Down on the Farm - Five for Friday

I love Five for Friday from Doodle Bugs Teaching and am excited to share with you my five!

Last week again started out amazing. My sweet nieces came down to visit. We went to my school's Fall Festival on Friday night and on Saturday we went to the Shrimp Festival at the beach (We didn't last long. It was way too hot to have forgotten our swimsuits!), and then to Wales West Pumpkin Patch Express in Silverhill. If you live around the Gulf Coast and you have kiddos of your own, Wales West is worth a trip. I found out about this place when we started taking our Kinders  to the Polar Arctic Express at Christmas and fell in love. The Pumpkin Express did not disappoint. The girls loved riding the two different trains and going on a hay ride and horse/pony ride. We all had a great time going through the haunted house to get to pick our pumpkins and decorate them. I just wish it wasn't 90 degrees with 90% humidity in OCTOBER!!!

 This week at school we started wrapping up our farm unit with a lot of directed art! We made pigs, hens, chicks, sheep, and my favorite - cows!

We survived our first skating trip yesterday!

Last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I spent time with my beautiful friend Haley (and my other bestest friends) as we celebrated Haley's wedding! It was an amazing weekend. Kind of sad it is over. Already missing spending so much time with friends from all over!

 I met the beautiful bride in middle school band. We both played the flute!

What a tough life, drinking coffee, overlooking the gulf in our supper cute matching robes while we get hair and makeup done for the big day!

NOTHING

 So maybe this is cheating on my #5 but it is a big deal to me! I am happy to say after two months of back to back full weekends, the sweet hubby and I are spending a nice quiet weekend cleaning and grocery shopping! Doesn't sound like a ton of fun but not having to be anywhere by any certain until church Sunday is going to be AMAZING!

How are you spending this weekend?

Don't forget to leave some love in the comments and then head over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to see what has been going on in different classrooms across the blogosphere!

I love Christmas in Kindergarten! (Five for Friday! - Late)

Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays! I love all aspects of the holiday but I think my favorite part is sharing different stories and legends with my Kindergarten kiddos. We talk about the Gingerbread Man (and all his counterparts), elves, Santa, Christmas Trees, Poinsettias, The Polar Express, Candy Canes and that most fabulous reindeer Rudolf! I love seeing the joy and belief in my kiddos faces. It just warms my heart!!

Last year I started "hosting" a Christmas elf in my classroom and could not wait to get started again this year. So, Snowflake came to class the Monday after Thanksgiving! We have really had a great time finding her. I have also found a lot of great resources to use with the kiddos and our elf.

If you read my previous post about our elf, you know that Snowflake came special delivery straight from the North Pole. Mrs. Scharwath, our next door neighbor, brought us our FREEZING cold package! She came wrapped and with a letter from Santa (that I found here)! To see more pictures of Snowflake and her antics, check out the class page of this blog.

During the month of December we will be writing in our Elf journals. (Great pack from A Cupcake for the Teacher: pack from TPT / blog)

Here are our first two days of journals. We started a little slow so that they could learn the procedure and are now able to do them all by themselves when they come in each morning!

Santa Clause!

This week we have been learning all about the legend of Santa Clause. Tuesday we went on a field trip to Wales West Light Railroad in Silverhill, Alabama. 

 We had molasses cookies and hot chocolate snack.

 We rode a mini train.

We rode a big coal train to Santa's "Alabama Workshop"!

 We met Santa and sat on his lap.

We ended the week with our Polar Express Party.

The fantastic After School Care teachers and students decorated the hall for our K-1 building!

Gingerbread Boys and Girls!

Last week we talked about the gingerbread! Gingerbread men, girls, babies, boys and houses.

 The kids disguised their Gingerbread boys and girls at home.

 We wrote about what we would look like, who we would run from, and what our house would look like if we were a gingerbread boy or girl. (worksheet here)

Friday we made and decorated our own gingerbread men. They were delicious!!!

Have you guys heard of Zulily? I just learned about it recently and it is FABULOUS!!!! I ordered the cutest embroidered crayon/doodle bags for my nieces for $10 each! I have ordered most of my other Christmas gifts for family and friends from this site as well and saved a ton of money. If you have not heard of this click the link (here) and check it out!!!! Most things I have ordered have been around 65% off. Sales differ each day! From their website: "zulily is a shopping destination for moms, offering daily discovery of new boutique items—all at an average of 50% off. Every day, 50-60 zulily sales launch, filled with hand-picked quality children’s apparel, women’s apparel, toys, infant gear and home décor. Unique finds from up-and-coming brands are featured alongside selections from top brands. Launched in 2010, zulily is headquartered in Seattle and has offices in London; Columbus, Ohio; and Reno, Nevada."

Only 4 more school days until Christmas Break!! I can't wait to see what everyone has been doing in class so link up with Doodlebugs and share!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!