Hello Everyone!!
This time of year makes for busy households and busy school days...but we power through...and glean those precious moments of pure joy with our families and with our students. One more day left of this wonderful week at school. Yes, we are completely exhausted, and yes, we are ready for a winter break, but...yes, the sparkle in those little eyes makes it all worth while! We have so enjoyed the work of Dr. Seuss this week with his wonderful tale of a changing heart and the transforming traditions of life and love. We got to celebrate Grinch Day today with some fun learning experiences. Here are a few pics!

My crazy fun team!!!

Grinch Kabobs

Grinch Grime

Adjective Work

Tons of Math!!

Who Pudding!

Green Candy Canes!

All of this fun stuff is available in my Updated Grinch Unit.

All the above activities are still available if you click HERE!! :)  FREE!!

We also had a special delivery today...straight from the North Pole!  Santa discovered that my kids had such giving hearts, he wanted to give them something special. He sent them each a special key to set out and have ready for him to use when he comes on Christmas eve.  

I will tell you, I think the kids were more excited about that than all the Grinch stuff put together!!

(A little hint...After packaging the keys and tags, put the box in the freezer!  The keys will stay cold for quite a while!! SHHHHHH!!)

If you would like a copy of this CLICK HERE!!

I have so much more to share with you, but I am sooooo out of time!!! I'll be back soon!  Until then, thanks for stopping by our little "Window on Wonder!"  I am hoping you have a wonderfilled last few days with your kids and a restful family filled break!  

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

Grinning With That Green Guy!-

Hello Everyone!
I am hoping you all have had a wonderful weekend.  We finally had some time to put up some Christmas decorations at the house.  We are keeping it very simple this year as we focus on the JOY of Christmas rather than the overwhelming commercialism. It feels so good to have made the decision not feel like we have to keep up with the "Grizwalds!" :)  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loooooove decorating for the holidays, but there are more precious things on which I want to spend my time and resources this year!  
Creating "hand to head to heart" activities for my first graders is just one of those things.  We had a blast talking about adjectives last week and using them in our writing.  As a hands on activity, the kids made little Santa's with big, red, cherry noses!  They turned out great!

Patterns for these are in my Santa's Stuck unit. You'll find the link to the unit in last week's post!

We also added a festive hat to our fun little monster!!

Coming up soon is our Grinch Day!  Wait! What am I talking about?!  I mean Grinch week!! For the past several years, we have done a day or two of Grinchy learning! But I have added so much to the unit to cover what our curriculum says we should be teaching, that the unit is now comprehensive enough to take a week!!

This year I added a section on digraphs, a candy cane heat energy science lesson, and more author's message ideas. (88 pages total!) Here are a few pics!

Unit includes patterns for this cute little green guy and author's message!!

Unit includes lots of math opportunities!

                                                  

I am so excited to share this fun learning opportunity with my kids!   I know in the past I shared my Grinch unit with you, and then I was informed that I couldn't infringe on the name Grinch. But since I am not selling his name, just celebrating and provided a learning experience for young children,  for which  Dr. Seuss had such passion, I am going to re-offer the unit to you for download. I love Dr. Seuss and what he stood for so much. I know he would be so proud to know that we are still discovering and learning through his wonder-filled work!  So many of you already have my old unit, so you are welcomed to re-download this new and improved one! I am trusting you will not sell it! :) Right??? :)

CLICK HERE if you are interested in celebrating that green guy!!

10 more days until Christmas (Winter) break! I love this time of year with first graders! The wonder in their eyes and their sweet innocence are so contagious! I know it keeps me going, and I hope it does you as well!   Till next time, have a fabulous week and enjoy each moment, and every grin!!

Joyfully!

Nancy