The Mitten Tree

Happy New Year! I have been avoiding all things school during this winter break. Due to frigid temps (7 degrees this morning!), we had today off, so I am taking advantage of this extra time to ease back into school mode. 

The holidays were wonderful, including our last week of school before winter break. I used The Mitten Tree Acts of Kindness kit, and my second graders did a fantastic job of designing their mittens! They designed, wrote a description, and then swapped descriptions to create someone else's mitten!  

Someone wrote a clear description for his partner to replicate!

As soon as we return, we'll gear up to learn about Dr. King, using Happy Birthday, Dr. King! to celebrate his birthday, and kick off the 100 Acts of Kindness activity that is included in the Dr. King kit. 

It's time to start collecting toilet tissue cardboard rolls to make the I Have a Dream craft! Isn't it amazing that TP rolls can be turned into so many crafty items! They are one of my go-to crafty staples. 

I hope you're warm where you are. Happy Monday!

Susan

The Mitten Tree and Acts of Kindness

I've been busy planning for December fun in my classroom. My teammates and I are planning a second grade yard sale in a couple of weeks, so I am putting the finishing touches on materials for that. It's a super-fun way to give our kiddos a real world opportunity to practice money skills. 

In the finished column, I wrapped up two TPT products this past week. The first is a writing and word study kit based on the cute book by Marla Frazee. I'm looking forward to using Frazee's book as an anchor for teaching ELA skills next week. What a great way to kick off December! Can you believe that December begins on Sunday?!?

In an effort to keep my students (and myself) grounded during the upcoming "I want!" frenzy, I've put together several acts of kindness, focus-on-others activities that I have used for the past few years. I love Candace Christiansen's, The Mitten Tree, so I used it as a theme for this kit. 

On a final note, Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful that I was able to spend quality time with my sweet family. While I was there, I was able to visit with the chicks and ducklings that we hatched in my classroom about six weeks ago. Look how big they are! My students are going to be shocked by their growth. They had a great time munching on my brother's fall garden.