The Kiddo's Make (Paper) Gingerbread Babies

           A Jan Brett Author Study Craftivity

I had a template for the gingerbread babies that I printed on cardstock and then had the kids cut out. They colored them brown with either a pencil or crayon. Then we took icing ( glitter glue) and (real) candies and we decorated the gingerbread babies.







While we let the babies dry we wrote about how we would save the gingerbread babies. Finally, because one of the things that we noticed when studied Jan Brett was the beautiful borders she adds to each page, we added a border of our own to our writing. Once that was done we glued the babies to our paper. They turned out very cute and the kids loved them. It was a good holiday craft without being too over the top.

One More Christmas Bulletin Board

Can you tell how much I love Christmas? I have 3 posts on it! :) This is a super cute bulletin board that I had not done in some time either. ( Recycling at it's finest here folks!) Anyway, a long time ago back in my Title 1 days I made this paper fireplace. (It was so big that I have it in two peices so it would fit on the laminator!) I get stockings when they go on sale after Christmas so they cost like 25 cents a peice, if that. Then I put the kid's initials on them with glitter glue. I also get little pencils, stickers, cards etc at the after Christmas sales too and then slowly add them to the stockings. The kiddo's can see that they are getting full but don't know what it is going in them. Then I let the kids take them home with them the day before break. The background for all of this was some fun red and white striped wrapping paper and my border is this really cool pine tree branch with lights print. I try to do Christmas lights as the"theme" in my room because I feel like it is a way to incorporate Christmas without offending anyone. :)

Singing For Joy

This is my December hallway bulletin board. Our charecter trait this month is Joy. I found the carolers in a December holidays book. For the kids I made copies that they could color and then paste to their handwriting page. For the big carolers I kept blowing them up on the printer until they were the space I needed. Then I colored and laminated them to use again. The students writing assignment was "something that brings me joy is...." Then they wrote about things that bring them joy, like reading to a little sister or spending time with family. I love my bulletin board trim too. I like to decorate with lights because it gives a Christmas feeling without going overboard. I have a small bulletin board so if I want to display students work I have to do it above their lockers. You can also see the locker tags I made which are from a bigger Christmas lights diecut. This is quite possibley my favorite bulletin board I have ever made.

Making Spirits Bright

Here is a cute idea for adding holiday decorations to your classroom for little to no money. I cut Christmas lights out of different colors of construction paper using a diecut. Then I taped them ,alternating facing up and down, on a book shelf in my room. I think it turned out great!