"SNOW" MUCH FUN!

I have SNOWMEN on the brain so let's do some blog hoppin' and see what I've found.

HINT...even if you don't live where it snows these activities just might bring a bit of excitement to your classroom and a look at experiences, due to climate, other children have in other parts of the world.

First here is a look at some of my favorite class read aloud stories.

I am definitely adding 100 Snowmen to my 100 Days of School list.

It is delightful with some fancy adding taking place to find 100!

In my class we made adorable snowmen for the parents and snowmen for the kiddos.

The sock snowmen are so cute!!

Check it out here.

Santa's Workshop

I found this on YouTube with a Step by Step.  Pretty cool!  **Note: we used a hot glue gun.

Ane I got socks in the $$$dollar bins.  Kiddos can bring their own socks as long as they are clean. Ha!!

Step by Step on You Tube

Look at these adorable treat bags from Club...Where crafty is contagious.  I especially love the marshmallow one!  There is even a free pattern for the head!

Find it here.

I tried these for treats for my class only instead of the nose they used I put an orange M&M. I saw another post where they used mini chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth.  What fun to make!

Thank you Very Heatherly!

Find it here.

This is so cute and think how perfect to put "hot chocolate" in.  

Thank you to the Party Mom.

Find it here.

Speaking of Hot Chocolate...

Find it here.

These are all over Pinterest but this one is from Learning in Spain.

And look at these adorable snowmen from Glyph Girls and a fabulous study of snow from 

Kelly Smith.

Find it here.

So bundle up...catch a snowflake...have fun!!

DIY Twister for CVC Word Work

Hello friends! Today we want to share an easy DIY project for word work. These are super easy to make, and all you need are Styrofoam cups and a permanent marker. Then just write common CVC consonants around two cups and vowels around another cup. Then stack the three cups together in CVC order and twist them to make and read different words. Your students will not only have fun making real words, but they'll love the silly nonsense word combinations too. You can easily extend the activity by having your students make a list of all the real words they make on a sheet of paper.

What other ways do you like to support students learning CVC words? We'd love to hear your ideas! As always, happy teaching!

Cute DIY Pumpkin Cupcake Recipe

Happy October friends! I love making holiday cupcakes for my class parties, and I think these pumpkin cupcakes are so cute. The great news is they are easier than they look. 

You can make them ahead of time, or even make them in class with your students. The recipe works great at an adult supervised center, or can be made with the whole class during a fall or Halloween party. All you need to do is bake the cupcakes ahead of time and bring the rest of the ingredients and let students have fun decorating them. As you can imagine, they love frosting them and adding the sprinkles and stem. 

Whether you decide to make these ahead of time or together with your class, everyone will love eating them. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

• a box of cupcake batter
• cupcake wrappers
• white frosting
• yellow and red food coloring
• orange sprinkles
• green licorice or candy (optional)

Directions

1. Make the cupcakes according to the instructions on the box.
2. Color the frosting orange using a few drops of red and yellow food coloring.
3. Frost the cupcakes with the orange frosting.
4. Squirt four lines for pumpkin "ribs" on the cupcake using the frosting.
5. Cover the frosting in orange sprinkles.
6. Press a short piece of green licorice (or any green candy) in the center for the stem.
7. Enjoy these cute cupcakes with your students!

As always, happy teaching!

DIY Crayon-Style Pencil Holder

Hello colleagues! We hope your school year is off to a great start. Here in Yucatan, our kids just went back to school on the last day of August. If you started earlier, don't be jealous though, because we'll pay for it later when we get out of school in mid July! 

Today we're blogging to share a fun and easy DIY project with you all. Eliceo and I love making crafty teacher stuff and this is one of our latest creations. It's super simple to make and only requires a few supplies. All you'll need are some cans, crayons, and craft glue (hot glue will melt the crayons). Then all you do is glue the crayons around the can. You can arrange them like a rainbow, or make a fun pattern with the colors. You could also tie a ribbon around them for added cuteness. Then we put it on our desks to hold all our writing tools. These would make a great gift for your colleagues, or even your secretary. If you're planning to make a bunch of them, make sure to stock up on crayons in the fall during the back to school deals. We hope you enjoy it. As always, happy teaching! 

Back to School Classroom Makeover DIY on a Budget

Let's face it, as teachers we LOVE to craft, organize, and make our rooms so stinkin' cute for the upcoming school year! We think about our plans all summer, but after all of that dreaming, we stop and realize that it can cost a TON of money to change a theme/decor EVERY year! Well, good thing you stopped by because I'm here to help you save money in your classroom while giving it a total makeover! :)

I don't know about you but I LOVE having everything match. This is such an easy way to get more decor to go with your classroom theme! All I did was take out the drawers and spray paint the plastic outer part! Such an easy way to add your classroom colors in without having to buy anything new (just the paint!;) )

Painting baskets has changed my life!! I use baskets for our classroom library, turning in papers, and for each table "cluster". It's always so hard to find the colors you want! You can find these baskets at the dollar store or even in the Target dollar section! Just spray paint them like you did to the drawers and voila! 

Need I say more? I use these for EVERYTHING! 

My favorite is painting tin cans to match my table colors for the "community markers" and "community colored pencils". The kiddos keep their own crayons in their pencil boxes. 

**Not pictured** I also paint the bigger ones (top picture) to match the table colors and use those for community markers. Whenever we need markers, the kiddos grab their "color". This makes them accountable for their own markers and know that I will know if they don't keep them organized (with the caps ON! ;) ).

I found this tutorial from Briana over at Sun, Sand, and Second Grade! It's super easy and cheap and looks so stinkin cute! Check out her blog to get your tutorial! (Her picture is also WAY cuter!!)

Briana's is ROCKING! I can't wait to get back into my classroom and add some cute ribbon like she did! :)

This is another thing that has helped me stay SO organized and they are SO cheap! You can get a pack of 5 for 1.99!!

This idea came from another awesome blogger. She used PVC pipes to make small pocketchart stands! It's perfect for my small groups! I didn't get a chance to take a picture of how mine turned out but you can check out Marvelous Multiagers, who did a fantastic job of showing how to make these!!

Thanks for checking out this post and please don't hesitate to ask any questions that you may have! 

Favorite Back to School Activities

Hi!  It's Hollie from The Razzle Dazzle Classroom... I'm so excited to be joining the crew at iTeach First! For my first post, I'm going to share some of my favorite back to school activities!

1. You can't begin the year without reading First Day Jitters and making your own Jitter Juice!  I always use Green Hawaiian Punch and Sprite... it works great!!!

2. I love starting off the year with a classroom pledge. My kiddos help write their promise and then they sign the bottom...

3. You can't go wrong with Kevin Henkes.... His books are PERFECT for the beginning of the school year!! I always begin the year with a Kevin Henkes author study.  My students can relate to each story/character and I use this author study to introduce imperative reading skills and strategies that we will be learning and applying throughout the year.  

We start off with Chrysanthemum... My students relate to the text by writing about what makes them "wilt" and "bloom." This whole unit comes from my Kevin Henkes Author Study... but you can grab this cute chrysanthemum activity for FREE HERE. 

A few years ago, I added all of our Kevin Henkes work to the bulletin board and titled it "What do Good Readers do?" Then... We added our crafts and strategy sheets to the board each day! It turned out super cute!  I didn't have room for Wemberly or Lilly's Boots... I think I had to hang them in our room.. ha!

Each day that we learn a strategy, we add to our anchor chart...

EVERYTHING Kevin Henkes Can be found HERE...

4.  These mathematicians from Amy Lemons are the perfect way to begin math... Actually, I LOVE her entire unit!!! You can find it HERE.

5. Howard B. Wigglebottom... need I say more?  I love reading ALL of the Howard B. Wigglebottom books because my students learn to find the central message in a story, but most importantly they learn some of my expectations for the school year!

Each day we find the central message of the story, learn to apply it to our lives,  and then add it to an anchor char like this..

I am a huge advocate of whole body listening... so Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen is PERFECT for my classroom!!!

I spend and ENTIRE day teaching my students the importance of teamwork and appropriate behavior for working in groups. Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns About Sportsmanship is the perfect book!!!

We also do a ton of fun group work activities.

Like... marshmallow towers!!!!

 And... Silent puzzles!

We learn about bullying with Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns About Bullies.

And... The importance of doing what makes us happy and not feeling the need to always "fit in."

All of the Howard B. activities come from HERE!

There you have it... A few of my favorites!!!!

I hope you have a FANTASTIC beginning to the new school year!  Nothing compares to the excitement, eagerness to learn, and the thought of new beginnings that a new year brings... Enjoy every exhausted moment because you are changing lives!!!

Hollie