Obscure Holiday Videos You Might Have Missed

I had the greatest intention of writing the greatest blog post in the history of blogkind.  The topic would have redefined teaching and caused mass chaos from the fervor and cheer resonating from teachers all around the globe.  It was gonna be that good.  I'm serious.

Then I realized how close we are to winter break and realized no one really cares.

Instead, here are a few holiday/winter/Christmas videos you might want to watch with your students. I'd suggest checking them out for yourself, but you don't have to take my word for it.

A Muppet Family Christmas
This is broken into four parts on Youtube.  It's a crossover of Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock.  This is phenomenal.  Wacka, wacka, wacka!


Star Wars Christmas Special (1978ish)
This might be the worst thing ever created.  It is not good, but some of your Star Wars loving kids might be interested in seeing wookies celebrate Christmas.  Or not.


ALF Christmas Special
This is bad.  I was a kid--so it is a bit nostalgic for me.  Don't judge me.


California Raisins Christmas Special
I love claymation and this hits some high notes.


Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas.
More Muppet-type fun.  Check it out.


Have a great week.
Matt

FREEBIE ALERT: Subtraction Interactive Notebook!

Hey guys!  It's Angie from Lucky Little Learners and I am here today to bring you a FREEBIE!  Last week I reached a TPT Milestone and am overwhelmed by the love and support of all of you!  Bloggers, TPT sellers, and teachers all over have taken the time to send me emails and messages.  Needless to say, I am feeling the LOVE!

 Then, just when I thought things couldn't get any better, THIS HAPPENED...

Yep, that's right!  Teachers Pay Teachers shared this on their Facebook page it was shared 293 times and liked by over 350 people!   Better yet, as of today, it has been downloaded over 6,000 times...that's 6,000 people that get to experience my hard work and passion!  #cloudten  #lovewhatIdo

So, I'm here to let  you know that if you haven't downloaded this Subtraction Interactive Math Notebook Unit, you have until Tuesday, December 9th to pick it up for FREE and then it goes back to a paid item.  Here's a sneak peek at some of the interactive notebook pages that are included in this product...

Gingerbread Fun in Kindergarten

I wanted to shake up my kindergarten instruction so I made these simple gingerbread cards. When I made them, I originally was going to use them as flash cards to "warm up" at the beginning of our group time. Then I started going and we ended up using these for the entire time! Here is what we ended up doing with these gingerbread men:

First, we used them as flash cards. Students had them in a pile and went through and reviewed their letter names.

Next, we sorted the cards by upper and lower case. Then they matched the upper and lower case together. 

After that we reviewed the letter sounds using only the lowercase letter cards.

We had the gingerbread vowel run to a consonant to practice blending words. Most of the words were nonsense words, but the point was to practice blending sounds together. This group of kids isn't ready to blend three sounds yet, so we focusing on two sounds. It was a lot of fun!

Click on the picture to watch the video. :)

We practiced segmenting sounds. They were able to segment three letter words with guidance. I said the word, then we all segmented the sounds together a couple of times. Then they tried to pull down the correct letters to make that word.

Last, we worked on manipulating sounds They had lots of guidance but I really saw improvement by the end. I would repeat the word and "touch and say" each sound. 

For example, I would say, map, /m/ /a/ /p/ as I touched each sound. Then I would say a new word, like mip, /m/ /i/ /p/. I would touch the cards again to help them see which sound changed.  A few kids were able to touch and say the cards on their own to determine which sound changed.

If you want to print out these cards to use with your kids, you can download them here. 

Come by my blog to see more Gingerbread ideas! Here is a link to all of my previous posts with a gingerbread theme. Three years of freebies and ideas!

december freebies for you!

Hello! You may or may not know, but I recently had a baby boy! We welcomed Oliver into our family on November 12th.

He's super cuddly and super codependent (older brother Gavin has always been extremely independent so a baby that wants to be held all the time...new to me!), so I'm glad I'll be off work until February to get extra cuddles in.  So, here's where I get a little personal.  Because I'm still recovering from my c-section and dealing with some other surgery issues (my bladder tore completely open during surgery...a big whoopsie that enabled me to pee out of my ankle have a super cool catheter for the last 3 weeks!), I will make this super VISUAL and REALLY quick so I can get back to that little bundle of poop joy :) If you're still reading this, I applaud you for not jumping down to the photos so quickly. Guilty myself of doing it all. the. time.

For the last 5 years, I've made these cookies in a jar with my class for parent gifts. I always end up with a few extra jars and because I loooove this yummy recipe so much, I can eat them with red and green m&m's all year long #noprob So, if you're looking for something for your parents/volunteers/neighbors/coworkers, download this FREEBIE!

Or...if you have a good sense of humor, this FREEBIE might be helfpul :) 

and one more before you go!

And if you haven't already noticed, TpT is having a HUUUUUGE site-wide sale! This only happens about 3 times a year, so head over and save now!  

Happy shopping everyone!