Once upon a time, I was a serious crafter. I was up to my elbows in ribbons, papers, stamps, and ink. I was mostly a papercrafter, but I dabbled in lots of other areas too. One of the things I loved best was making gifts for friends and family. Over the past couple of years, TpT and digital design has edged out my actual real-life crafting, so sadly much of craft stash goes unused most of the time. This is the workspace we put together when we moved into this house. The opposite wall is my hubby's side and has a desk and bookshelves, & stuff. Once in a while, I do venture inside to do some crafting as I did this week for some gifts for my teammates.

Even when I'm not full-on crafting there are two trusty tools I still use quite a lot. Those would be my Xryon Machine (see it here) and paper cutter, and I used both to create these little gifts for my team.

I got a great deal on these little candles from Bath & Body Works on Black Friday (or Cyber Monday maybe?) So I ordered 12 of them. Then I wanted some kind of quote to go along with it and found this one by Buddha ( or at least the internet says is was Buddha...) Either way, seemed like a nice reminder. I found a wintery background, added the text and printed them out on card stock. Then I decided I wanted it to be more than a business-cardish type of thing. So, my trusty Xyron came to the rescue and turned them into magnets. {This is not a Xyron commercial, I swear. I just love this thing so freakin much I think everyone should have one. I actually contacted the company a few times about doing a review/giveaway, but they haven't really jumped on board. yet.}

I popped in the cartridge that has a sheet of magnet on one side and laminate on the other. You can also buy cartridges that have laminate on both sides, permanent or removable adhesive with or without laminate on the other side. Amazing, right? I use it ALL the time. Ok, so after I cranked it through the wonder machine, I cut them into magnet sized pieces with my paper slicer and I had my gifts all ready in a matter of minutes.

I packaged them up in cute little bags from Hobby Lobby and done!

This would also make a nice little hostess gift, maybe with a larger candle, or a cute little something to have on hand for people who stop by to visit over the holidays. If you would like the quote all formatted on the background, just click here.

Ok, believe it or not, I have two ornaments hanging on my tree and still need to do some shopping, so I guess I better get my rear in gear! Merry Christmas, my friends!

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I know some of you have been buried under snow already, which I can not even imagine! Down here we've had a few really nice chilly days in the 50's and we're loving it! Cool, crisp days like that make it a lot easier to get into the holiday spirit!

I've been into Christmas since before Halloween. I have issues...
One of the things that really got me in the mood was updating my December Printable Pack. I've already updated it a couple of times since I posted it two years ago, but this time it got a major overhaul. I updated the fonts and graphics on all of the pages, adjusted some of the activities slightly, and added a few more as well. There are 26 activities in all, plus answer keys. I love to have these on hand for homework, sub plans, early finishers, or even a quick center. If you have to sent home a practice pack over winter break, this might do it for you! If you already own the original version, be sure to download it again so you've got all the new goodies.

This next one has been rolling around in my brain for a really long time. I had scrap paper "prototypes" spread out all over my dining room table for weeks! I'm calling it the 3D Grammar Tree Craftivity. It's actually easy to put together and just about every part of it is editable, so if you want to modify the parts of speech your kids practice, you totally can!

And while we're on the subject of Craftivities, check out Rudolph! He also comes with lots of options and step by step directions. I've also included a version that the kids can just color, if printing and cutting all the pieces separately isn't your thing.

So I'm sure you've heard, but the big Cyber Monday sale on tpt is this happening now - December 1st and 2nd. Be sure to add the promo code tptcyber at checkout. You would not believe how many times I've forgotten to do that!

After you're all done shopping, be sure to come back to the blog each day between December 2 and 14 for some awesome daily giveaways courtesy of some very generous friends! See ya tomorrow!

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I decorated the blog for Christmas! It was way easier than decorating my house, I'll tell you that much. Wanna hear a secret? I still haven't even really put away everything from Thanksgiving! I just decorated the classroom before I left on Friday, so at least my kids will be a little surprised on Monday morning. Tomorrow I have GOT to bust a move on this house!

So, I've been trying to think of a way to bump up the kids' productivity at the writing center. Their time at the center is certainly not their only exposure to the writing process, but it's a great way to give them a bit more choice and fun in their practice. I've been using my writing center task cards for years and while I love them, I wasn't always in love with what the kids were producing. I included many different styles of writing, like list making, letter writing, venn diagrams, illustrating ideas, acrostic poems, and recipes just to name a few. For those types of activities, the kids were a bit inept at setting up the page and spent more time doing that than I'd like. 

So for a while now, I've had the idea to make some pages that correlate to the task cards so that the kids could just concentrate on their ideas, not how to set up the page. Somehow during the craziness of the holidays, I managed to finally do it! I took the topics on the cards and created printable pages for each one. I made each topic on a half sheet because I feel like some kids get a bit intimidated by a giant blank page they feel like they need to fill up.

Now,the cool thing is that you can print out whatever or how many pages you want for the month and make a little rubber band book they they can use for the whole month! I really like this idea so when I send it home at the end of the month, the parents can get a good glimpse of their child's writing. Here's how to make a rubber band book.

If double sided printing and rubber banding isn't your thing...

I also added a little self evaluation at the end of the journal that they can complete after they look over their writing for the month. They can set a goal for the next month and get some feedback from me. And of course, we have to have a cute cover.

I've only completed December so far. I'm working on January now and really want to get the rest of the months updated over winter break. If you already own the set of task cards, make sure you download the revision so you can grab the journals. If you don't already own them, you can find them here.

I have sets for every month listed separately, as well as in bundles.

Just a little head's up, as I add the journal companion to each pack, the price will bump up just a bit. If you've already purchased them, of course you'll get the revision at no additional cost.  If you buy the others now, you can also get in on the reduced price too!

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I'm sure you've heard the news by now, but it does bear repeating. The big TpT Cyber Monday & Tuesday sale is upon us! Hey, anytime we can save a few dollars it's worth spreading the news. Of course, I'm a seller but I'm also a HUGE buyer! See...this is a snapshot from "My Purchases":

I've purchased 279 items from TpT! Ready for my wish list?

230 items on my wish list! Not sure how many I'll actually purchase during the sale, but knowing me, it will be quite a few. So as a buyer, I really do appreciate when my favorite sellers highlight their new schtuff for me to peruse. How do you think my wish list is up over 200 items? 

So, I thought you all might like to see some of my December resources in case you're filling up your cart for the big sale. If you're a newsletter subscriber, some of this will look really familiar ;)

First Grade, Third Grade, Fourth Grade ELA

First Grade, Second Grade Math

Be sure to leave feedback on all of your recent purchases before you shop so you can use those credits to save even more! Be sure to use the code CYBER when shopping on Monday and Tuesday. Well, besides shopping and leaving feedback, I've got tons of planning to do! I'd really super love to be all planned up until winter break, but right now I'd feel really great if I just knew what the heck I was going to do come Monday morning...

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I've spent my fair share of time walking down hospital hallways and I swear sometimes the only thing that distinguishes a hospital hallway and a school hallway is the student artwork lining the walls. I find this to be especially true in the newer schools, like the ones in the community where I teach. Now with the added layers of security and fire codes,  it's even more important to make an effort to add warmth and whimsy to the school environment.

We can't go all crazy with tons of paper and hanging decorations, but we do have a nice sized bulletin board in the hallway and a long cork strip. As much as I understand the importance of decorating these boards, the time to do it can be hard to come by. I also have a difficult time putting things out that are strictly crafts without a clear academic component. So I created a couple of things that fit all of my needs.  First up is a writing craftivity called "Oh, no! What's in my Cocoa?"

I wanted to help my kids write better sentences. Sometimes I ask them to describe something and they say "big" or "red". I always kid around and say things like "Elephants are big, is it an elephant?" when what they were trying to describe was a house, or building. They get the idea, but it's still hard for them.
So, this writing activity has them focus on really describing an object that is unseen to the other students.  Since my kids are a bit older, I'm going to use this form of the craftivity {I love that teachers have totally made that a word} My kids will write clues on the smaller paper that will go on the cup. That paper will only be glued at the top so it lifts up to reveal the hidden object.

There are lots of other versions and paper sizes so that you can choose what works for your kids. I also played around with adding marshmallows and a real spoon. I'll post some more pictures when my kids make theirs, but I wanted to share these with you now because I'm guessing you're planning your winter boards already.

I have a bit of an obsession with these bright colors lately! I got this pack of paper at Office Depot. It's super vibrant card stock that's two sided, so one pack has about 4 different colors that all coordinate.

For the long cork strip I'll be using one of the banners from my 25 Quick and Creative Bulletin Board Banners set. You might remember these that I did in the fall. You'll notice I like to keep things intentionally generic so I can leave them up though a season, like October and November, or December to February... I try. I don't always get away with it. 

These also work great if you have a clothesline hanging in your room. I really try to make things with big visual impact, but minimal teacher prep that won't take the kids a ton of time to work on. These banners fit the bill pretty well. They even make a great homework project!

I'll be making the ice skates for my hallway. They were designed to fit on legal paper to give the kids a lot of room to write and fill up lots of wall space, but they print out equally well on letter size. Sometimes I cut regular construction paper to legal size and run it though my printer. Can you believe I didn't even know that was possible until a couple of years ago?

There are a few winter options and even a New Year's banner as well if the ice skates don't float your boat. With 25 banners to choose from and only 9 months in the school year, you can use two each month and still have plenty to spare!

While you're planning for December, you might also want to check out this post from last year with eight different freebies!

"Oh, No! What's in my Cocoa?" Writing Craftivity

25 Quick and Creative Bulletin Board Banners

Update alert!

I've added new activities to my December Printables Pack and added a classroom friendly version of December Homework Helpers be sure to update the new versions!

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