A Blonde and a Blog!: Christmas Time is HERE!!!

Finally December--a time when I can listen to Christmas music without being judged as a crazy person! With Thanksgiving being SUPER late this year, this only allows for 14 1/2 school days for me to get my Christmas Crazy on with my kiddos. Operation Jingle Bells IGNITE!

…and the stockings were hung by the Smartboard with care :)

The classroom Christmas tree is up (as pitiful as it is, but what do you expect for a $20 tree from Target?), along with the obnoxious tree topper (which I LOVE by the way). My pink tree broke on the last classroom move :( I'm very sad to have a somewhat traditional looking tree this year.

Every year, I have my students bring in an ornament from home that best represents them, or one that has special meaning/ story behind it to "trim our tree" with. Students will write to inform about their special ornament during work on writing this week. Friday, we will read and present our writings {along with our ornaments} to the class {speaking and listening standards covered-extra added bonus}. I had one of my little ones say to me today, "It's like this is our classroom family tree!" #love

Snag yourself a copy of my December Themed Work on Writing Writing Prompts FREEBIE HERE. Prompts on glitter tags--How could you not ~~want~~ need them!? ;)

Elfie also made his first appearance on Monday, and of course everyone just adores him!

During lunch we watched, "An Elf's Story," DVD {this is the same one they show around this time on ABC--it was worth it to buy the video since it does a super cute job of explaining the story of the "Elf on the Shelf" and how his magic works}. Order it here!

"Good Behavior Stockings" also started this week! This is a very popular ticket with my friends every year, not to mention it doubles as my Christmas gift to them as well--two turtle doves with one stone :)

My stocking sent to me by one of my dearest friends :) The kids get a kick out of this one!

How to assemble:

Making these bad boys was easy! I thought ahead last year and bought the stockings in January when everything was 75% off! I believe I paid 25 cents per stocking {compared to the $1 they are during the holiday season}. Use printable fabric adhesive sheets for student names, print, cut, follow directions on how to iron them on, and BADA-BING, BADA-BOOM! My friends are always very excited to see their name written on their very own stocking. Not to mention they can have one at home to use for years to come.

How the stockings work:

Each day students exhibit "good behavior" {from our classroom behavior chart} they earn a small trinket for their stocking! You can choose to empty their stockings at the end of each week {I do this to build incentive for the next week}, or have them take their stocking full of goodies home before they leave for Christmas break. If students are above green {going above and beyond}, they earn a little something extra for going that extra mile during the day. ;)

I try to buy in bulk as much as possible from the glorious dollar stores {I'm pretty sure teachers are the ones keeping dollar stores alive, just sayin'…}. Trust me, they are happy with whatever you give them for that day! Today's treat was a packet of hot chocolate and they couldn't have been happier! For the something extra, I've been giving out Christmas candy my mom pawned off on me over Thanksgiving. Tomorrow's goodie is a free homework pass, while Thursday will be some delicious reindeer food to leave out on Christmas Eve {download the tags here}!

As the weeks move along and it becomes closer to Christmas {which is usually when the crazies REALLY start to come out}, I up the anti for the prizes a bit to keep it interesting and to also keep the little ones on their game {example: 20 minute FREE iPad coupon! You can download those here}.

These are so much fun and you can do SO much with them! I love promoting the positives in my little ones, especially during the time of year when we are to show love and kindness towards others.

PS. Today is the LAST DAY for Teachers Pay Teachers CYBER SALE!

Enter CYBER at checkout to receive 20% every item in my store :) Now is the time to get ahead on after Christmas planning!