It's been a while.

I haven't posted in quite a while and honestly, it's because I've been a little bit daunted by the amazing things that other teachers are doing. They seem to have much more, time, energy, technological savvy and new and fresh ideas, than I do. But I had a great moment yesterday. We had finished up our gingerbread hunt. (You know how those crazy cookies always run away from the school oven!) And one of my student's said, "You are the best, best teacher, you always have surprises for us!" That moment I realized that we all have gifts to share with our students, and with each other as teachers. Every idea or activity is new to someone and what I love about being an elementary teacher is how willing we are to share any and everything with each other. So remember that you are the best, best teacher and you have all kinds of surprises for your students.

Tube Advent Wreath

This idea is a combination of a bunch of suggestions from other K teacher. First I glued 4 tubes together. The multi-length effect of these tube candles is a result of using 2 paper towel tubes cut so that one part was slightly smaller than the other. (This was totally unintentional but the effect is cool) The kids painted 3 candles purple and 1 pink. When they were dry we added the tissue paper flames which can be pushed down or pulled up depending on the week.
The "wreath" is a paper plate with green hand cut outs. This particular child didn't totally cover his plate but it all worked out.

Down by the Bay

Rhyming is one of the most difficult skill to teach English learners. To help with this process we read the story/ song Down by the Bay and made super easy watermelons. Next each child dictated a rhyme from the story or a self invented rhyme and I wrote the rhyme on their watermelon.
To make the super easy watermelons give each student a piece of green construction paper. Have the students cut the corners off the paper until the water melon is the desired size. Each child can then paint green lines on their watermelons.

80th Day pie pan Frisbee

This was the easiest Zero the Hero project I have ever done!

I acquired a number of pie tins from my mom. I wrote 80 in the bottom of each with a permanent marker. The kids traced the 80 with white glue and added some glue embellishments.
Then we poured glitter into the bottom of the pie tin and gently shook it to cover all the glue.
I poured the excess glitter off.
We allowed them to dry and then practice throwing our new Frisbee 80 times.

Zero the Hero egg carton game

Try this fun and easy to make game next any time Zero the Hero visits! All you need are egg cartons (1 per student and enough to cut one egg cup per student), markers and cards.
Each student receives and egg carton and writes a unit of 10 on each cup. A sticker can be stuck on the extra cups to mark the beginning and ending spots of the game. Each child also receives 1 separate egg cup to decorate like Zero the Hero. (I glued water bottle caps to the tops of mine for easy grabbing.) Then each child makes a set of cards with the units of 10 written on each card. We used Shari Sloane's Zero the Hero cards .
To play each child needs to mix up the cards and place them face down. Then the top card is drawn and Zero the Hero is placed on the matching unit cup. This process continues until all the cards are drawn. When there are no cards left the student wins!

Tube Nativity

This was a fun and easy way to make a 3-D nativity scene. All you need is a black line master of your favorite nativity scene and enough tubes or parts of tubes for each piece. To make the stable use a lunch sized paper bag. Cut along the corners of the bag until 3-4 inches are left uncut on the bottom of the bag. Fold 3 sides into the bottom of the bag and leave one side flat for the base of the stable. The bag also doubles as a box to store each of the nativity pieces.