I know it's a little late to be posting this, but Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I love celebrating at home and at school.  Here are some of the things I did this year to celebrate!

School:
We started by applying to be an elf

Once we were all elf-approved, we made sock snowmen.  I was inspired by this pin:

 

and used the directions from Reagan's blog

Here's one that my kiddo's made:

Sorry I only took one pic.  Here's how we "wrapped" them along with our snowman soup. 

We also made Christmas cards using Jenny K's Pop Art Coloring Pages.  These were so much fun and turned out so cute!

Home:

My daughter and I made sock snowmen as well:

I wanted to make a holiday snow globe and I tried, but it didn't turn out that well because I didn't use a glass jar.  But my daughter loves it and that's what's important.

We made gingerbread houses

and a cookie plate for Santa

I love that she loves crafting.  It gives us a chance to make memories and keepsakes together.  Did you do any fun crafts or projects for Christmas this year?  If you need some ideas to pin for next year, you can check out my Christmas board on Pinterest.

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Brandi

So I'm breaking bloggy rules and double posting, but it's monthly link up time and I love these link ups!  First, let's start with Farley's Currently:

As much as I love the Disney Princesses, my daughter is addicted to this CD and listens to it to fall asleep to so it's playing right now!

I love the holiday season, but in college we had a rule that we couldn't listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving.  I've been good with that rule, but now it's on!  Christmas music all the time (except for the Disney Princesses!)

In keeping with Disney, I want to take Lauryn to Disneyland during the holidays.  We went for the first time at Halloween and had a blast even though we were only there for a few hours.

Wanting and needing are pretty standard!  For RAK, I'm determined to do more small things for friends to really celebrate the season!

Now on to my December Monday Made Its!

First up are a couple of TpT products I've made to use in the next 2 weeks before vacation.

The first is my Dear Santa writing pack:



We started with the Elf application and here are the finished products:

 



 

 

We're moving on to the Santa letter next!

The second product is my Gingerbread Writing Directions and Flat Ginger Activity pack:

I plan to use this next week so I'll post pictures then.  For this activity students create a gingerbread man and write detailed directions for another student to use to recreate the original gingerbread man.  After that, kids will take their gingerbread kid home for a "Flat Ginger" activity where they write about their holiday adventures with "Flat Ginger" (just like Flat Stanley).

The last product I made is a freebie for kids to practice missing addends:

You can download this Missing Addends Snowman freebie by clicking here.

This past weekend, Lauryn and I spent a rainy California Saturday crafting.  Here's what we made:

I was inspired by this pin:

Now, I didn't read the post, we just tried to create these beautiful ornaments.  Instead of putting in single drops and shaking, we put in a lot of paint and swirled it around.  Still came out pretty nice!

My next Pinterest inspiration was this:

Mess free glitter ornaments!  I loved making these!  I put in the mop and shine (from the Dollar Tree) and Lauryn put in the glitter!  I love how these turned out and will probably be making a ton more of these!

Our next project was inspired by this pin:

During the summer we made a Bible verse canvas art, so when I saw this I knew we would do it.  Here's how Lauryn's turned out.  She didn't want to mix the colors, but wanted to have a pattern!

 

Here's my next Pinspiration:

While Lauryn was watching the newest Tinkerbell movie, she "helped" me make 5 of these.  It's not absolutely done-----I don't have the red ribbon or the flowers in them yet because we aren't giving them for another 1-2 weeks.)  I plan to give them to 4 teachers at her school and my room mom (along with gift cards).

 

Right after Thanksgiving, I ran across this pin:

I went to the Dollar Tree to pick up the supplies, but was pulled in a different direction.  So Lauryn and I ended up making this:

The Santa and the bow are from the Dollar Tree.  I hot glued them together.  I had extra clothespins from some summer projects, so we mod podged to create glitter ones, then attached them to the ribbon, along with the pictures of what she wants Santa to bring her.  The final project is hanging from her bedroom door.

Guess I've been busy the last few weeks!  I just love this time of year and I want to create memories and traditions that will last for me and Lauryn!

 

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Brandi

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and is enjoying the time with family and friends. I'm not braving the stores this weekend, but will be doing some online shopping!

With that in mind, I'm jumping on the sale bandwagon and offering a 20% sale on everything in my store. Combine that with the 10% discount on TpT by using the promo code CMT12 and you can save 28%!

Here are some new products I've been working on that would be great during this holiday season (click on any of the titles to check them out at my TpT store):

Dear Santa Letter Writing Mini Unit:
This mini unit on letter writing contains 3 different letter writing activities: an elf application, dear Santa wish list, and gingerbread house letter.  For the elf application, students will apply to be an elf and write a letter to Santa explaining why they would make a good elf.  In the dear Santa wish list activity, students will create their wish list of what they would like to receive and what they've done to earn these presents.  Finally in the gingerbread house letter, students will write a letter to a gingerbread kid detailing what type of materials they should use to build a gingerbread house and why those materials would be a good choice.
Each activity contains prewriting pages, draft pages, and lined writing pages (narrow and wide lines, single and 2 page letters). 
I've also included a craftivity where students will create an elf and attach their letter to Santa explaining why they would make a good elf.

Gingerbread Man Writing Directions Craftivity and Flat Ginger Activity:
In the Writing Directions Craftivity, students will decorate a gingerbread kid and write detailed, step by step directions on how to recreate it.  They will bring in these directions and trade them with a classmate who will then follow the directions to create the gingerbread kid.

In the Flat Ginger Activity, students can use the gingerbread kid they created in the writing directions craftivity or they can create another one.  This activity is similar to Flat Stanley---students will take their "Flat Ginger" home with them during the holidays to share in some family holiday fun.  I've included a bubble map to help kids remember their adventures and plan their writing.  It also includes writing pages and a rubric.

Missing Addends Snowmen:
In this FREEBIE students will match a 2 digit missing addend problem with the answer, and a subtraction problem that could be used to check it.  This would be great for centers/math stations!

 

Happy shopping!

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Brandi