and we begin our RACKing adventure.

I saw this awesome painting on Pinterest and I knew I had to try it with my class.  The teacher made a step by step drawing of a deer with her class and then they painted it.  I think they turned out A'deer'able!

The students finished drawing their deer and are getting ready to paint them.

First we painting the background.

The next day we painted the deer and added the finishing touches.  They turned out so cute.  I will have to take a picture of the finished product this week.  I mounted them on black paper and turned them in for laminating.

We began our RACKing adventure this week!  On Monday we talked about ways to be kind and played a game on being kind versus not kind.  Then throughout the week we did Random Acts of Christmas Kindness around our school.  It was very tricky to be so sneaky and not get caught. 

 I put each day in a bag so everyday we open a bag to let us know how we are going to do a Random Act of Kindness for that day.
 
I have really been stressing to the students that being kind does not mean you are going to get a present or even a thank you.  It is just nice to be kind and make someone feel special and by doing things like that it makes your heart feel warm.  
Here is what we have done so far:
Monday: Gave Smarties to a Smart Class.
Tuesday: Left a pop and M&Ms for our principal.
Wednesday: Sang Jingles Bells to the cafeteria staff.
Thursday: Colored nice notes and passed them to 3 different classes.  We went to the classroom when the students weren't there and laid the nice notes on their desks.
Friday: Gave a bag of M&Ms to the custodian. 

The students are looking forward to this each day.  It is SO great to see them be so kind.
Here is a picture of my students leaving notes at another classroom.

Dropping our kindness to the principal.

Our class Elf, Wolfie, has been up to surprise us each day.  Here is where he has been some of the days.

I think he looks like he is on a wrecking ball here.  LOL

Our last week before break is this week.  We have 3 full days and 2 half days.

I hope you have a great week! 

Elf, Magnets, Nutcracker, Oh Boy!

This was an exciting week at Wolfelicious!  We started the week with getting a package from Santa.  The package was cold.

The students passed around the present so they could feel it.  They couldn't believe it felt cold!  I asked them what they thought it could be and they told me ice cream.  I guess they must have been hungry.

Still checking out the package.

After everyone got to feel the box, I slowly by surely opened it.  I ripped off a little at a time.  I started ripping from the back.  Then when I went to the front I balanced the present and my camera so I could capture their faces.  I love their faces after seeing that Santa sent our classroom an elf.  The little boy in the front with his hands covering his mouth!  That is priceless!  The girls with the wide open mouth! I love this picture!  It shows so excited they were.

One day when we got to school Wolfie (don't you LOVE the name), was at the top of our Christmas tree.  Silly me, I forgot to take a picture of the other spots that Wolfie found.  Hopefully I will remember next week.

On Wednesday, my kindergartners sang their hearts out.  We had our Christmas concert!  They did a Rockin' job!

For Science this week we learned about Magnets.  The students enjoyed learning about magnets.  I tried using a Whole Brain Teaching lesson plan when teaching the students about magnets.  It made me in teacher heaven!

The students are figuring out what is magnetic and what is not magnetic.

Here is a sneak peak at what we have in store for next week.

Guess what?!  I finally added another item to my TPT and Teacher's Notebook stores.  It is perfect for the Holiday season.


It is..........


A


Nutcracker Craftivity!

 Check it out at my stores.
TPT     Teacher's Notebook


My boys got pictures taken from school.  Here is my favorite one.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a Wolfelicious day!