Five for Friday December 4th

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey! 

 

 

This week we started noticing that Bossy R in many of the words we're reading!  These are the anchor charts I leave up to help remind the children about words with r controlled vowels.  The kids use these all the time!



These are some of our favorite videos to help remind us of  Bossy R!

          

          

                      

                      

I added all of these videos to my Letters and Sounds Prezi!



I found some fun counters and playing cards at the Dollar Tree. I got the little tin to store the counters in.  We use playing cards a lot for Hi/Low games to compare numbers on the cards.  I also got some to use as gifts, because we play Bingo for our Holiday Party, and each child can choose a million dollar dollar store gift as a prize.  (They just SEEM like a million dollars.  That's another reason I love this age!)



I posted LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of reindeer ideas at my blog this week.  Then some more! It's fun to fit in some reindeer activities throughout December. Have fun looking!

I just love the book Cookies: Bite Size Life Lessons, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. 

It is a wonderful Character Education book, because it explains different character traits with very kid-friendly vocabulary.  Here are some examples:



"Cooperate means, 'How about you add the chips while I stir?'
 "Trustworthy means, If you ask me to hold your cookie until you come back, when you come back, I will still be holding your cookie."
"Fair means, you get a bite, I get a bite."
"Regret means, I really wish I didn't eat so many cookies."
"Content means sitting on the steps just you, me, and a couple of cookies."

The illustrations are absolutely beautiful and sweet. 

And of course cookies always brings this favorite to mind...

Each year, my sister's family makes these GORGEOUS decorated cookies- 

  They also make these little marzipan treasures!

I am neither patient nor clever with baking.  In my head, I have good ideas, but they come out as perfect Pinterest fails.  But here are two of my favorite recipes, that are never fail!

Melting Moments



This is my aunt's recipe. I love to make them a Christmas, but they are also so sweet for Valentine's Day, Easter- let's face it- any time.  They are a bit time consuming because you have to roll all the little balls, then put them together. BUT they are worth every minute. They make great gifts, too, because they look so pretty in a jar or holiday container. 

Cookie

350 Degrees- 12 minutes

1 C Butter

2 C Flour

1/3 C 10X sugar

Cream butter with 10X sugar until fluffy. 

Blend in flour gradually. 

Beat at medium speed for 5 minutes or knead. 

Chill several hours or overnight. 

Roll rounded 1/2 tsp. size balls like marbles. 

Place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. (I use parchment paper.)  

Cool on wire rack.

Almond Butter Cream Filling

1 1/2 C 10X sugar

3 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. cream

1/4 tsp. almond extract

Beat until smooth.

Tint any color you would like with food coloring.

Put frosting between two flat sides of cookies.

Easy Cranberry Pecan Cookies

My daughter tried this recipe last year and we loved it. It is sort of a Sandra Lee Semi Homemade idea- and I sort of love that. You know how sometimes you need a quick but really good cookie that doesn't seem quick?  Here you go!

1 tube (16 1/2 oz) refrigerated sugar cookie dough, softened

1 C chopped pecans

2/3 C white chocolate chips

2/3 C dried cranberries

1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the cookie dough, pecans, chips, cranberries, and vanilla. 

Drop by tablespoon 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans. 

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.

Finally, I finished my Winter Fun Prezi and want to share it with you!

I put together my favorite videos and links to activities that I like to use during the winter months. The sections I have included on the Prezi are: videos for Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa; 

snowmen videos, a wonderful unit on Snowflakes with activities and videos,

 and four different fireplaces that you can project in your classroom, on the Smartboard or big TV.

I found "burning fireplaces" on Youtube and inserted the video into a cozy fireplace, so it looks like you have a cozy fire in your classroom as the students work! Two of the fireplaces are crackling fires and the other two have Christmas carols playing as the fire burns.

As I find more videos and activities that I use in winter, I will continue to add to this Prezi- for example Groundhog Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I hope you enjoy this Prezi! I'd love your happy feedback at TPT if you enjoy it. 

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Five for Friday! Lucky December 13th

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for  Five for Friday! Thank you, Kacey, for hosting! 

I had fun posting this week, joining two linky parties.  The first was all about COOKIES at Time 4 Kindergarten's Virtual Cookie Exchange.

I shared some of my favorite Christmas recipes.  (These are some of my sister's family's gorgeous creations!) 

I also shared my new favorite Character Education book.  SO sweet. (I meant the book- but so are the cookies!)

The second linky was a Christmas Questionnaire with Michelle at Fabulous in First.

 I had fun thinking about my Christmas memories as I was answering the questions- and so much fun reading about other blogging friends' memories and traditions. 

 

We made our hands and foot reindeer this week.  This is always a favorite because it is such a great independent activity.  

You can check my Reindeer Post to find lots of other reindeer ideas and freebies!

We also made our hand wreaths for the children to take home to their parents this week.  They did a great job.  I help "steer" their hands to the right spot.

 

As I was finishing up the last couple wreaths and writing, and while some of the children were washing up before recess, I put on a Curious George winter story.  When I looked over on the rug, I realized that I had a line of beauticians in my class.  Too funny.

 

 

Here is my post with some Holiday Homework ideas. Just click on the picture below if you would like to a copy!

I have been sending home one or two a week this month, just for fun.  You could even make a packet to send home over break if you wanted.  I sent this one home last night and the kids loved it! I stapled the worksheet to the plate and napkin. 

 

We had our Teddybear "Tt" Party today! (Guess what letter we worked on?) Everyone brought in their favorite Teddybear.   (One little girl said her Teddybear was in the shape of a cat.)

 

 

We did lots of addition and subtraction problems, graphing, and patterning with Teddy Grahams. AND we had tea. It was peach iced tea- so how bad can that be? Ninety nine percent of the kids liked it.  One was adamant that he was probably NOT allowed to drink it.  Then he was allergic to it. Then he had to go to the bathroom.  Poor thing.  I had apple juice, too, so it was all good.

 

The bears "chit chatted" on the rug while we worked with our Teddy Grahams and drank our tea- so nobody's bear was spilled on, heaven forbid!

 



 We sorted our bears.  We played a game where one person had to describe a bear with lots of details, and someone else had to find the bear.

We lined up our bears biggest to smallest.  We used our bears to act out positional words like above our head, below our knees, beside us, and between us and our neighbor.  We drew pictures and wrote about our bears.

We went on both Bear Hunts (of course) on Youtube. 

Congratulations to Natasha and Breanne on winning the Holiday Specs!  I hope you have received them and have a ball looking at lights this weekend!
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Here is a little ornament I found that I thought would be so perfect for so many of us that I wanted to share.  Seems good to me!

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!