Juke Box Fun

Just a really quick post before the TPT sale closes! Towards the end of the summer I found the cutest Dr. Jean Nursery Rhyme Juke Box on Pinterest. It was perfect for our beginning of the year intro to nursery rhymes. Well, my kiddos ate it up! They loved it A LOT!!

Not a great picture but you can see it in the background. Anyway, it quickly became a favorite area of the classroom. I hung it up to look like a real juke box with a CD player near by. Then the kids would press a "button" to choose a nursery rhyme and I would play that selection on the CD. It was a lot of fun! You can find that one at TPT here. So, the other night when I was browsing, I came across a Christmas Juke Box, in fact there are quite a few different Juke Boxes that really creative people have made. You can find it here! I'm gonna go grab it. What a great way to have a classroom caroling party! Jingle Jingle!

Juggling My Wishlist ...

SURELY you know about the Cyber Monday & Tuesday Sale over at Teachers Pay Teachers, right? Just about every blog I clicked on this weekend reminded me that it would be going on! So I've made my wishlist and I'm checking it twice so that I'm ready to order some of the items that I have been eyeballing for awhile. Here's what I've got in my cart! First I went back through Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business' store and chose a few of her units that I haven't purchased yet.

Then, of course, I had to add some of Deanna Jump's units to stock up for January:

She also has some really cute mini-units that go with a few of Jack Hartmann's songs.

The next 2 weeks we will be doing our Gingerbread Unit and I found some cute additions from Differentiated Kindergarten's storefront.

I found a few other cute gingerbread ideas in various and sundry places.

Then I found the perfect decor package for our Gingerbread Unit from Schoolgirl Style!

This picture really does not do her creations justice! You MUST visit her website, Schoolgirl Style, but I must warn you, bring a napkin with you when you do because you will be drooling all over your keyboard~lol. No REALLY! I plan on doing a more extensive post all about her delicious products in the very near future, including how she single-handedly (no matter how I type that word it doesn't look right) inspired my classroom design this year! HURRY! Go visit her site! I needed something for the party that we are having after our Children's Christmas Musical at church and I found something that was perfect through Victoria Moore.

Somehow I've got to also squeeze in a unit on Food this month. That will be interesting! But I needed some updated vocabulary cards and pocket chart fun and I found just the ticket!

And lastly, something that I've had on my Wishlist for quite some time. Something to help me learn how to use my Smartboard!!

I tried really hard ya'll to figure out how to add a link to each of these pictures but I just couldn't do it! Forgive me, I'm still really new at this! What's on your wishlist? Happy Cyber Monday & Tuesday!

Juggling With My Party Hat On ...

One of the things that I love to do in my free time, spare time, wee hours of the morning, is to plan a party or style an event. For quite a few years I toyed with the idea of pursuing it as a profession. But then I decided I couldn't take it if my work became too open to criticism ~ eeek ~ so mostly I just do it on the side to help out family and friends and ALL OVER my own house! One of my great sources of inspiration when it comes to styling anything is Amanda Parker from Shindig Parties to Go. That gal has got some party-swag!!! So, with the help of Amanda, we styled Thanksgiving!

We have a rather large extended family here and so I needed 4 different table settings. No problem!

That took care of the adults, but just about the most fun I ever had was styling this kid's table ...

We had pinecone turkeys as crayon holders and favors hidden in tissue paper corn on the cobs.

It was so cute when it was done that I wanted to sit there instead!

Then I made a brown paper grocery bag turkey and stuffed it with popcorn for my nephew's little ones!

Uncle Dean helped them tear into it :)

We had everyone there fill out a Thankful Tag and then used it to create a banner for the stairs ...

It was a blessed day!

So head on over the river and through the woods to Amanda's Shindig Parties to Go. I believe the kid's table goodies are even a freebie! And checkout that adorable polka dot pumpkin!!

Jump Shout Boogie

Well, that got your attention didn't it!! I want to give a shout out to another one of my favorites, Deanna Jump. You'll find her over at Mrs. Jump's Class. I border on stalking the poor soul. I mean the creativity just drips off of her 1st class Georgia accent ;) I own almost every unit she's ever created and by the end of the school year I plan to own every one of them. If I could teach every day the Deanna Jump way I would go home such a happy teacher. But alas, things like RTI and assessing get in the way. But this week, in honor of my favorite holiday and because I am so thankful for her, I did just that! All of the activities you see here are from her Thanksgiving Math & Literacy Fun which you can find on Teachers Pay Teachers. We made a variation of these darling Long Legged Turkeys (I combined Mrs. Jump's directions with a freebie from Mrs. Miner)

Then we surveyed each other and created a pie graph entitled Do You Like to Eat Turkey?

Then we were off to learn about the historical story of Thanksgiving! I couldn't believe how many of my kiddos had NO IDEA about the story behind Thanksgiving. What are pilgrims???!?? We spent a lot of time reading some great non-fiction books and watching some great youtube videos and then they created their own Why, Who, and What sentences.

Then, we made these cuter-than-cute Turkey Glyphs and I hid some treats inside that they had to promise not to open until Thanksgiving Day! They probably didn't make it home before they tore them open ~ lol!!

And it would not be complete without a fun Thanksgiving feast prepared for 80 precious guests :)

And there you have it, three pooped but very happy teachers ...

Now doesn't that just melt your Thanksgiving butter!?! SO, boogie on over to Mrs. Jump's Kindergarten and I promise you, you'll get some inspiration of your own! And when you're done enjoy some Barry Manilow on me!

Get it??