Reindeer & Gingerbread

Happy Sunday!  We're officially on winter break, but I thought I'd share a few reindeer & gingerbread activities that my first graders did last week.  They had a BLAST!  If you still have a few days left with your students these activities might come in handy. 

 Already on winter break?  Tuck these away for next year :)   

This cute little freebie created by Kelly Witt can be found {HERE}.  We completed this book as a class and my first graders had so much fun reading it aloud!  They just loved how it rhymed.

Later that day, we completed a step by step reindeer drawing.  Here's the video:

I absolutely LOVE Doodle Academy.  Her videos are easy for my first graders to follow and her drawings are so simple and easy for young kids to recreate.

We also completed gingerbread activities last week!  Several of the activities that we completed can be found in our Gingerbread Galore pack.  

Here are some gingerbread stories we just LOVE!

We began the week by first reading The Gingerbread Boy and completing a retell activity.

On Tuesday we read The Gingerbread Girl and completed a Venn Diagram comparing the charters in The Gingerbread Boy and Girl.  On Wednesday we read The Gingerbread Baby and my students completed a writing activity to go along with the story.  Thursday we read Gingerbread Friends and completed a gingerbread cookie tasting activity.  Finally on Friday I read The Gingerbread Bear and my kiddos made paper gingerbread people and decorated them with sequins, pom poms, and all sorts of craft materials.    

If you'd like to check out our pack it can be found {HERE}!

We hope you have a WONDERFUL holiday season! 

Christmas *Freebies* and Holiday Cheer!

Is anyone else panicking that Christmas is just TWO WEEKS away? We're not sure how the time is flying by so fast, but we do what we can to keep up. We wanted to share a few quick freebies with ya'll if you need some fun holiday cheer in your room. Make sure to check out our reindeer freebies we posted last year too. 

*Reindeer Freebies*

Make sure to check out our Elf Freebies as well!

*ELF  FREEBIES*

And this year we are adding our Christmas Tree Addition and Subtraction Set as well as our Christmas Fact Families. Make sure to head on over to our shop and get your copies for FREE!

If youre interested in a fun game for your holiday party, make sure to check out our newest product Christmas BINGO. Great for the classroom, home or any Christmas Party! This includes 30 different Christmas BINGO boards. Print and laminate, or copy and let the kids color and take home. Hope you enjoy!

*CHRISTMAS BINGO*

We're sorry we aren't around as much these days, but life with our firsties, as well as our own kiddos at home just gets busier and busier. We are adding a little fanatic to our bunch this spring, as Erin is pregnant with baby #4, and due in April. But we promise we will continue to bring you fun ideas and freebies as much as we can! We love sharing with all of you, and love all of your ideas as well. We've got many more things in the works, so it shouldn't be too long before you hear from us again. Enjoy the last few weeks with your firsties before Christmas!

Reindeer Freebies!

Wow. There isn't much more to say. After conferences, we changed up our schedules a bit to really fit everything in. We are piloting a brand new, off the press math program, and we wanted our math time to be consistent everyday (which it wasn't before), and wanted to get in Daily 5 everyday (which we weren't) and somehow we made it work. But, it feels like we run all day long. The morning is packed so tight, there is very little room to breath. It's a miracle we are able to get in everything we have to teach, let alone fit in any type of Christmas activities. Add to that, the craziness of our little firsties this close to Christmas. We don't know how you all do it! This year, we've decided to focus mostly on our Gingerbread unit, and we are in LOVE! The kids just eat it up, and we are having so much fun teaching it! If you haven't checked it out yet, you should! The books are so fun, and flow so well together. Tomorrow the kids get to taste gingerbread cookies... But I digress...

We have managed somehow to create a tiny chunk of time to reindeer this year. Is this Rudolph just to die for?

We really love activities where the kids get to use hand prints. As a mom, these are always my favorite. Something about seeing the size of their hands way back when. Hopefully this sweet Rudolph is pretty self explanatory, but here are a few helpful hints to help you get started.
Cut for each child:
Head-light brown square 7" x 7"
Ears- 2 each, light brown rectangle 2" x 3"
Antlers- dark brown 9" x 12"
Eyes- white rectangle 2" x 3"
black rectangle 1" x 2"
Nose- Red square 2" x 2"

To go along with this, we wrote this poem. Click {HERE} for your copy. We've also included a writing sheet for the kids to write their own poem.
We also love to make this adorable book Brown Reindeer, Brown Reindeer, based on Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? This is of course a class favorite, so the kids do their very best to make this an incredible book. We wrap it up, and give it to parents for Christmas, along with their ornament (check back for that post later).


Click {HERE} for your copy of the book.

And last, as a special treat for the kids to take home we make Reindeer Dust. I used to do this with the kids, but as demands get higher, we just don't have time. So now I make it and give it to them for a treat to take home. To make it extra cute, add a bit of red glitter to the nose. {Now, I used to make these with stamps, punches, the works. But I now make them for my class, my 2 son's classes, plus our friends kids, so they are on the computer now. :) }
Reindeer Dust Recipe: Uncooked rolled oats, and glitter (I use red, green, and either gold or white, but whatever works).
Click {HERE} for your the bag topper. Enjoy! We'll be back later this week with some more freebies!