New Stuff for the New Year SALE!

Happy New Year, friends! Need some new stuff for your smart kids? All items on my TPT and TN stores are 20% off today and tomorrow. Here are some cool suggestions for your winter work.

New Fan Freebie on Facebook

There's a NEW fan freebie on my Facebook page!

Just LIKE Smart Kids on Facebook to get to your new freebie. Click here.

To get this:

Santa had BOOKS in his bag!

That jolly old elf brought me just what I wanted for Christmas…new books! Santa (AKA my sweet husband) loves books as well. (He's a publisher.) He watches out for books all year long that he thinks I can use in my classroom. Here's what he delivered this year. 
BOOK #1

Here's the awesome trailer for the book:

BOOK #2

And an intriguing trailer…

BOOK #3
I know there's an art activity waiting for us in this book...

BOOK #4

Not sure where we are going with this one, but I'll follow the bee...

BOOK #5

And last but not least…another Sandra Boynton book! I found that these songs were awesome for poetry time when I taught  in the upper grades. 

You can check out some videos for these songs at the Sandra Boynton web site HERE. This one will make you want to dance along.

I can't wait to use these books and post integrated-arts ideas for them on my other blog, ABCs of Reading. If you've read any of these titles to your kiddos, be sure to leave a comment.

FIve for Friday…I Survived!

To the parent of the child who just ate this party plate…It's 3:30. Come get your child and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Seriously, it was a week full of fun and joy. Even if it is exhausting, it is the BEST time to be a Kindergarten teacher. 

We finished our ornaments (fake snow in clear balls)…

…and made snowman bag packages. I just put out the paper-scraps box and white bags. Each snowman was unique.

A sweet mom came in to help the kids make these snowmen from scrap wood. I know the parents will love them.

I managed to make some gifts for my teacher friends. To make the bath salts, just put epsom salts (buy a big container at Sams Club) and a drop of peppermint oil in clear balls. To make the body butter, cream together 1 cup of solid coconut oil, 1 teaspoon of vitamin E oil, and several drops of your favorite doTerra essential oil. 

Thanks to Creative Clips for the adorable tags! Get yours here.

Finally, here's a back-stage view of a tradition at our school…The Twelve Days of Christmas. Viewer discretion…our coach is the lady dancing. Oh my.

Happy first day of vacation teacher friends!

Santa's Sleigh: Force and Motion Unit, Part 1

I visited Santa’s top secret reindeer-training facility and discovered the secrets of Santa’s sleigh. It’s not all magic...some of Santa’s sleigh driving know-how is based on science. Remember my new unit?

Here are some pics from our activities last week.
The weather was beautiful, so we took our sleighs out to the slide. You'll see one kid at the top giving a sleigh a push to get the sleigh moving and another at the bottom to stop it.

We also talked about different paths of motion and did some creative writing.

"Santa's sleigh moved fast because the reindeer was late because Santa did not wake up."

"Santa's sleigh moved slowly because the presents were too heavy for the reindeer."

"Santa's sleigh moved straight because it was almost morning."

"Santa's sleigh moved zig zag because the front reindeer pooted."

And what a surprise…some of Santa's science words showed up in our stories.

                                           

But the BEST part of last week was the Santa's Sleigh roller coaster ride. (The link is in the previous post.) You just can't help but smile when you watch.

Time is slip-sliding away and we only have five days before vacation. We'd better get moving on the rest of our unit!