The Browns' Christmas Snow

We have really enjoyed our WHITE CHRISTMAS! We were supposed to leave for the beach today but decided to leave tomorrow morning because we wanted to enjoy the snow! The 5 of us have not all played in the snow together since we were very little girls!!! We enjoyed sledding, throwing snow balls, and building a snowman. Hope you have enjoyed the snow as well!!!!
Now off to the warm sunny beach....let's hope!

Merry Christmas!!!

What a great day it has been!  Santa did come!  I am glad I moved my way over from the naughty list. 
I got lots of goodies and some goodies for my classroom!!!  I hope each and every one of you have enjoyed the day. 
This is what I am celebrating this Christmas day and every day!!!

"Rejoice, o world, your Savior has come

Through the love of a virgin's womb

Son of God, Son of man, born that we may have life

You were born that we may have life

Rejoice, o world, for the King of kings

And the Lord of lords

Rejoice, o world, a Savior is born

Who brings us life and brings peace

Born that we may have life" 

Chris Tomlin - Born That We May Have Life

Here are some more things my students' parents and family members should be opening today...

Tuesday was our last day of school.  We had a Christmas school wide sing out.  It was so fun to all come together and sing and dance to some of our favorite Christmas carols!  We made reindeer antlers and painted our noses red and/or brown.  After I painted them a student came to me and said..."Ms. Brown, I don't think I can fly a sleigh tonight.  I am just too tired!"  We also enjoyed a hyper classroom Christmas party.  We had lots of cookies and even more sugar.  After passing everything out a student said..."Ms. Brown my mom is going to ask me why you sent home all this candy."  I said, "Just tell your mom that she gets to be home the next 12 days with you and not with me!"  Hope they have enjoyed all their Christmas sugar!   

We made reindeer food with oatmeal and sprinkles!  They were begging me to eat it!  So who knows if the Reindeer got any or not! 

We also made ornaments and then secretly drew names and gave our ornaments to that person.  It was so sweet to watch them pass out a gift they had made to one another! 

I am enjoying this time off but I do miss my kinders!  I have thought about them so much today!  I hope they have had a good Christmas! 

I am also excited that down here in the south it is SNOWING on Christmas!  I hope to be able to play in it with my sisters! 

If we don't get snowed in (which I would be ok with for a day) we are all heading to the beach for the week!

well, ya comin'?

Where?
To the North Pole, of course! This is the Polar Express!

Monday was Polar Express day.  We had been planning this and I had been pretty excited about this for a month!  The two Kindergarten newbies decided we would decorate our building for the special day!  We met Sunday and spent 4 hours making it magical!!! 
We took portable metal cabinets that each teacher has for storage and covered with paper to make a train.  We used black electrical tape to make train tracks.  Hung white lights from the ceiling.  Made a Polar Express banner.  Put up a Christmas tree and of course hung a white sheet with colored lights around to watch the movie on!  We couldn't wait for the kids to come on Monday.
I thought one of the best things about the day was being able to wear my pj's!  It was great being so comfy!
I stood by my door as the bell rang and waited to see the children's reactions!  They were priceless!  One student was walking to his room and then turned around and looked again and exclaimed "COOL!"  The students had such a hard time staying in their classroom and getting their morning work done!  They were so interested in seeing all the decorations. 

We had told the students that the elves were coming to decorate.  They LOVED the decorations so much.  They wanted to get in the train so bad!  They thought we were really getting on a train. 
I passed out golden Polar Express tickets to each student.  Once we heard the train whistle we quickly lined up, but before we could join the other classes I took their tickets up because of course they had to be punched!

We all piled up in our pj's with our stuffed animals in the pit and enjoyed the movie.  They were so quiet and seemed to really enjoy the movie!  The movie lasted till lunch.  Once we came back we did some activities with trains and then a parent brought holiday Krispy Kreme doughnuts and water!  It was such a special treat!
The whole day they asked when we were going to get on the train.  It was a little sad to tell them we had to use our imagination!  I wish we could have really gotten on a train!  It was a great day and I really can't wait to do it again next year! 

"Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see." ~ The Polar Express

making math fun

I found the perfect size gingerbread men cookies at Ingles last week, and so I had to get and use them!!!  I didn't know how my students would react to eating the gingerbread.  All but one like it and the one who didn't tasted it.
I gave each student a cookie, and once everyone had one we all took 1 bite!  Then they couldn't eat the rest until they graphed the body part they had eaten first.  They did a great job even though the gingerbread man was tempting them to finish eating him!!! 
After the graph and eating was over, I asked the students questions about the math.  I asked why they ate what they ate first.  Their responses were pretty funny! Some responses included...
...wanting him to have a broken leg.
...wanting him to be like the pirate gingerbread men with a peg leg like we read about.
...to be funny.
...not wanting him to see.
...wanting him to run around with no head
Kindergartners didn't know that math could be so fun!

christmas ideas

Christmas is in one week!  I can not believe it!  Every day as we do our calendar time, we get more and more excited! 

We have done some fun activities this week.  We have been reading a lot of good books.  One day a student brought Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Clause.  We had another student tell some of the others that she didn't believe, and so as we read the book the girl who brought it looked at her pretty much the whole time!  It was a good book.  I even teared up at the end because it was so sweet!!!  We have done TONS of crafts!!!!  They ask every day if we are going to make something new! 

We made stockings with a brown grocery bag and they "sewed" it together.  Santa has been sending stuff everyday with Frosty from his North Pole visit.  They get so excited as they come in and check their stockings!!!

We have made Reindeer...



We have made Santa Stop Here signs...

and we made Gingerbread Man Glyphs...

One of the categories for the glyph was favorite dessert.  They were to color the mouth a certain color depending on the dessert they liked the best.  Ice Cream was red, cake was pink, and something other than those two was purple.  As we were calling these out and asking each child what his favorite dessert was one answered....sausage!!!!  She was SO serious!!!  We couldn't help but laugh.  Never considered sausage a dessert!!! 

We have sung lots of different Christmas songs!  Some we just sing but some we dance and get our wiggles out!  Some of our favorites are...Must Be Santa (along with all the motions), Feliz Navidad, The Chipmunk Song (they love to yell Alvin's name), We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and my favorite one to dance to and quickly becoming theirs too is Oh Santa! by Mariah Carey.  If you have not heard it yet, you must download it!  It such a fun song to dance to!   

My sister and one of our friends came Friday to help us make some Christmas trees, and the best thing about them was we could eat them!!!  I had students bring in the supplies we needed, and they did a great job decorating.  They did an even better job at eating them!!!

yes...this is really how they were eating them!!!

They did look very yummy!  One girl even saved hers to leave out for Santa!

Next week we have 2 days.  Monday is Polar Express day, and Tuesday is Christmas fun stuff all day!  Can't wait!!!

tragedy

We had a tragedy happen first thing this morning!!!  Frosty was on top of the cabinets and as I opened the cabinet door (not thinking about an elf sitting on top) he came tumbling down!!!!  I screamed really loudly, and my students looked at me in shock and horror!!!  We all gathered around him and stared!  They all fussed at me and told me that I am now on Santa's naughty list!  I need to find a way to get moved back to the nice side!!!  I will discuss this with my students.  I will let you know what they come up with!!!

When we came back from PE, Frosty had gotten back up and moved onto the counter.  I think since he had such a far fall he just was not able to make it all the way back up there!

its beginning to look a lot like christmas!

Christmas crafts are very important in my family.  Every year my sisters and I make ornaments to give as gifts to family members and friends.  My parents' tree is FULL of ornaments we have made over the years.  As we were putting ornaments the other week I decided that my students could make several of the ornaments.  I know how special homemade things are to my family so I hope this will be the same with my studentss.  I am going to share several things we make over the next two weeks. 

Monday I had two parent volunteers come help!  It was awesome!  I am so thankful for the parent support I have!  They helped me with two Christmas crafts I had planned!  It was wonderful to have help so I could get a couple of things done! 
1st ornament was a snowman with ear muffs!

       Materials you need - frosted balls, black paint, orange paint, strip of felt, sparkle pom poms, and cups

Another teacher gave me the great idea of setting the ornament ball into a cup so the students don't have to worry about the ball moving around!

We let each student paint two eyes and a dotted mouth with the handle end of the paint brush.  The nose was a little harder for them to paint so we had to help.  It was neat to see the different "expressions" their snowmen turned out to have!  

Today we added the felt head band and two pom poms for the ear muffs.  So super cute!

 Snowmen faces drying!

Ready for a spot on the tree!

Decorating the tree with our new ornaments!

  Each one is different but so special!

Don't know how this snowman feels!!!



frosty

I love being a Kindergarten teacher and I really LOVE being a Kindergarten teacher during Christmas time!  I love the excitement that the students have about the season.  I love that they believe in Santa and the questions they have.  We have already started a count down and written letters to Santa.  We also have a new friend in our classroom.  He is from the North Pole and a member of Elf on the Shelf.  He made his appearance when we came back from Thanksgiving break.  They noticed him very quickly!  I was outside the door talking to a parent and they ran out to tell me an elf was in our room!
The Elf on the Shelf makes his appearance and watches the students during the day.  At night he leaves and uses Christmas magic to go back to the North Pole to tell Santa about the behavior of the students that day.  When he comes back in the morning he is in a different spot.  The elf can not be touched because he will lose his magic.  One of my students has one at her house.  She has made sure her friends in our class know all the rules!  She tells them that if they touch him he will turn into a doll! 
We also had to come up with a name for our elf.  I couldn't wait to hear their suggestions.  I let each student suggest a name.  There were some crazy ones...like Red, Charlie Brown, and Rug.  We narrowed it down to three.  Christmas Tree, Elfie, and Frosty were the three to chose from.  Frosty won!
He has watched us every day and the students love it. 
One day this past week my students were pretty talkative and wouldn't follow directions and so Santa sent a note back with Frosty.  They were amazed!!!!
I think Frosty is really helping with our behavior!  They love finding him each morning and they are tempted to touch him but no one has yet!  I don't want to know how the other students will react if and when it happens!!!

Frosty!

Do you have an Elf on the Shelf in your classroom or at your house?

lunch money

As I greeted my students at the door this morning with hugs and remembered how I had missed each child, the children were busy unpacking and getting settled into our semi decorated classroom and discussing each little change and seasonal decor!  During this time I try to talk to each student, give lots of hugs, and listen to their cute stories.  It is routine that they come in, get unpacked, put lunch money on Mrs. Green's desk, and start on their morning work.  Sometimes they don't remember to put their lunch money on Mrs. Green's desk or they don't have a bag with the money.  They hand it to me and then I frantically find a bag because I don't want to forget who it belongs to or lose it! 
As students were coming in a student came up and told me she had some lunch money.  I told her just to give it to me and I will take care of it.  So she handed me her lunch money....it was 3 pennies!  Not what I was expecting!  I couldn't wait to give Mrs. Green her "lunch money!"  We got a kick out of it all day!  She told us she found her lunch money in her coat pocket! 
We never broke the news to her that she didn't have enough!  At least she was trying!!!

 

t is for thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for every single day of my life!  I am thankful for my parents.  They love me so much and are so generous and giving...every single day of their life.  I am thankful for my sisters.  They are my best friends.  We are all so close and I am glad they love me and we can be silly together!  I am thankful for my students.  They are so sweet and I am thankful they are my first class!  I am thankful for the school I work at!  I love the Kindergarten staff and how we all get along and feel like family.  I love the other staff at the school as well.  I couldn't ask for a better school to be working at my first year.  There are so many people there who are so encouraging and uplifting.  My principal always has positive things to say and she really loves my blog!!!!  I am thankful for my relationship with Jesus.  I am thankful that I live in America.  I am thankful for life, food, and a day with family!
This morning my family got up and participated in the local YMCA 5K Turkey Trot!  We did dress up!  I was a Pilgrim, my sister Amy was a Native American, and my other sister Emily was a Turkey!  We all finished under an hour!!! 

The family after the race!  It did rain...but fun was still had by all!

We then spent the day at my cousin and his new wife's new house.  We painted and cleaned windows.  It was so great to spend time with them and help them out!  It made me feel more thankful today to do something productive and meaningful for my family!

Now...Black Friday shopping with my sis....just because!!!

brown tribe

Such excitement in the Brown classroom for the past two days!  We have enjoyed learning about Pilgrims and Native Americans and other Thanksgiving stuff.
I have a poster of Thanksgiving words.  There are several things on the poster that have other names.  We have read and talked about these in books so as we read the word I then ask what it is also known as.  One is a picture of corn.  I asked what it is also known as...wanting the answer maize...not many students raised their hand but one brave student answered...cob.  I had to laugh so hard! 
We enjoyed dancing about every day to The Turkey Wobble by Jill Gallin.  A teacher I worked with last year introduced me to this fun Thanksgiving song.  The students dance and move like a turkey and then have to hide when the farmer comes out!  They loved to take turns being the farmer! 
Growing up my mom sang a song to us every Thanksgiving...Turkey sat on a barn yard fence.  I enjoyed teaching it to my students.  I loved how they put great expressions and movements to the song!
Monday we were Pilgrims.  We made super cute hats and we learned from a book that the Pilgrims' buckles were not gold but bright colors.  I never knew that!!! 

Tuesday we were Native Americans.  We were really excited about this because I made shirts for my students to wear and we came up with different Indian names.  Each shirt had their name on the back.  I drew different symbols on each one.  We made headbands, pouches for the boys, and a papoose with a baby for each girl.  As they came in this morning their faces seriously lit up when they put their shirt on and as they watched one another put on their shirts.  I loved every minute of it!  I also painted their faces.  When they looked at themselves in the mirror they smiled so big!  They were SO stinkin cute!!!!



I tried really hard to call them by their new Indian names today!  I made them call me Pocahontas all day!  Every time they said Ms. Brown I corrected them!!!



We discussed being thankful for what we have.  Our craft of the day we made wreaths but as we did we made a list of things that each of us were thankful for.  A few favorites were...me (more A's on report cards!), the dentist, and turkey! 

We also played Pin the Tail on the Turkey.  They cheered for each child and were so positive and encouraging.  I am so proud!!!

...a little off!!!!

We enjoyed a snack and Charlie Brown Thanksgiving together with the other kindergarten classes. 

I am going to enjoy my 5 days of food, family, and shopping, but I am going to miss my kinder friends!!!  When we go back on Monday hopefully Santa will have made a stop and put a special magical touch in our room (and do away with some of those germs)!!! 

college day

As a part of our new teacher evaluation, we are to encourage and promote the importance of continuing education.  In my classroom I have several things to make my students aware of staying in school.  On the back of one of my doors I have "Oh, the Places You'll Go! Class of 2023" I have put each of their pictures inside a balloon.  They have commented several times about the door with their picture!  I have a mini Appalachian flag inside my class and a sign outside my door that says "A Mountaineer Teaches Here!" 

Last weekend I went back to Boone with my sister and some friends to watch Appalachian beat Wofford!  I knew college day at school was going to be the next week so I was excited to be back at my alma mater before this.  I enjoyed being on campus, eating with friends, seeing girls from my sorority, and cheering on the Mountaineers.  I love it up there! 

My sister and I got to put on Chancellor Peacocks championship rings!!!

We had some extra time before the game and went to the bookstore to see if there were any new good things that I HAD to have!  I was excited to find our mascot, Yosef, and a A to Z children's book all about Appalachian State!!!  I could hardly contain my excitement because it would fit perfectly into my lesson on college day!  To make things even more exciting the author was there and was able to sign my copy!

The middle of last week I introduced my class to Yosef.  Before I told them who he was I got asked a lot of questions about what he was and why was he in our classroom!  My favorite was..."Ms. Brown, who is that old man on your desk?" 

Friday I wore my Appalachian football jersey along with an Appalachian tattoo on my face (wanted to show as much school spirit as I could)!  My students asked questions about it all day!!!  Several of my students wore school shirts or colors.  I told my students a little about what college is and why I went to college.  We read the book and had a nice discuss about Yosef!  The book did a great job covering a lot of different parts of the college experience.  I hope these are positive seeds I am planting not only for continuing their education but for future Appalachian Mountaineers!!!!

Yosef is now a good friend of our class!

kindergarten building adventures

Today was a first! 

I have had an ear infection and have not been able to hear very well out of my left ear.  As we were sitting in our "pit" area with our students while we went on a virtual field trip to Plymouth, Miss Jordan and myself heard a LOUD thud!  I knew it was really loud because I could hear it with my messed up ear!  I asked her if she heard it too (making sure I was not just hearing things) and she did.  At first we just looked a each other confused for a few seconds then we stared at the back door trying to see if a student was trying to get in the building.  Nothing!  Miss Jordan said she saw some feathers!  I had to find out what it was.  I went to the back door....hesitantly....peeked out the window....and to my eyes saw a poor little bird laying on the ground...helpless! 

It wasn't dead.  In shock...majorly!  But...not dead!

We knew we had to move it before the students went out the door to go home!  I told her I was not touching it.  I told her we just needed to throw it under the tree.  She decided this was something to share with the other teachers.  We all laughed then Mrs. Campbell went to get gloves!  She was determined to save the poor thing!  

Mrs. Campbell gently picked it up, rubbed it, and was just so sweet to the poor thing.  Good thing she put on gloves because he decided to poop on her after being so kind!  I would have probably needed to do something too after flying into a metal door!
As far as we know the guy survived!  Glad the students didn't have to go out to the buses and witness a dead bird!

Maybe he wanted to join our fun in the Kindergarten building!  Everyone does!!! 

Glad we have a kind hearted teacher!!! 

Thanks Mrs. Campbell! 

  

eat more!

We have a week left before we are out for a much needed break!  We are counting down the days, and I think my students get more and more excited! 

Thanksgiving is another favorite holiday.  As a little girl I remember always dressing up as an Indian or Native American from paper bags we made at school and then once I got big enough we some how had a Pilgrim outfit that was past down. 

This is a picture of me and my two sisters when I was probably in 1st grade. 

A couple years ago my sisters and I decided that we were going to start dressing up again for Thanksgiving.  So we do!  It is a fun tradition that we look forward to.  Some people think we are really crazy, but it is pretty normal for us.  We rotate what Thanksgiving character we are each year.  This year I am a Pilgrim.  I will post a picture on Thanksgiving because I know you will be dying to see our costumes this year! 

This year I will be carrying the tradition on to my students!!!  Next Monday we will be dressed up like Pilgrims, and Tuesday we will be Native Americans.  We have already come up with names and have been working on our head dresses.  More about this soon!

I have been planning lots of crafts for Thanksgiving to do during center time.  We have been working a couple of days on one of my new favorite crafts!  I used a turkey template from makinglearningfun.com.  My students colored their turkey then wrote "Eat More ______" on a construction paper square and then I stapled it to a popsicle stick and then the sign to the turkey.  I was excited to see how creative they would be!  I was not disappointed!  Some of my favorites....Eat more hot chocolate, eat more corn, eat more pop tarts, eat more pizza, eat more hamburger, eat more cereal. 

9 days till Thanksgiving!!!!