Five for Friday on a Quiet Saturday night!

I am a little stunned that I am still standing after yesterday's mayhem but here I am ready to share a little Five for Friday Holiday fun with you!  When you finish reading, hop back to Doodle Bugs Teaching and see the other great ideas teachers shared!

These right here are my new favorite cookies!

No, I did not take the picture because mine get eaten faster than I can gt a picture of them!  I did just make a plate and shared them with the cafeteria staff because they are so fabulous about taking care of me and my little people!

They are so stinkin easy to make and a big hit with all who eat them!  I used this recipe that came from the Duncan Hine's website.  They take about 10 minutes to make and are seriously Awesome!

A friend just made these and let me sample!  

Just as tasty!  They are Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies and also came from the Duncan Hines website.

OH MY GOSH!!!

YES WE DID!!!!

HE'S STILL FINE!!!!

HE NEEDS TO SHAVE!!!

I bought us tickets about 6 weeks ago and it was everything we hoped it would be!  I saw the very first Star Wars in May of 1977 on the big screen!  I was 6 years old and it was the very first movie I saw in the movie theater and honestly I can't remember any other theatre movies.  I would guess we didn't see many in the theatre as that was a pretty expensive venture even then.  I can still remember driving downtown to Seattle and I can see the inside of the theatre!  Crazy since I can hardly remember my children's names!

I am not a crazy Star Wars-fan-junky but I am a crazy junky of fabulous childhood memories and this was absolutely part of my childhood story!

Go see it!  In 3D even if it makes you puke and RPX IMAX too!

I can hardly stand this cuteness!  I found this great pin and over the last few weeks everyone made a jingle stick!  Great fine motor lesson BTW!

So, we made them for the purpose of creating this!

I sent it to parents and they loved it!

This happened this week and it was fabulous!

This is my TT Crew.  TT stands for Two Tuesdays.  About 7 years ago 4 of us decided to start getting together every other Tuesday for dinner.  We text every Monday and pick a restaurant and show up for enough time to catch up and still get home to say prayers and kiss our babies goodnight.  We celebrate, we laugh, we cry, we do life together.  We have added people and lost a few but we still keep our ties.  We always have a Christmas party and we each draw names and promise to give a hand made gift for the person we draw.  

The gifts are fabulous and heartfelt and we cherish our time together.  This year we added a little fun and exchanged socks in a Chinese Gift Exchange style.  We filled the socks with all sorts of goodies and it was great fun!

This right here...

I know I post every so often about backyard fires but I gotta tell ya that I love a good fire!  It has been so stinkin hot in SC...like 75 degrees for the last week or two and today's drop in temp was AWESOME!  I'll take a brisk 46 degrees in December any day!

Hope you have a marvelous holiday season and stay tuned because I am planning to post a few times during the break!

Five for Friday!

It's that time again and it's even on a Saturday afternoon this week!  Stealing from Teeny Tiny Teacher...It's Five for Fraturday!

Please take note...

This amazingness happened in the classroom next door to mine this year!  I'll share the other side of the hall next Friday which includes St. Lucia, Dwali and a few others!  I love being in the hall with this fabulous teacher...and she's a great friend as well!  She is an amazing 5th year teacher and she inspires me daily!  A little secret...this is the first year I have had only Christmas celebrate-ors in my classroom in a very long time and I usually do a Holidays Around the World theme as well.  This year I decided not to and just have focused on Christmas.  While it's been great fun, I miss teaching and learning about what people around the world do at this time of year and Im bringing it back next year!

Free (almost) Christmas decor!  I love it!

These 3 frames hang in my kitchen and I got them for $1.99 at Ikea.  Every few months I google FREE subway art and print out new art for my kitchen.  So, here is my Christmas version!

The top one came from Eye Candy Creative Studio

The second one (my favorite) came from A Pair of Pears

And the final one came from a secret place that has been hidden from me on the internet!  If you happen to know it's origin please let me know so I can give props where due!

I have a Pinterest Board of Christmas Printables as well so check it out!

This mini unit has been spectacular!

I know, it's a terrible picture but my kindergartners had so much fun filling these books with information!  We spent last week learning all about reindeer!  I used the Reading AtoZ shared reading of Reindeer which was perfect in my Montessori classroom of 3-6 year olds!  The littles could follow along with the shared reading and the bigs had a copy of the book.  Later the Kindergartners worked on completing this reindeer book that I got from this pack of AWESOMENESS!  Tara West from Little Minds at Work created it and she has one for EVERY month!  

Last but not least...this fun happened this past week!

Our art teacher invites whoever wants to come and for $20 teaches us how to paint a picture.  We eat a little, drink a little and get to know each other a little...and paint of course!

This is my Gamecock Christmas Tree Masterpiece.

Quite fabulous...if I do say so myself!

I hope that ya'll are enjoying a great holiday season.  Not stressing too much about anything because in the long run, it just isn't worth it!  Have a great final school week of 2015!

Be sure to hop back over to Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching and see what greatness other teacher friends are up to!

Five for Friday...on a Sunday...just keeping it real!

Ya know how sometimes life throws you a curve ball? Things change and sometimes it's good, and sometimes it's bad and sometimes it's a little of both?  Well, I am smack dab in the middle of that.  So, that is why Five for Friday is a little tardy.  But better late than never.  Am I right!?!

Every once in a while I get time and I make something that can be added to TpT.  I make stuff all the time but if you are a seller on TpT than you know what I'm saying when I tell you that it takes an extra 87 hours to make something fabulous even fabulous-er so that it is TpT ready.  Something got in me last week and I went for it!

Click on the cute samples and get you some!

I hate to brag but aren't these the cutest stinkin things ever!?!  I love them!  It is the first 100 Fry Sight Words!  On a super cute reindeer that was a freebie from the fabulous

Click the logo above and you can check her out!  She has the cutest stuff and if you click on the pics above you can snag the reindeer sight words before the holiday is over!

 Christmas is my favorite time of year and I am one of those girls that starts the celebrating the weekend of Thanksgiving.  I thought it was really interesting that so many people actually started decorating the weekend before.

If I may get a little deep, I really thing it is because people are searching for some peace.  Searching for a kinder place in the world.  Maybe a little love.  Maybe some understanding of all that is happening in the world.  I feel pretty darned lucky that even though my life is a little chaotic, I found peace a long long time ago and He never gives up on me.  Hope you have a little peace this holiday season as well!

P.S.  I love twinkly lights almost as much as I love peace! ;)

On Friday, we did this!  With 100 preschool and kindergarten kiddos.  FULL LENGTH BABEEEE!!!

Hard to see, I know but the young man on the far left is a family friend.  He went on my last mission trip with me and he and my big punk are close friends.  He is also an AMAZING ballet guy...cuz ballerina doesn't work for me when it comes to guys.  So, when he told me they did an educational outreach show I jumped at taking our entire Montessori program.  I didn't know until a few days before that it was the FULL VERSION!  AN HOUR AND A HALF KINDA FULL VERSION!

My team was a little over me by the time we got there but let me tell you what, our kids were FABULOUS!  They loved it and had a great time and will tell people about it forever!

And, as if a field trip to the Nutcracker wasn't enough in one day, we planned it the same day as Montessori Movie Night!

This is an awesome thing we do with our entire Montessori program a few times a year.  All kiddos can come.  Parents pay $10 and drop off for dinner and a movie.  Kiddos bring blankets and pillows and chill out in the cafeteria and we have a blast!

These!  Aren't they fabulous!?!

This is part of our stage at church.  Our worship leader created these beauties!  They are on both sides of our stage and if it weren't church I would absolutely steal them for my front yard but it seems kinda bad to steal from church so I'll just build some myself...next year!

I hope you are busy being merry.  Letting some things go.  Enjoying the season and all that it means for you and yours!

Hop back to Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching and see what everyone else is up to this festive time of year!

Peace!

 

Five for Friday...I promise!

If I start the Five-fer on Tuesday and it actually gets posted on Friday does it still count as a Five for Friday?!  I'm not sure but I'm going for it!  You can do those kinds of things when it's Thanksgiving Break Babeeee!!!!  And you know that Thanksgiving break means only 3 short weeks to Christmas Break Babeeeee!!!

So here we go!

Super excited about changing out practical life and adding to a few other areas with a little Christmas Montessoriesque style.  I poked around Pinterest until I found a bunch of lessons that I really liked and I know the kids will be thrilled when they come into class on Monday.  These are some of my favorites!

Super cute emergent readers!

Cool sensory play ideas.

Love this idea and the kids are going to go wild over it!  All of the materials cost about $5!

And then a bunch of great Montessori inspired lessons!

I can't wait for the kids to see the room on Monday!

Check out my Pinterest Montessori:  Christmas Inspired page and you will find links to all of the above and lots of other great ideas!

 In past years I have always had a very diverse classroom religion wise.  I have been lucky enough to have Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Christian families so we have done Christmas around the world for many years so that we can learn about one another's customs and traditions.  This year, my entire classroom celebrates Christmas so I have decided to go heavy on that for a change.  We will be doing a family project that lets the kids share their family cooking traditions with the class and we will turn those into a class book.  This is what I am sending home.  

You can find it in my TpT shop starting Monday for 20% off!

 Meet Lila!  Our newest classroom pet!

A neighbor put her on Facebook after his 13 year old daughter was no longer an "engaged and responsible pet owner" and wanted to give her a way to a classroom!  I jumped at the chance!  She is a lot of maintenance but she is really sweet natured and the kids are going to go crazy when I bring her in on Monday.

This happened today and it was even free!  If you haven't ever been the recipient of a Chic-fil-a calendar ask for one!  Every month you get a freebie and it is really worth it!

I do love a Chic-fil-a peppermint milkshake!

Then there is this!  

Oh my mercy!  Have you seen it?  Have you tried it?  OH MY HECK!!!  It is soooo good!  If you are a root beer lover you will be shocked at how much it tastes like root beer.  Be careful though.  5.9% alcohol is a lot for a beer!  Try it!  You'll like it!

Hope you had an outstanding Thanksgiving and are enjoying a little more peace before school gets back!

Check back over with Kasey at Doodle Bugs Teaching.