Now you can cross at one more thing off of your December "to-do" list... finding the perfect holiday gifts for students to make for their parents (or class volunteers, secretaries, custodians, etc...!)
I thought I would save you some precious holiday time and share some of the cutest student-made gift ideas here, along with a free download of the Secret Stories® Phonics Guided Reader—Like a Snowball, to help keep your guided reading groups on track over the next week!
Okay, first up... Holiday Glitter Angels I actually found these on a teaching site that is not in English, but that had lots of great pictures. I've only included a few of them here, but if you click on the links below the pictures, the 'angel-creation' process is shown step-by-step!
These next two are both tied for my favorites! I saw the first one on Pinterest, and then upon going to the website, Art Projects for Kids, I found the second one. I especially like these because they both allow for easy incorporation of simple math concepts, which the directions mention, as well!
I love this next one—Watercolor Pine Ornaments—mainly because I adore watercolors! The addition of real pine branches in contrast to the watercolor ornaments on black makes it the perfect piece of "kid-art" to frame and keep forever!!
There was no link to this one, but the directions included with the pin were as follows:
-Have kids paint on thick paper with watercolor paint in desired colors and cut out in circle shapes. Glue circles on black paper.
-Use a bit of gold glitter to make the ornament clasp.
-Place ornament hook around a thin pine branch and glue as shown (Kids can also make water colored frames for this, or you can purchase cheap plastic ones in black from the Dollar Store :)
This one from Kathy's Angelnik Blogspot is my absolute favorite, I think it's just stunning! Kathy provides easy-to-follow directions for kids to make it on her blog— Thank you, Kathy!
And last but not least, add some extra "sparkle and shine" to your holiday gift ideas with this easy recipe for Glossy Sparkle by Pixe Pumps! This glittery-glaze provides the finishing touch for any student gift!
I hope that these "go-to" gift ideas make your holiday just a little bit easier and that Like a Snowballbrings some wintery-fun to your guided group time!
Sharing the Secret Stories® just got a whole lot easier! Teachers' favorite secret weapon for teaching all (and I mean ALL!) of those tricky letter sounds and phonics skills just got a "face-lift!"
This NEW edition of the Secret Stories® book and posters was just released this fall! If you've been waiting for the right time to update yours, or if you have always wanted to buy it, now is the time! The new look, layout design makes it easy to start sharing the Secrets! Instructional icons, in-line text boxes and "just-so-you-know" tags, the new book is easy to navigate and grab what you need in a hurry! Plus, it's jam-packed with new sections, including how to dig even deeper into the affective learning domain for accelerated reading and writing (phonics) skill access!
And for those who might be wondering how to still make use of your existing book and/or poster set, here's the best tip ever....and one that might even convince your principal to purchase it for you!
Ideally, every classroom using the Secret Stories® should have a 'loaner' book available for parents to check-out, as needed, to remediate and/or accelerate learning at home. Your old book makes the perfect parent resource, plus it's an easy way to satisfy School Improvement Plans that Require teachers and administrators to connect school and home learning, so as to foster stronger home-school connections.
Similarly, your old Secret Stories® posters can be bound together to make a 'big book' of all the Secrets that students can take turns taking it home to share. (This will be the most valuable commodity in your classroom, as all of them will want to be privy to new Secrets that you haven't yet shared, which makes it a great behavior incentive!) Simply staple or hole-punch/bind posters together. If you had originally cut your posters, don't fret, as they can easily be re-mounted onto large pieces of construction paper (preferably yellow, black or read) and them laminated.
To celebrate the new release, I'm doing a special giveaway of the new book, along with the choice of poster styles (Fun & Funky, Space-Saver/Dual-Use Placards or Original)See Rafflecopter below for details on how to enter.
And finally, here's a great video just posted to the SECRET STORIES YouTube Channel of some first graders just a couple of weeks into school, sharing the amazing "secret" discoveries they've made in their names! (For more background, read here, here and here!)
"Spotting SECRETS™ in my name!"
To enter the Raffelcopter Drawing (which begins at midnight on Thursday, Nov. 3rd) post a comment below. You can also follow on Facebook and Twitter (or if you're already following, just let me know :)
Secret Stories® Makes Phonics Make SENSE!
