Happy Holidays!

Hello Everyone!
Thanks for stopping by this little "Window On Wonder!"  I hope you had a wonder filled Christmas with friends and family. Mine was filled with all kinds of joy!! We got to celebrate my baby's college graduation...

 and then the birth of our Savior! 

The house was filled with family, friends, and food, along with love, laughter and loads of giving spirit! Today is a little more calm and quiet as my guys are out golfing.  I am cleaning, reorganizing, and actually enjoying a little bit of time to myself.  I thought I'd take a minute of this time to share what I was up to with my little firsties the week before break.
Our parent gifts turned out so cute this year.  For the passed 8 years we had been creating a snowman plate for our gifts. 

But this year, because of our diminishing funds, we decided to take the same idea and put it on a tea towel!! I think they turned out just as cute!! (And unbreakable!)

The first few pics show the steps I took to make my sample.  I didn't get too many pics of the kids actually working on their's. They needed my full attention during the process...if you know what I mean!! :)

We got tea towels at IKEA!
 Very cost efficient!!
(We had to get 130 of them!!)

We  wrapped them simply, in a white lunch sized paper bag. The kids were so happy their hard work and patience paid off.  They were so excited about giving their sweet gifts to their parents.

Speaking of giving, we spend a lot of time talking about and practicing giving this time of year. (The Christmas "gimmies" often take our attention.) We created a tree this year with ornaments that shared some different ideas. 

"I want...   I need... and I can give..."  

We brainstormed different heart responses to these starters and then created our ornaments.

LOOOOOOOOVE the kids' sweet ideas for giving!

Then, of course, we celebrated the wonderful story by Dr. Seuss, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." We celebrated the changes in the Grinch all week, culminating with Grinch Day at the end of the week! Grinch Day is one of our favorite days of the year. We have been embracing that green guy for the past 6 years or more. Every year it reminds us of the the spirit of the season.
Enjoy the pics!

A stuffed Grinch came to visit and watch us work!

And we couldn't forget that sweet little dog, Max!!

Tune - Row Row Row Your Boat

Adjective Study

Grinchy Adjectives!

Think Outside the Box

Happy Grinch Day!

Celebrating Green!!

Grab some green!

Green Glow Energy for Science!

How about some Who Pudding???!!!

My Crazy Team!!! WOW!!!
If you want to try some of the Green Guy's activities, CLICK HERE!


Stay tuned for a new version of my Snow unit for January.  I love having time to rework things!!
This little blog brings me such joy.  The opportunity to grow as an educator and share my experiences with new friends (fellow educators, parents, homeschoolers, educational publications, professors, even kids!) all over the world takes my breath away. May the new year bring all of you more joys than you can count!!
As Always,
Joyfully!
Nancy

Big, red, cherry nose!!

Hello Everyone!
Short and very sweet tonight!!! :)  I just wanted to quickly share our adjective study from today!  We took the song, Must Be Santa, found all the adjectives, discovered other adjectives in other books and all around us, including adjectives to describe each other!! :)  Then we took took the most fun little section of the song and created a hands on visual to remind us of adjectives, to work on organization, to practice following directions, and to publish work visually. I think they turned out great!!

If you want to try it, You can get the little mini unit if you click HERE!!

(I fixed the little problem on one of the pages, if you've already looked at it.)

Tomorrow we will work on our parent gifts.  I can't wait to start!  They are going to be so cute. So check back again very soon for a tutorial on that!! That's all I'm going to say about that for now. 

(Sorry, Parents! No sneak peeks!!)

Till then, hope you are slowing down to wonder in the joys of this season with your little ones!! Can you think of a better job during this time of year??? 

Joyfully!

Nancy

Here Comes That Jolly Fella!

Hello Everyone!
Thanks for stopping by this little Window on Wonder!  I love this time of year with my little firsties!! The wonder in their eyes is magical. I try to incorporate a lot of this magic into their learning. We started off the week reading Santa's Stuck by Rhonda Greene.  We also discovered a couple of related books to compare and contrast, Santa Gets Stuck by Campbell Books and Are You Grumpy, Santa? by Greg and Evan Spiridellis.

We brainstormed ways to help Santa if he were to get stuck in our chimney!

Love the "Call 911" as a last resort!!

Then we got busy with our written expression and hands on visual expression.  I have posted this visual in years past, (and the patterns are in our Santa's Stuck unit, but this year, because of one of the illustrations in the "Are You Grumpy, Santa?" book, we added a tush!!  :) They turned out great!!

I really think the kids are going to leave Santa a healthy snack on Christmas Eve.

Next week in writing, we are going to focus on adding adjectives to our drafts. I put together an ultra mini unit based on the song, "Must Be Santa." We will discover how adjectives make our writing more clear for our readers. We will go back into some of our older pieces and add adjectives where we can.  We will also make this cute little Santa based on the song and include some of the adjectives in the lyrics!!

I can't wait for next week!

If you would like the printable unit on adjectives,

CLICK HERE!!! :)

If you didn't get the Santa's Stuck unit from my last post, you can get it HERE!!! :)

I have so much more to share with you, but whoa! I have a ton of stuff to do to get ready for the holidays at home!!! Have a wonder-filled weekend and don't forget to stop and enjoy that wonder!!

Joyfully!

Nancy