O Christmas Tree . . .

I found the cutest hand print Christmas tree on pinterest last year. (The original inspiration can be found at fivewhites.) I had my class make it and it turned out cuter then I could have hoped for! I was going to enter it into our art walk (silent auction) at the end of last year, but couldn't part with it. It's one of my favorite momentos of my class. It's currently hanging on my living room wall. :)

It was really easy and pretty self explanatory. I used canvas and acrylic paint. I had the students with the larger hands start at the bottom and worked my way up to students with smaller hands. I had 18 kids in my class and I had some of them do their hand more then once to cover the whole tree. So there should be plenty of room even if you have a large class.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,

How lovely are your branches!

Thanksgiving 2012

AHHHH! I haven't posted on my blog in almost two months. I had parent teacher conferences, report cards, my hubby and I started house hunting, etc. life has been crazy. But hopefully I can get back in the swing of blogging regularly. 

We had fun celebrating Thanksgiving last week. We made Thanksgiving placemats.

 They added a feather for each letter of their names. We wrote things they were thankful for around the turkey. They turned out really cute. I love the "chalkboard" look. Really it's just black construction paper and a white crayon. 

We made turkey magnets. These were super easy and the kids had a lot of fun. I got the idea from Momma's Fun World. The feathers are coffee filters "painted" with bingo dabbers. (Which you can find at the Dollar Tree!) Then have the kids cut out a circle for the turkey head, glue on wiggly eyes, beak, waddle, and feet. Tada! (Oh yeah, and add magnets to the back.)

To conclude our week, we had a Thanksgiving Feast. My first year teaching we did a true Thanksgiving Feast with pretty much every Thanksgiving food you can think of. But with one microwave and no access to a kitchen, the kiddos weren't able to help as much as I wanted them to. So last year, we didn't really do anything. This year was perfect! My wonderful and very talented TA made the turkey and I made macaroni & cheese in a coffee pot. It was the perfect amount of festivities. The kiddos loved it. 

Our very realistic looking turkey. 

My TA is carving the turkey, I wonder what's inside? 

The turkey was filled with puff corn! (kernel less popcorn. Popcorn is still considered a choking hazard for our age group.) This was a pinterest idea. Detailed instructions can be found on say yes to hoboken. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Now to turn on some Christmas music . . .