Giving Sweet JOY!

Hello Everyone!
It is the season of giving!! One of my very favorite things to do, especially this time of year, is for the kids to create something to give to someone else.  In this day and time, we sometimes battle the "gimme's," or the "I wants." This year when the Spangler Candy company contacted me about their Holiday Craft Promotion, I knew I wanted the kids to create something including Dum Dums with a different purpose.
  Many of you know that JOY is not just word that I "collect," I try to share my joy with as many people as I can reach.  It is a perfect sentiment for kids to share as well. So,combining Dum Dum lollipops, the spirit of giving, and the feeling of  JOY into a holiday card was easy!!  This holiday craft will work for any time of the year, any holiday, any special occasion! Simply print, color, cut, glue, insert Dum Dum, write a personal note, and give!!
Here are some quick pics!

The kids were so excited about making these.  They wanted to make more, and more, and more!! They didn't even care that there weren't enough Dum Dums for them to have one! (I kept some aside and gave them one later!!) They kept thinking about to whom they would give their cards!! Many thought they might give their cards to random strangers who might need a little sweet joy. Some thought they might give them to lonely neighbors. Others thought they would give them out to their friends or family members. Loved it!!! The sparkle in their eyes was real and genuine!!

Thank you, Spangler Candy Co. for this sweet opportunity!!  I can't wait to hear the stories about delivering the cards!!

If you would like to try this with your kids, 

you can click HERE for the free printable!!

Have fun sharing the sweet joy!!

Till next time, thanks for stopping by for a peek into our Window on Wonder!!  You never know what we are up to!! Don't forget to leave a comment!!

Happy Holidays!!

Joyfully!

Nancy

Grinch Day 2015!!

Hello Everyone!
Today was the day I look forward to every year!  And...Oh! The kids do too!!! :)  It was our 11th annual Grinch Day!  We love celebrating this character---some of us see a bit of ourselves in that grinchy guy! But we mostly love celebrating the author's message.
 Dr. Seuss' books are genius! Here are a few pics of our day!!

Welcome to Grinch Day 2015!

We loved knowing that the Grinch shared his heart!  The Author's message!!

Kids loved doing their work with green colored pencils and green sparkly pencils!

Cindy Lou Who!!!

Grinchy Mystery Picture!!!

Math Strategy Games!  Max and Grinch love watching!

Visiting with this awesome green guy!!

Grinch Kabobs!!! A "Make and Eat" Yummy snack!

Grinch Grime!!  A little bit of green science!

Adjective Alert!

The Grinch left us some candy canes!  Hey! Aren't they supposed to be red???

The Grinch was mad that we had been talking about how mean he was.  He really is trying to be nice!! He left us some Who Pudding!!

This year we added some Grinch Grinkles!!

YUM!!

My Sweet Grinchy Team!!  They are the best!!!

If you still haven't grabbed my Grinch unit,
you can get it HERE!! CLICK!!!
All the ideas you see here (plus sooooo much more) are included in the unit!! :)

PHEW!!!  It was a crazy busy whirlwind day, but so incredibly rewarding to see the lights in our little ones' eyes all day!!! It is a day they will remember for a very long time!! That's what we try to do!!  Yes, it takes a ton of effort to create learning environments like this, but I wouldn't have it any other way!! I truly believe that the connections kids make when they are engaged in this way are far more lasting than filling out worksheets. We want to promote lifelong learners. I believe they will take this day with them.  Thanks for allowing me to share this journey with you!!  

I'll be back soon! Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful evening!! I'm going to be dreaming in green tonight!!  :)

Joyfully!

Nancy

Using our Senses, Door Ornaments, Candy Canes, Book Elf Gift Tags, and Happy 2016!

Hello Everyone!!
We have been so busy learning about what good authors do to make writing interesting and visual. This past week we focused on "If You Take a Mouse to the Movies" and used the whole idea of the popcorn to practice using our senses.  Of course we had to pop some popcorn.  What a great motivator for gaining an understanding of sensory techniques.  Sorry I didn't get pics of the actual popping, but I did get some of what we did next!  I cut some simple popcorn shapes.  The kids wrote sentences about what they experienced.

We also worked on some ornaments like the mouse in the story.  That mouse sure was demanding!! He wanted so many things!  We focused on things we need, things we want and things we can give. 

Click HERE for the PDF if you want it!

Last week we also were working on heat energy.  We got together with our book buddies and worked on some Candy Cane science.  The mouse would have loved this, but it also went so beautifully with the book -Katie the Candy Cane Fairy!! The fairies' candy canes lost their stripes-- and so did our candy canes!!!

While we were waiting for our candy cane science to "do it's thing, we made paper candy canes! 

Easy to make. Color a border around a square piece of paper. Flip the paper over and roll around a pencil from one corner to the opposite corner! Magically, a candy cane stripe will appear! The kids loved making these!!

The candy cane science activity is included in my Grinch unit.

You can get that HERE!!

We love giving books to our first graders for their holiday gifts. Normally we attach a little plastic sparkly icicle to use as a reading helper.  Well, of course we couldn't find any this year.  I went looking for something else we could use for our gift, and finally found some cute little clips with little elves on them.  You could easily make these by gluing on some felt and drawing a face, but I decided to save some time and purchase them. I made a little tag and voila!! A sweet little gift for some sweet firsties!!

You can get a free pdf of the tag here if you want! CLICK!!

Lastly, I have had a ton of  requests for an updated version of my Happy New Year unit.  DONE!

I added a few things to cover what we'll be working on when we get back from our Winter Break. 

Pics??? Of course!!!

We will use this for "Rhythm and Rhyme"

These are just a few of the 80+ pages you'll get in this year's download. 

You can get that free unit HERE!!! Click away!!

PHEW!!!  I knew this was going to be a loaded post, but we made it!! Thanks for sticking with it to the end!!  Now off to get ready for Grinch Week!!!  So excited!!

I'll try to take pics along the way and share when I get a chance!! As always, thank you for stopping by our little "Window On Wonder."  I love reading your comments, so don't be a grinch, let me know how things are going!!

Till next time, have a wonderful week!!

Joyfully!

Nancy