Dear Santa....

I saw this adorable mailbox at Big Lots and just had to share it with you. I thought I'd use it for some letter writing to Santa. I checked out TPT for some Santa letter writing units. There were quite a bit. Anybody have a favorite?

Monday Made It Tuesday

It's Tuesday but I wanted to link up to Monday Made It and share my pocket chart holders.

Mini pocket chart holders

 I already posted about them here. Head on over to 4th Grade Frolics to see all the other crafty, creative projects other teachers have made or link up your own Monday Made It.

Halloween Picture Book Linky Party

Next week is October and I can bust out the Halloween books! First Grade Found Me is having a Halloween Picture Book linky party. I have lots of Halloween books so I tried to narrow it down to my top five! I always start with the following 3 books. They are great introductions to pumpkin activities, talking about pumpkin pie, and carving a jack-o-lantern.

Big Pumpkin is another version of The Enormous Turnip. Lots of different Halloween characters all take their turn at trying to pull up the Big Pumpkin. Drat...hmmmphh..Love the repetition. It's  a great lesson on teamwork. It's also a great story to act out. And there's pumpkin pie. mmmm...

A cute story of a snitched pumpkin. An old man and an old woman go searching for their pumpkin. The old man wants pumpkin pie. mmmm.....

Now that we've read about pumpkins and pumpkin pie, it's time to read about the life cyle of a pumpkin. I love this book because it is so simple and has great pictures. After we read this story, we do a quick little science experiment.

Will our pumpkin sink or float when we drop it into a tub of water? The kids love this.

 Then we carve it open, stick our hands inside the pumpkin and say "ewwww!" Everybody gets some seeds to take home and save for spring planting.

 Then we paint some paper plates orange, sequence the life cycle of a pumpkin and we are now ready to retell to our parents.

I love Diane de Groat's holiday books. I have them all, featuring the character Gilbert. I used to love to read this before we had our Halloween parade. It would set the mood. But now no more parades. But I still like reading it. And the kids love shouting "trick or treat, smell my feet" !

This last book is great to read the day after Halloween. Who can't relate to eating candy until you're sick? A little lesson on sharing and self-control. (But all that candy is soooo tempting!)

What are your favorite Halloween picture books? Link up at First Grade Found Me and see what others are sharing.

Randomness

Wow, hard to believe 6 weeks have already gone by.  A new grade level and a new LA program and I am drowning....glub, glub, glub. I miss kindergarten... I still haven't unpacked all the materials that come with Treasures, our new program... all we do is assess... no fun allowed and I think the Fun Police will be coming around soon. JK. They won't be necessary since there isn't any time for fun.

OK, kidding again. Sort of. We did make this cute project that I saw on A Teeny Tiny Teacher's blog that came from Hadar. (Click on the link and it will take you to her TPT store.) I needed something quick for Back To School Night and I thought this would be perfect so the parents could see some basic fine motor and writing skills.

No matter how much you model, there's always one that doesn't quite get it. Oh well...

 I wanted to show you the mini pocket chart stands my dad made for me. 

I saw these at First Grade Fabulosity. Why didn't I think of this? I say that because I asked my dad to make this chart stand for my puppet theater. 

Why didn't I think of going mini for all those mini charts I bought from Target?! Well, that's what Pinterest is for, I guess.  By the way, I scored on that puppet theater. I think it was regularly $28 and I got it for $5 at Lakeshore. Love that store, especially when they have great sales. I also live near their outlet store, even better.

One more thing before I sign off. It's fall, which means apple time. My friend Karen at Through The Looking Glass has a cute little apple bitty book freebie at her site. Hop on over and check out it out.

Monday Made It

Today was my first day back at school. I think there should be a law against school starting in August. It's still SUMMER....and very hot. Today was an inservice day, tomorrow the kids will be there.

So here's my Monday Made It. I had big plans to do lots of crafting for my class this summer, but it didn't work out. But I can still work on my projects (in my spare time) and post them. Anyway, here's what I made for the new year:

An apron. It's very similar to the one I made last summer but this one is bigger. It has 3 pockets, not sure if you can see them. I love to wear aprons, they are so handy. I can put my markers, small post-its, treats,  things I've confiscated from the kids, you name it. Sometimes the pockets get over loaded! With the left over fabric from the aprons, I made the mug bucket that I shared last week. I still have lots of fabric left over. More mug buckets and aprons, I guess.

The next thing I want to show you is some things my dad made for me. I bought the dough stampers from Lakeshore but I did not want to spend the money on the stands to hold them. I showed my dad a picture and he made them for me:

They came out great. I'm going to have to do a future post on things my dad has made for my classroom. He's also a great helper, stapling, cutting, gluing, whatever I need help with. So, come link up over at 4th Grade Frolics or just check out what other bloggers have to share. I'm off to get ready for tomorrow.

Who Doesn't Love Brown Bear Brown Bear?

It's a favorite in my classroom.  I've already had several copies fall apart because my students couldn't get enough of it. Luckily, I found multiple copies in a storage room and since they were just sitting there gathering dust, I decided they should come to my room and get some lovin'.

Another favorite of mine is the game I Have...Who Has? I have lots of versions of this game, some that I've bought from teacher stores and many that I've downloaded from blogger land. It's such a fun game and my kiddos love it once they get the hang of it.

So I just HAVE to share with you the I Have...Who Has? Brown Bear edition that my very good friend , fellow K teacher and blogger, Karen Kory, created.

How cute is this??? I know you'll just have to have it and guess what?? It's a FREEBIE!!! So hop on over to her blog Through The Looking Glass to grab your copy and show her some bloggy love!

Made It Monday

Here's my entry for Made It Monday. A very small one, I know but useful. You know all those teacher mugs we get every year?

Well, I made this to go inside the mug so that I could use it for something else besides drinking coffee.

Yeah, I know, it looks like an apron but it's not. They're little pockets that can hold markers and pens and pencils. And yes, you could just put the markers and pens and pencils in the mug without it but this looks so much cuter. And I like to sew. And I have lots and lots of fabric because I bought way too much.

If you've made something you'd like to share, head on over to 4th Grade Frolics and link up.