Fa-La-La-La-La

Geez!  Where did November go?  I didn't get a chance to do a single post the whole month.  I am fortunate to work in a county that gives us a full week off for Thanksgiving so I was able to spend the whole time with my family back home.  At the beginning of November, one of my student's dad, who is a fire fighter, came to speak to both of my classes about fire safety.  The kids loved getting to hold all the gear and learned a lot of helpful tips to get out and get safe!  The Friday before Thanksgiving, my writing classes made "I am thankful for..." pumpkin pies out of paper plates, construction paper and brads.  I had each student share what they are thankful for this year.  They had a lot of fun and were very insightful.  We had a Veteran's Day parade at school shortly before and some of the students said that they are thankful for our rights as Americans.

Our visit with some fire fighters.  The kids LOVED it!

The beautiful Veteran's Day parade!  One of the county High School's band and color guard came to perform and many  relatives of our students who are veterans came out to be honored.  I work at a great school!

One of our "I am thankful for..." pumpkin pies.  I enjoyed hearing about all of the important people and things in my students' lives.  

My classroom is now all decorated for Christmas.  This is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year!  (Confession- I decorated my apartment for Christmas on November 1st!)  I bought all of the supplies for my class Christmas ornament project in mid-November and have already gotten the ornament balls prepped!  We are going to be making snowman heads with earmuffs.  I saw the idea on Pinterest and thought it was just too cute to pass up.  Last year we made melted snowmen with glue and those turned out so cute, but I want to do something that sparkles this year!  This past week we completed what is probably my favorite Writing project of the entire year.  I did it last year and had to do it again this year.  It's my "If I Lived in a Snow Globe" project.  The students write what they would see, feel and do if they lived in a Snow Globe.  I had to let the finished projects dry so I don't have my bulletin board completed yet, but I will get the details on the whole project posted this week!  It is the absolute best!  (Bonus: It involves lots of GLITTER!)  You can find pictures of it from last year on my Pinterest board titled "My Classroom".

Melted snowman ornament I made with my students last year.

My Christmas tree at home!  It makes me SO happy!

Look at all of the fun sparkles and shine I added to my Christmas stash this year!  I love that jewel tones are so big, these perfectly match my tree that I've had for 3 years now!  These won't be on my tree though...

My new sparkle and shine ended up on a new deco mesh wreath I made!  (Another Pin-spired project!)  This is my first ever mesh wreath and I think it turned out pretty well.  It took me 3 attempts to get the ribbon the way I wanted it.

I showed my students 2 options for their snowman ornaments.  Half of them wanted glitter, and half wanted garland so I got those ready because the 2 1/2 days that I plan on doing Christmas gifts and activities do not leave much time to work on things because the staff always puts on a Christmas show and lunch and specials cut into my time with them.

Itty Bitty Christmas tree above the computers.

The Christmas tree I had in my bedroom as a kid.  I don't have room for it in my apartment,
so it has a new life as a school tree!  

Giant plastic snowflakes from Dollar Tree.  Making it snow in sunny Florida!

I hope you found something you like in this post.  Stay logged on this coming week to see my fantastic Christmas and winter writing project.  Don't forget to follow me on Pinterest!