I had the most wonderful day with my kiddos today. The day began with giggly excitement: everyone was wearing pajamas for Pajama Day! First thing in the morning, our buddies came to visit. That's right. Sixty kids in my little old room. It was completely packed full of cross-age goodness! There were kids everywhere! Sitting at desks, working on the floor, packed into the library area.
The buddy pairs worked together to make paper snow globes. It's a simple idea that was completely engaging and exciting because we used paint and glitter! Adorbs! They're already up on the wall, and there they'll stay for all of January!
Then, they made a blizzard worth of snowflakes! Most of my students hadn't made paper snowflakes before, and they were mesmerized by the magic. I made a bazillion copies of big circles. I taught my students to cut the circle, fold it in half like a taco, then like a fan, then like an ice cream cone. There were squealing children all over the place! They loved it! Each buddy pair made one snowflake for me to hang in my room, one for the fifth grade teacher (Hi, Gwen!) to hang in her room, and then they could make all they wanted to take home. It looked like it actually snowed in my room with all the little bits of paper that ended up on the floor. But with sixty kids helping... we had it cleaned up in no time!
After lunch, my little darlings made gingerbread houses with graham crackers (thanks to my awesome room mother, who gathered all the supplies and tons of parent helpers!) and then she had a really fun snowman project for the class.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures! Or really it's more like "I was so busy helping students that I didn't have a chance to take pictures!" I'll try to take some when we get back in January. Marvelous Room Mom Shauna mixed up some magical puffy paint using equal parts of white glue and shaving cream. Who would have thought?! Students used the paint to make snowman pictures and then embellished them with googly eyes, yarn, pompoms, buttons, and paper carrot noses. They turned out sooooo cute! Puff paint. With shaving cream and glue! Am I the last one to hear about this cool medium?!
And finally, Marvelous Room Mom Shauna and my kiddos and lots of their parents presented me with the coolest gift I've ever gotten! M.R.M.S. bought a beautiful wreath at Costco, and embellished it with gift cards. I was completely overwhelmed. Oh, my families were so generous and I'm feeling very appreciative. And appreciated.
And what happened next, you ask? I semi-cleaned my classroom as fast as I could (will probably have to go in for an hour or two during the break to get a few things ready, because it's not spotless.) I packed up all my goodies, drove home, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. I sampled a few bites of chocolate yumminess, given to me by those sweet little children, made my list for thank you notes, and I'm already enjoying some family time. Aaaaaaaaah!
Of course, I'm also thinking about my Happy New Year unit, which I am going to update, and some Snowman Centers!
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