Gingerbread Packs and a Target Mini Eraser FREEBIE

Do you do a Gingerbread theme in December? I love all the different versions of the gingerbread Story (read this post for more on comparing/contrasting stories with a FREE Gingerbread Venn Diagram) so we stretch our Gingerbread theme to last a few weeks. This year we have even more gingerbread goodness:

These Gingerbread Addition Clip Cards can be differentiated for ALL of your students because there are 120 cards with sums from 0 to 21! Do you love the mini glitter clothespins?! They're from the Target Dollar Spot!

My students need extra practice with reading CVC words, so these Gingerbread CVC Clip Cards are perfect for our Literacy Centers! Students look at the picture and then put their clothespin on the correctly spelled CVC word.

I have some students still working on number recognition and 1 to 1 counting, as well as subitizing, so these Gingerbread Counting Clip Cards will be great for our Math Centers! 

AND,

We have our Elf coming to visit us in December too! (read this post for more on why you should have an Elf On The Shelf in the classroom!) Our Elf always brings us little notes, presents and goodies, and I've created a whole pack of 24 notes, a request letter and response sheets so you can join in the fun with your class!

You can find these Letters from An Elf in my TPT store!

Finally, did you know that TPT is having their Cyber Monday sale tomorrow and Tuesday? My store will be set to 20% off and then you can get an additiaonl 10% off that by putting in the code when you checkout!

And, if you've checked out Target's Dollar Spot lately, you've probably seen these adorable erasers:

I hope you picked some up, because your students will LOVE using them with this Ten Frame freebie! Just click the picture to grab it for FREE in my TPT store!

Alright, off to find my Elf and wrap up the box for delivery on Wednesday! Have a great week!

Random Acts of Kindergarten Kindness

Have you been wondering about ways to encourage kindness in your classroom? Character building is a big focus of mine this year, so I decided to do a whole month worth of Random Acts of Kindergarten Kindness for December. Regardless of religious affiliation, ALL of my students will love doing these RAKK's.

I created a calendar to help them remember to continue to be kind on the weekends and once our Winter Break begins. Since I'm a teacher with 5 kids of my own, I made sure that all of the school activities were inexpensive and didn't require a lot of prep on my part (aren't we all so BUSY this time of year?!) I am so excited to share this with you - together we can make a world of difference this holiday season!

Go ahead and grab the calendar for free at my TPT store - I included a b&w version to send home for your students to color, as well as a full color version for you to print out for your reference. If you do the activities, I would love to see them - simply add the hashtag #RAKK2016 when posting to social media to help others find fun ideas for inspiring kindness in our students.

Need the calendar for other grade levels? I included a version without "kindergarten"!

Have ideas for other Random Acts of Kindness? I'd love it if you'd rustle up a comment below and share!

Red Ribbon Week Doors & Character Pumpkins!

This is our Red Ribbon Week, and we have some serious contenders for Best Decorated Door:

"Don't Be Afraid To Say No!"  The background really makes this door - but the cheesecloth ghosts are super cute too!

"Drugs Are a Trick Not A Treat" These candy corn are super simple and cute - just crumpled tissue paper!

"Elect Not To Do Drugs!" This Election themed door is particularly appropriate this year!

 "Tell Drugs Its The End Of The Road" This is a fun one for a car-crazy class!

 "You Only Live Once, Fly Above The Influence" These paper towel roll rockets were a blast for the students to decorate!

 "Mooooove Over Drugs" These paper plate cows come from our Pre-k class - they did an awesome job!

 "Don't Get Wrapped Up In Drugs" This mummy door is from our Counselor - love it!

"Slam Dunk, Drugs Are Junk!" I love the over-the-door hoop for this door, and the basketballs are Styrofoam balls cut in half and painted orange!

"Drugs Are Sticky Business!" This is a 2nd grade door with glitter spiderwebs - love the unsuspecting victim all tangled up by the spider in the top left corner!

"There's No Room On Our Broom For Drugs!" These brooms are made with sticks from the playground and paper bags! 

And, of course I saved the best for last! My class is full of Pokemon Masters, so of course we had to do a Pokemon themed door:

 "Drugs Can't Catch Us! We Are Having A Ball Being Drug Free!" 

We created the Poke-balls with 2 paper plates. We cut the first one in half and painted one half red. Then we added a long, skinny black rectangle, and cut out 3 different sizes of circles. We used a brad to secure the two halves to the 2nd plate. I had each child color their own Pikachu mask (from this site), and then took their photo as they showed me their best "Pokemon escaping" pose. I printed the pictures on card stock and cut them out. Then the kids glued their picture in the opening of the Poke-ball, so it looks like they're jumping out of the Poke-ball!

 The winners will be announced Friday, so we're crossing our fingers!

I also had some great Pumpkin Character book reports turned in! Here are some of my faves: 

Pete The Cat Character Pumpkin made with paint, paper and pipe cleaners!

This family went all out with their "The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and The Big Hungry Bear" pumpkin - when my sweetie brought it in, she showed me the exact page that this scene is from!

This Curious George pumpkin is so cute!

I love this Cookie Monster pumpkin - especially since he came with a chocolate chip cookie!

Alright, I'm off to enter grades into our computer program - Progress Reports get printed Friday! I'd love to hear about your Red Ribbon Week - rustle up a comment below and share your favorite door display or character pumpkin!