Marvelous Manic Monday

Oh, New Year's Eve - how I love you... well, kind of :)  It's funny how when you hit middle school, New Year's Eve becomes so important.  Then, as an adult, I have to say it is just another day to me.  I don't like big crowds of people, especially loud, obnoxious ones, so hibernating feels pretty good.  So, on this New Year's Eve I will enjoy printing out all the things I've purchased or created, eating cherry and strawberry gummy bears, Zaxby's, and watching whatever I can find that's entertaining.

Before I forget, here is what I've come up with for my resolutions.  I don't really like resolutions, but I can handle these two (I think).  I've decided that in 2013 I want to make sure my craft room happens. I've been planning for it for a year, but haven't actually made it happen.  Then, I want to find at least one thing on Pinterest every week to create or make for either my house or my classroom.  I have pinned almost 4,000 items, but out of the 4,000 I know that many of them have remained untouched, so Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, and Michael's - watch out!  I'm a girl with a mission :)

Also, yesterday I mentioned that I was going to create a few freebie pages, but I have to tell you guys after pinning today, you may not want my creations.  I'm still going to give you my freebies, but I have to tell you there are a TON of great items and ideas out there.  You can tell that the teachers are busy on Pinterest.  Below, I'm posting a couple of my favorite finds today.  Actually, you know what - I think I'll post 13 finds for 2013 - wow!!!!  I bet no one else has thought of that, huh?  Yep... I know... everyone has.  

The New Year's Resolution packet was done by CLICK HERE to go see it.
The Lesson Plan Diva.  All of her writing packets are adorable.  You can

The Happy New Year mini book is adorable to me :)  It's something I'm definitely going to be doing with my little people, although I may only do a few of these things.  CLICK HERE to go see it.

My next New Year's find is this and it's FREE - 50 free pages!  I went through a lot of the packet and most of it is perfect for pre-k or for k.  There are a few pages mixed in that I want for first.  Just take time to go through it and you will definitely find a few little activities for your kiddos.  CLICK HERE to go see this packet.

Now, onto some winter items.  I have to say, this first one is my favorite.  I love it so much I repinned it to three boards and decided the minute I saw it I HAD to put it on my blog tonight.  Honestly, it's so great I told the creator, Lisa, that I'm amazed it's free because I would have paid for this one.  If you teach first grade you know how difficult it can be to find something that really covers CLICK HERE to go get this packet.  Oh, and leave a comment for Lisa :)  That's all she is asking us to do.
syllables, especially something fun - this was the total package for me.  I can't wait to have it ready for my kids.  We will be diving into this ASAP.  

This next winter item is also a freebie.  I went to the site and the teacher has 2 for free and 2 for sale.  The free ones are adorable for K and 1.  I will definitely be downloading the addition one and printing it before I return to school.  I think you will find it as adorable as I do.  CLICK HERE to go get this freebie.

My next item is one of my creations.  It's one of my favorites because it helps me keep tabs on my students' reading.  One of my teammates asked me to do this back at the end of November and now the plan is for me to make them for the entire year.  Our school decided not to do Accelerated Reader this year, but we needed a way to make sure our students were still comprehending what they were reading.  This helps up make sure they are comprehending and it covers several of the CAFE skills and our common core standards.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy!  I included a snowman and a bear book report.  Click on the picture to get this freebie and if you don't mind, leave me a little feedback so I know if it's as useful to you guys as it is to us.

This next idea is really cute.  You really don't do anything, but what a fun idea.  January 15 is National Hat Day.  I'm going to talk to my team about this and see if we can do this.  If you CLICK HERE you can get information about how you may be able to use it in your classroom.  If we do it, I want to tie it into a book about hats.  I know it may seem silly, but I fully believe that we have to make learning fun (At least some of the time).

With January, also comes The 100th Day of School.  I cannot wait to do this monster as part of a writing activity.  If there is one thing I have learned, my students thrive when you give them the opportunity to write goofy, silly stories.  This site also has 25 other ideas you can use for The 100th Day of School.  CLICK HERE to go read more about this little craft.  

Here are 100th Day of School sunglasses.  I'm thinking that running them on card stock will help them hold up better.  I'm also thinking about making up a frame and taking pictures of my kids in the frame.  I did that at the beginning of the CLICK HERE if you are interested.

year, so I thought what a great end of the year gift.  I could have a picture from the beginning, the middle, and the end.  Shhh... don't tell my parents in case I forget ;)  This site also has a ton of 100th Day of School ideas, so

I LOVE this worksheet and best of all it's free!  I can't wait to use it for word work on The 100th Day of School.  You will definitely want to get this one.  I may end up using it when I'm teaching dictionary skills or have them each pick a different book.  Even better, if I have time I will try to come up with words from the Fry list that I can print.  If I do, I'll be sure to share.  You can also see how many words they can come up with using the word, but I may skip that part (at least for my lower students)  CLICK HERE to go get this sheet.  

January is definitely a busy month, at least in the elementary world.  Martin Luther King Jr. Day is also CLICK HERE to get more information on how to make this craft.

in January, not to mention the hope for snow... well, for the ones of us that live in the South.  This first picture is MLK Jr.  I definitely want to use it when I do the informational writing activity I created in my packet.  It's so cute!!!!  This teacher also had several other ideas, so make sure you look through her blog.   

I know this one is a little different, but I think it's cute and since our kids have to learn to write using the words First, Next, Then, and Last, I thought this could be a fun project to do and then have the kids write about it.  I know... it seems like everything with me always leads back to writing, but I LOVE teaching writing.  Anyway, if you like this picture, CLICK HERE to get the drawing sheet.

Last, but not least, I love snowmen.  Seriously, if I taught art, we would be doing snowmen projects for the entire month of January.  It doesn't help that Pinterest has 50 different ways to make a snowman.  There's the one where you can mix glue and shaving cream to make a puffy snowman.  There's the snow globe snowman.  There's the snowman you hang from the ceiling.  I'm telling you, the list is endless which means I have to figure out a way to do all of them.  Maybe ALL of our Fun Fridays could be snowmen in January :)  Yeah, I doubt that will work either.  Since I couldn't decide on a favorite snowman, I went for the next best thing - a snow polar bear.  I love this bear and I can't wait to make him with my kids.  I'm including a link because this is a really cool site, but there aren't instructions on making this polar bear.  As soon as I make mine, I will make sure to post instructions on how we made them and if any templates are needed I'll get those made.  CLICK HERE to check out this site.   

Alright, so hope you like the 13 in 2013.  Hopefully, this will save all of you some time.  I will try to do another post like this in February.  Until this post, it never occurred to me how long it would take to share all of these goodies.  I know it's long, but hope it helps you get through January.

Oh, and I'll post my goodies tomorrow :)  I have a feeling this will keep you busy until then.

Happy New Year's Eve!