This past summer I set up a donors choose project to create a quiet reading area in our classroom.  We didn't have any comfy places to sit to read. We have an old large-group rug, but other than that, it's the cold, icky tile floor.  The bookshelves we had were standard bookshelves we had purchased ourselves throughout the years.  It was difficult to keep books organized by level on standard-sized bookshelves.  We recently received all of our items--2 large bean bag chairs, a large bookshelf made to hold the long plastic book boxes to sort and level "good-fit books" and a new small area rug.  The class loves to come into this area and snuggle up with some good books.  It's so great to see!! 

The day before break, we wrote about how to make a Grinch smile.  Students came up with 3 creative and cute ideas on how to make the Grinch smile.  This one says:  First, give him some coffee.  Next, give him some bells.  Last, give him some berries.  Students came up with all kinds of great ideas from singing, giving him chocolate, presents, even mac and cheese!  So creative :)

This is how some of the kiddos' snowmen turned out.  So cute!  I was able to have a parent helper at each table to help students out during both phases of the project.  That was a HUGE help!  The first day, we covered our bottles with the tissue paper.  The second day, we decorated.  Students made gift bags with a dark blue bag and used cotton balls to create a snow scene.  Some were very abstract and creative, but they all turned out very neat.  The snowmen sat on our counter for a few days before they were sent home--it looked like a scene from Snowmen at Night.  We read through that book and pondered what our snowmen did when we all went home from school.  I've already gotten a couple more Pom juice bottles to start collecting for next year!

I love this time of year.  I love our Holidays, Winter and Gingerbread units.  Maybe because it's Friday and I have a couple days to recover from the crazy day...but I almost wish we had more time for this season!  I had to post the CUTEST project that our kiddos are going to make for their families.  The idea is from Family Fun's most recent December issue.  These are my practice ones (my 3-year-old helped me make the Pom juice bottle snowman, so I figured if he can do this, so can my first graders!).  To prep the bottles, take off the label (I had to use nail polish remover to get rid of the printing on the Pom juice bottle), and cut the bottom off the bottle so that you can place it over a battery-operated tea light (I found some at the craft store 5 for $5).  Using a white glue and water mixture, you "paint" on white tissue paper squares onto your recycled bottle.  I used a glitter spray paint to paint the caps, although, you could just use the same decoupage technique with black tissue paper as you do with the white tissue for the body of the snowman.  I used orange tissue paper to make a nose, shaping it with a little help from the glue mixture, and sequins for the face and buttons.  I couldn't find small buttons in bulk at a reasonable cost fast enough at the craft store before my Littles starting losing it, but that would be super cute, too.  We'll be making these around December 14th, but I couldn't wait to post a pic of these!