Let's face it...teaching is hard. It is exhausting- mentally and physically. We end each day with a long sign of exhaustion and then, have to get ready for the next day. Winter break gives us some much needed time to recharge our batteries. It gives us the time to decompress and relax.
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
6 Ways to Recharge During the Holidays
Let's face it...teaching is hard. It is exhausting- mentally and physically. We end each day with a long sign of exhaustion and then, have to get ready for the next day. Winter break gives us some much needed time to recharge our batteries. It gives us the time to decompress and relax.
Motivation for You and Your Students Before the Holidays
This time of year is tough. Everyone is ready for that Winter Break to start and beginning to shut down. Whether you get out on Friday of this week or sometime next week, we all need some motivation to get through those last few days!
4 Easy Popsicle Stick Christmas Ornaments

Holidays With Heart

Our world needs love and kindness more than ever! This holiday season, consider challenging your students to find ways to show gratitude to those who serve, and support to those in need. Children are naturally giving, so provide opportunities for creative kindness! Service projects can bring out the best in kids, build a sense of classroom community, and encourage a life-long pattern of giving back. Here are some awesome ways your classroom can give back this holiday season!
Get Inspired!
There are amazing stories of children all over the world finding unique and powerful ways to help others. Show your students some examples and get the creative juices flowing. In this video, 5 year-old Jayla tells how she creates goodie bags of essential items for the homeless.
Ideas for Service Projects
Letters to Soldiers
Have your class write letters of appreciation to soldiers! You can even include the school address in the letter and may receive a reply one day. This project allows students to think of others, practice their letter-writing, and show some kindness. Letters sent after December 1 may not reach soldiers abroad before the holidays, but will still be appreciated and encouraging at any time.
Check out:
Cards or Holiday Decorations for a Local Senior Care Home
Over a million Americans live in nursing homes, some without close friends or family to show them love and care. Find a nearby home or facility and show them some love! Students can make cards, simple holiday decorations, or even baked treats to share. Drop the goodies off or plan a "weekend field trip" where everyone meets up to deliver the surprises.
Easy decorations:
Treats for Firefighters or Police
Empower your class to make care packages for local fire or police stations. The students can make cards, decorations, or even some home-made treats!
Random Acts of Kindness
If you're not up for a time-consuming class project, you could try promoting Random Acts of Kindness. Students can do this in and out of the classroom!
What other ways do you encourage a giving spirit in your classroom?
The 12 Days of Christmas for Teachers
On the 1st day of Christmas, my students gave to me
an apple from the local grocery!
On the 2nd day of Christmas, my students gave to me
2 gift cards
and an apple from the local grocery!On the 3rd day of Christmas, my students gave to me
3 dandelions
2 gift cardsand an apple from the local grocery!
On the 4th day of Christmas, my students gave to me
4 Thank You cards
3 dandelions2 gift cards
and an apple from the local grocery!
On the 5th day of Christmas, my students gave to me
5 golden ornaments!
4 Thank You cards
3 dandelions
2 gift cards
and an apple from the local grocery!
Holiday Treats from CTR!
In the spirit of the holiday season, we wanted to share something special with all of you. For better or worse, the holidays seem to be filled with delightful treats, and these recipes quickly become part of our family (and school) traditions. Nineteen of us have gotten together this holiday season to share some of our favorite cookie recipes. Hop through the links below, and you just might find a new favorite to add to your holiday traditions. There are even a couple of holiday freebies thrown in for you to use at school!
Happy Holidays from all of us to all of you!
Our Holiday Traditions
Hey Y'all! It's Susan hopping over from Friendly Froggies! Every year around this time, I always teach the "Holidays Around the World" unit with my firsties. Well, this year is a little different. Our latest PBL Unit took longer than expected, so we are just finishing up a big bat project! It was so much fun and the students were so engaged, we just kept going!
Since I don't have enough time to do the complete "holidays around the world" unit, we are going to focus on our own traditions. The kids are having a blast sharing about their celebrations and traditions. To start off this week, the students have shared about their adventures picking out Christmas trees and decorating their houses.
Our school's amazing art teacher is on board with some great lessons! This is an example from last year and I can't wait to see this year's results!

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Since I don't have enough time to do the complete "holidays around the world" unit, we are going to focus on our own traditions. The kids are having a blast sharing about their celebrations and traditions. To start off this week, the students have shared about their adventures picking out Christmas trees and decorating their houses.
Our school's amazing art teacher is on board with some great lessons! This is an example from last year and I can't wait to see this year's results!

Teaching Gratitude in the Classroom
08 November 2015
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Adventures of a Schoolmarm,
autumn,
character education,
Holidays,
Interactive Notebooks,
Thanksgiving,
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Writing Prompts
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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. It is no secret that gratitude unlocks happiness in our lives, which is why it is so important that we take the time to teach our students to be grateful. No matter how much or how little we have in terms of possessions, we always have room for a thankful heart.
This is Beth from Adventures of a Schoolmarm. I want to share a few ideas with you today to help you teach your students to be grateful for all they have during the holiday season and beyond. These ideas have had really powerful results in my own classroom. They have even helped to minimize behavior concerns because we are so focused on the positive!
Columbus Myths Exposed for Kids
05 October 2015
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Adventures of a Schoolmarm,
autumn,
Columbus,
Fall,
Freebies,
geography,
Holidays,
mini-units,
Reading,
social studies,
Upper Elementary Grades
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Hey, it's Beth from Adventures of a Schoolmarm. The autumn weather has finally set in here in southwestern Ohio, and I couldn't be happier! I love everything about fall... hoodies, campfires, and chilly weather are my faves!
This also means that Columbus Day is right around the corner, and teaching about Columbus can be, well, tricky. The more I have learned about him as I have grown older, the less I like him as a human being, and yet there he is, celebrated every second Monday in October. And while the whole story about Columbus is just TOO MUCH for upper elementary students to be exposed to, I do think it is important to teach them the facts without filling their heads with myths.
The first thing I like to have students do is brainstorm everything they think they know about Columbus. In many cases, they think they know a lot about him, but they actually believe a lot of inaccurate information. I like to have them record it on this graphic organizer, then collect it to save for later.
Next, I focus on correcting the main myths that surround Columbus. I love to expose the kids to the different myths through a variety of texts... a non-fiction coloring book, a class reader's theater play, and some non-fiction comprehension passages.
MYTH: Columbus set sail to prove the earth was round because everyone else believed it was flat.
FACT: Columbus did not need to prove the earth was round because educated people already knew it.
When Columbus wrote in his journals about the native people, he described them as kind, trustworthy, and hardworking. He was surprised by how generous they were, willing to share everything they had with others. Columbus used their peaceful natures to his advantage. He seized their land and made them work in his gold mines. He even forced many of them to return to Spain on his ships so he could sell them into slavery!
As you can imagine, most of this information is pretty new to the kids, and they have a lot to say about it! After our unit on Columbus, I give them time to revisit their prior knowledge. They are usually really surprised to see how much their schema has changed.
Would you like to have your students compare their "Before and After" knowledge about Christopher Columbus? You can download it for FREE here. If you are interested in kid-friendly academic materials about the real Columbus story, I have a 70+ page unit now available in my store! Check it out here.
I'd love to hear about some of your favorite ways to teach about Christopher Columbus in the comments below. See you next month!
Pythagoras was the first person to hypothesize that Earth was round... nearly two thousand years before Columbus was born! In fourth century B.C.E., Aristotle used his observations of space to prove this was true. During a lunar eclipse, Aristotle noticed that the earth cast a shadow on the moon... and that shadow was round! In other words, it was common knowledge that the earth was round by the time Columbus set sail.
MYTH: Columbus was the first explorer to discover America.
FACT: Columbus never even landed in North America.
Nearly 500 years earlier, a Viking explorer named Leif Erikson did land in North America. He and his crew landed in modern day Canada. John Cabot, an explorer from England, also landed in North America shortly after Columbus's voyage to the New World. So why isn't John Cabot as recognized as Columbus? Early American colonists were looking for a hero to celebrate, but John Cabot claimed land in the name of England. Since the early colonists were at war against the British, Columbus was a more neutral choice... even though he never set foot in North America during any of his four voyages!
MYTH: Columbus was kind to the native people.
FACT: Columbus turned the native people into slaves.
When Columbus wrote in his journals about the native people, he described them as kind, trustworthy, and hardworking. He was surprised by how generous they were, willing to share everything they had with others. Columbus used their peaceful natures to his advantage. He seized their land and made them work in his gold mines. He even forced many of them to return to Spain on his ships so he could sell them into slavery!
As you can imagine, most of this information is pretty new to the kids, and they have a lot to say about it! After our unit on Columbus, I give them time to revisit their prior knowledge. They are usually really surprised to see how much their schema has changed.
Would you like to have your students compare their "Before and After" knowledge about Christopher Columbus? You can download it for FREE here. If you are interested in kid-friendly academic materials about the real Columbus story, I have a 70+ page unit now available in my store! Check it out here.
I'd love to hear about some of your favorite ways to teach about Christopher Columbus in the comments below. See you next month!
3 Easy Mother's Day Gifts!

Hello, everyone! I am Beth from Adventures of a Schoolmarm. I am so excited to be a part of this collaborative blog. We have some great things in store for you! :)
I am a planner by nature. I am also a procrastinator. In other words, I start thinking about things waaaaay in advance, but then I wait until the last minute to actually get it done. It's an interesting dichotomy! Is anyone else like this? Anyone? Bueller?
If I have a little extra money to spend on classroom crafts, this is one of my favorite gifts for students to make for their mothers. We start by decorating the pots with our crayons. Afterwards, we plant fresh flowers in the pots. An easy tip to make this less messy is to put all of the dirt inside of a dish tub (pictured below). There are a lot of variations you could do with this idea, including growing plants from seeds if you really plan ahead! :)
I mean, what mom wouldn't love a T-Rex trying to eat a Triceratops on her flower pot?!
This card is great to give in addition to any of the gifts that you might have the students make for their mothers. The most important tip for this card is the the thumb and pointer finger MUST overlap the fold so that the pieces will stay together after cutting out the hand. You can read a more detailed description of how to create this card here.
This is one of my students' favorite crafts to make for Mother's Day... paper flower bouquets! There are a lot of really great ideas out there for how to make bouquets out of paper, but this is my favorite. It is really easy and makes beautiful flowers. All you need is construction paper, pipe cleaners, scissors, a hand-held hole puncher, and glue.
I usually make a template of hearts and copy it on bright card stock, but you could also have the students draw their own hearts. I also cut out circles for the center of the flower. Students glue four heart tips to the center circle, then let it dry. Afterwards, they can use my hole puncher to punch a hole in the center of the circle. Lastly, they will push the pipe cleaner through the center, then twist it into a little ball on either side of the flower to hold it in place. They can also add extra little embellishments with other pipe cleaners. You can even have them make little "vases" out of old toilet paper rolls if you so choose. Aren't these CUTE?!
I usually like to have my students accompany their gifts with something thoughtful they have written to their mothers. This mini book will be perfect for intermediate students. It features an all blackline design for easy photocopying. Students will only need to fold twice to create their mini book. I like to have my students also create an original cover that they make out of construction paper. To download this FREEBIE, click on the picture below! Enjoy!
Giveaway Winners...
We promised today would be the day we announced our giveaway winners, so here they are!Congrats, ladies! You should receive an email from us sometime today. If you don't hear from us, email us at classroomtestedresources@gmail.com!
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