Getting Ready for Santa

Hey there folks!  Lindsay here . . .

I have been TERRIBLE at keeping up with the blog these past few weeks.  Here's a recap of my life in November: I cried and cried about leaving Jack and going back to school (can you say GUILT?), I met my sweet students and got so excited to be back teaching again, and then had my first whole week back at school last week . . . and I. Am. Exhausted.  Between those middle-of-the-night feedings, waking up at 4:45 to start my day, and jumping back into the crazy kinder routine, I am one tired teacher momma!!  It really is great to be back though, and I have a super sweet class this year. 

I really can't believe that it is already December already and that Christmas is right around the corner . . . For those of you who haven't yet, you MUST check out Kerri's Magic Elf unit on TPT . . . I started it with my class last week and  it was the cutest thing!  Here is a picture of our elf, Winkle, on Day #1:

After we read Winkle's Day 1 introduction, we had a great discussion on what the "true meaning of Christmas" means.  And one of my kiddos reminded the class ALL DAY to keep their voices down so they wouldn't scare "TWinkle". Love it!

As we have been getting ready for the holidays in my class, I decided to have my students write their Christmas lists for Santa.  Although some of them are still working on mastering their letters and sounds at this point of the year, many of my kiddos are really taking off in their writing, and spelling phonetically with confidence and delight!  (Isn't teaching Kinder the best when it all starts to click and they just take off and write, write, write?!)  Using the template below, my students wrote the three things they wanted to ask Santa for, and drew a picture to go along with each one . . . ya know, to help Santa make sure to get the right thing!  I love Erica's third wish from Santa - a pretty flower.  How sweet, right?

(click below for link to worksheet)

To go along with our letters to Santa, here are our sweet Santas that we made in art. .  The kids did great, even in spite of the fire drill that we had right in the middle of the lesson . . . grrrr!

And (drumroll please), here are our Santas and letters across our room!  The kids are so proud of their great work! 

Hope you are enjoying these last few weeks of fun with your kiddos before the holidays.  Don't forget to get your Magic Elf packet this weekend if you haven't already - its not too late!!!

Okay, okay . . . and just had to share this cuteness with all of you.  Here is Jack at three monthes - all ready for the holidays! (Proud mommy, can't you tell?!)

Signing off for now!

Lindsay