Christmas in July Day 5: snowed in with freebies

Today's dealio is one I've updated fairly recently...I tend to update things I use year after year!

each year for the past 4 years [since I've been teaching second grade] my team has a "snow day"

we live in southern NC, snow's a HUGE deal to us!

I'm sure if I lived anywhere north of here I'd hate the stuff!

But we take an entire day, decked out in our jammies, and pretend we are snowed in at school.

that includes reading by flashlight-because if you live in NC or anywhere south of here, you know the power is going out! 

SO here's my Snowed in at School!

 so here's a peek inside!
this one is loaded-you could actually do a week long snow theme with this!

above are literacy activities including a reading log specifically for the snow day

fact and opinion writing about the best snow day activity-ours is always making a snowman because we don't really get enough to do much else! I also included an awesome activity online that I learned about from Christina Bainbridge! Kids can put themselves right in a wintry wonderland!

and there are 2 visualizing activities [one funny poem, the other more serious]

above is my favorite-a snowman shaped book review! I made a great bulletin board with this one!

and there is also making paper snowflakes how to writing.

and for some math I have snowman shopping and a snow day snack! yum cream cheese!

I have posted about our snow day a few times-you can see more here and here [and some freebies too!]

tomorrow is the last Christmas deal!

and next week is a whopping ol surprise!

Christmas in July Day 3:unwrap an inference!

Merry Day 3 of Christmas in July!

Today my Unwrap an Inference is half off! I LOVE these activities!
I made a Valentine version and am working on a few more! They are interactive and challenging!

so how does it work?

There is a read aloud for you to..well, read aloud!

it's all about a gift exchange mixup! and boy are there some OVERreactions 

there are character cards with a short bio about each charactergift cards for each gift givenemotional reaction cards (show the dramatic reactions when kids got the wrong gift!)4 different assessment options-match the wrong gift, match the right gift, match both, and a text clues sheet (cvarying difficulty)gift tags for each gift (with kid names to use for matching which gift goes to which kid)

I know you'll love it!

and here's what's coming up!

Christmas in July Day 2: Holiday Daze!

Merry Day 2 of Christmas in July!

today's deal goes rather perfectly with yesterday's!
This past winter I made holiday centers to mesh with our winter holiday unit.
I did not do everything as a class this past year, so I wanted what the other kiddos were doing to be related!
So here's Holiday Daze!

and here's a little preview!

I only included Hanukkah, Diwali, and Kwanzaa since I already had Christmas centers!

and here's what's coming up!

Christmas in July! Day one

Merry...uh, July 15?!
Join me and some sweet Blog Hoppin' friends for Christmas in July!
Feel free to come with sweat in all kinds of nooks and crannies, cause I know it's hot up in here!
Each day, ONE product will be on sale! To go directly to it-just click this picture in my store!

I like to start with the best...in my opinion anyhow!
I love this unit about as much as I loved winter holidays!
Our curriculum requires learning about different cultures and people from those cultures.
SO my grade level uses this little file!

Tons of crafts and holiday activities

 The Scrapbook

Powerpoints and comparing activities for assessment!

I've posted a few times about how we do rotations and keep a scrapbook of sorts
which you can read about those here! and here!
and there may be a little update coming this fall...just sayin'! 

this product is a bundle of winter holiday powerpoints, follow up comprehension activities, crafts, and the scrapbook! ALL of it!

and for TODAY ONLY!! this bundle is half off!

and here's a little peek at what I'll be featuring over our Christmas in July sales and freebies!

In a Holiday Daze!? Read this!

I'm over at Blog Hoppin' today posting about our Winter Holidays unit!
Check it out!

the f word

hey, not that word! geez!
Finished!!
I’m finished with the update on my Winter Holidays Scrapbook. Last year it was a whopping 10 pages! Now it is 86! Plus I finally get the power points TpT ready!
It only took 2 weeks and a pending divorce! I was pretty much married to this laptop! But I am oh so happy with the results!
Before

and after!

6 power points, 4 comparing activities

follow-up activities for each holiday, too! My favorite is the Christmas story comics! I can’t wait to see these!


and don’t forget the scrapbook! Full page and half size, color and b/w! It’s all up to you!
If you wanna see it in action-here’s last year’s post. We will do the research Friday and a holiday per day next week! Phew!
and you can get Scrapbook/activities only
Powerpoints only {if you’ve bought the other file already}-but go download the updated file!!!
or BUNDLE and save $3 big bucks!
even though I am benchmarking {which might as well be the B word!} my kids will be meeting our Elf on the Shelf tomorrow, working on Santa letters and using Reagan’s Techy Santa file, and lots from Amy and Hope, too! We are working on fact and opinion and that Baby face Santa is too cute and perfect!!

3 days…and Counting! Still Lots to Do {freebie!}

Well, SOME of us still have some school days NEXT week…so our schedule is jammed packed with fun holiday learning to keep me the students on track!
Today we celebrated Hanukkah and prepared sets for our Grinch readers’ theatre we’ll be performing for the first graders and our parents. Our next lesson in Math Expressions was rounding to decade numbers {tens…} so we did a little online shopping at Toys R Us. They recorded the item and price, then rounded to the nearest ten.
 
We’ll bee seeing green tomorrow! This will be my second annual Grinch Day and I absolutely adore it. I first heard about it on Second Grade Teacher’s Club and when I saw First Grade Parade’s post last year…oh my! And as silly as it sounds, I ADORE watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas and hearing Hey, that’s my part! and them so excited that they know all the lines! It’s awesome to know you’ve memorized a book!

Grinch licked candy canes will greet my littles when they come in. I bought Sour Patch Kids candy canes and just used the green ones. I have no problem taking down the other colors myself!

Then we’ll perform three shows for first graders, fellow second graders, and our parents. Here’s our script!

Click to download this freebie

Then we will go to Math Fun Day hosted by our sixth graders. This is always a blessing! They do math holiday games with our kids for a whole 90 minutes! Woo-Hoo! While they enjoy games…I will be enjoying our staff cookie exchange. I made cake bites tonight and cannot wait to eat lots of cookies tomorrow!

After lunch and block, we are going to search the Grinch song for similes and metaphors then illustrate them on index cards. Last week we did “Winter is” similes on little mugs, They are precious!
{Random note: Can I tell you how much I am loving iCloud. I take pictures on my phone and here they are on my PC when I get home!}
Welcome Christmas while we stand heart to heart, hand in hand.

Four Holidays and the Grinch in one Week!

Yes indeedy! This week our 2nd graders will learn about Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Las Posadas as we connect and compare these holidays of lights. Not to mention, my class is having Grinch Day Friday and performing a readers theatre for the first grade and our parents!
I know most people tend to cover Christmas Around the World, but with Kinders and firsties, then third graders doing this-we decided to go a different route!
Last year was our experimental year with this project. Collaborating with our media specialist, we made powerpoints for all the wintertime holidays we could think of…this included the above PLUS Diwali, Hmong New Year {we have a large Hmong population}, and Three King’s Day, too! Whew! Each station {table with a laptop} also had traditional décor and colors.
This year, we whittled it down to these 4 that seem more connected through the symbol of lights. I can’t wait to use the new passport I created as a note taking booklet! I purchased little scrapbooking stickers to use as stamps as they visit each station in the library. Soooo, I will have small groups visit the table, watch the powerpoint, then fill out the passport together.

click picture to purchase just the scrapbook minus the powerpoints

At the end of the week we will bring it all together as a class in some way. I am thinking a handprint to create a symbol for each holiday {tree for Christmas, menorah, kinara, and a poinsettia.}…
I will be sharing lots of pictures this week as we read, write, craft, and EAT to learn!
Also-if you need some last minute stickers…never fear! I made some that print on address labels {3 per label for 27 total}
Download this freebie here!

A few notes, the book prints 2 per page-I redid a larger 1 per page one that I will update asap because…how many teachers does it take to make a book copy in order??? More than the 4 of use obviously!
If you have purchased the passport-redownload it!