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December Memoirs from My Family to Yours!

Welcome to another day of December Memoirs here at Upper Grades Memoirs! My name is Jennifer Smith-Sloane and most of the time you can find me over my blog 4mulaFun. 

December to me is a time for family, traditions and making memories and always has been since I was a little girl. I grew up loving the Christmas season and all that was in store each year. We always put up our tree after Thanksgiving and decorated it full of ornaments. Now that my husband and I are making our own traditions we have started to go and cut down our tree as I never did that growing up although he did.

Besides decorating it with our ornaments each year we do switch out on our lights that go on the tree. I am a WHITE LIGHTS kind of girl but he is all about the COLORED! HAHA! We decided last year that we would switch each year so that we could each get our favorite.

And another tradition that we have is that we alternate spending Christmas Day (well actually the week of Christmas) with our families since they live 700 miles apart (Dallas, TX to Omaha, NE). This is an Omaha year which means I am on the road to see my in-laws. Thankfully we have rented a hotel this year and I hope to do some work in the car on the way there but we all really know that means take as much of a nap as possible!

Here's to hoping I get to play in some snow while I'm in Nebraska. There is an 80% chance for rain/snow tomorrow (Tuesday)!

December Memoirs: Christmas Crafts with Kim from For a Love of Teaching

Hey friends!  It's Kim here from For a Love of Teaching, and today I'm going to share with you one of my favorite classroom memories!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  If you're like me - you're singing that in your head now! However, for a teacher that last week of school before Christmas break is not always the "most wonderful time of the year"! Something happens to students that week before break.  You can literally feel the excitement in the air!  Pair that with all the festivities, special programs and anticipation of Santa coming, and you've got one geared up, wild bunch of students!  At this point in the year, they are ready for a break and teachers are, too!  By the end of this last week you can forget keeping them focused very long on a meaningful content lesson.

In upper grades, we don't spend a lot of time doing the fun "cutesy" activities that you might see going on if you enter any primary classroom.  Due to testing requirements, pacing guides and quarterly benchmarks we don't always have time for "the fun stuff."  However, I always use this last week before Christmas to do special Christmas crafts with my students.  I've always been "crafty" by nature, and any sort of hands-on craft catches my attention quickly!  What I like most about doing crafts with my students is the uniqueness that shines through with each individual product.  You can literally see their personalities in the special ornaments or crafts they make.  In turn, these make wonderful keepsakes for themselves and their families.

Making Christmas ornaments each year with my students is a classroom memory that I cherish, and hopefully my students cherish, too!

This year I chose to make a version of a Christmas tree craft ornament I saw on Pinterest.

This craft is fairly simple to make with upper grade students, but it involves some prep time. I thought I'd give you a "how-to" in case you'd like to make these special keepsakes with your class one year! Below are the items you need to make this craft.

You will need a high-temp glue gun to make sure these ornaments last for years! I do this craft in groups of 4-5 students, and I'm always the one in charge of the hot glue gun.  Students are not allowed to apply the glue on their own!

Final Product!

That's it! A 4th grade Christmas keepsake that will hopefully be treasured for years to come!  I hope this tutorial comes in handy if you decide to try this with your class. :)

Click here to download the gift tags I used for this project!  FREE!

*Note: The original idea (found on Pinterest) used cinnamon sticks instead of tree branches.  The cinnamon sticks I found were costly, so I opted for the cheaper way out and used tree branches instead. 

Thanks for sticking around to read all about my favorite classroom memory!  What's a cherished classroom memory that you have with your students?  I'd love to hear what you do around the holidays in the classroom!

December Memoirs: Christmas in the Classroom

Happy Holidays from Jennifer at Teaching to Inspire in 5th. We have been very busy finishing up some Christmas themed resources this past week. These are some of the highlights from the month.

Every year, we study Christmas and Holidays around the world. We use our research to create holiday books that turn into presents for the students' families. Here are some shots of a few of our books. The students work so hard on this and love it!

Next up was a fun math activity that had the students decorating their tree with ornaments, lights, and other decorations. Then they calculated the total cost and a few other required calculations. These looked so cute hanging in our hall. This activity is a freebie in my store. Click here to grab it.

Finally, we finished up a Persuasive Writing activity that I bought from Teacherspayteachers. This fun writing prompt had the students writing letters to Santa from the point of view of a gingerbread man or woman. the students had fun convincing Santa not to eat them. They created their gingerbread cookies to match their letters...making them look as undesirable as possible. Check out some of them!

This was just a few of our fun activities that we did this past month. I love Christmas time, and I love the variety of activities available that match the curriculum and are engaging!

What are were some of your favorite activities this month? I would love to read about them in the comments!

Jennifer Findley

Teaching to Inspire in 5th

December Memoirs: Down Memory Lane

Children are a special part of my life.  Not only do I have a classroom full of fifth grade children, who I think of as my own, but I also have been blessed to have 4 boys of my own.  For me, they are what makes Christmas so special. From the time each of them was born, my husband and I enjoyed creating new memories and helping them to feel the magic and joy of the holiday season.

First, there was Joel, followed 4 1/2 years later by Gabe.  Aren't they the cutest?

When Joel was little, he would not leave the ornaments on the big tree alone.  He kept taking them off and moving them, trying to do his own "decorating" of the tree.  ;)  So....I took a trip to the dollar store, bought a cheap little tree and ornaments just for him.  He loved it, and my problem was solved!  He spent a lot of time playing with that little Christmas tree!

Chubby-cheeked Gabe was a lot of fun at Christmas time.  Once he realized what presents really were, he wouldn't stop touching them.  He wanted to open them as soon as he saw the wrapped boxes!  Christmas morning couldn't come soon enough for Gabe.  

 Joel and Gabe in their Santa Hats

A few years later, Tristan came into our lives, followed by Justice.  

They were the cutest little boys!

Tristan was a sensitive, serious child with a mischievous side. ;)  He always wanted to make sure we not only had cookies and milk out for Santa, but that we left out carrots for the reindeer as well.  Every year, without fail, he would remind us to do this.  One of my favorite stories of Tristan at Christmas time, though, is from the time he attended Christmas Eve Mass with my mother-in-law.  Partway through the service and after singing several sacred Christmas songs, he leaned over to my mother-in-law and asked, "Grandma, when are they going to sing Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer?"  Hahaha!  That still makes me laugh today!

Justice was born shortly after the attacks of 9/11, which is why he has such a strong, wonderful name.  Like the rest of the nation, our family was still feeling a great deal of emotion from the attacks when Christmas arrived.  I can still remember holding my little baby Justice and feeling the goodness, love, and peace that surrounds a newborn.  It was a reassurance to me that light and 

righteousness will prevail.  To this day, Justice lives up to his name.  

He stands for the right and works hard in all he does.

Every year, we take a picture of our boys in front of the Christmas tree.  

This one is from the year 2001.  Seems just like yesterday!

Last year in 2013, we were lucky enough to travel to Colorado over Christmas break to see Joel graduate from CU in Boulder.  This is our Christmas Day picture of our family.

It's hard to believe how grown-up they are!  I am so grateful we have the Christmas memories that we do.  Just writing this post made me tear up quite a bit....time flies and it's not always easy to see it going as quickly as it does.  I love my family!

Now, go make some of your own wonderful Christmas memories!

Much love,

Shelly Rees

December Memoirs: Holiday Food Drive & Giving to Those In Need

Every year before the holidays, students and teachers at my school come together to help those who are less fortunate. Here are a few of the inspiring things happening at my school!

1. The Food Drive: 

Our holiday food drive has begun and last week I noticed that some teachers wrapped their food drive boxes... which really added a nice little touch. Well, we recently started our unit on measurement so I thought it'd be fun to give my students a meaningful way to apply the concept of area. I gave THEM the challenge of 'wrapping' the boxes. I hate wrapping presents, so this took the pressure off me, haha!!

First, they estimated how much paper they needed to wrap the food drive boxes...

and then the wrapping began!

How are your estimating skills when it comes to guessing how much wrapping paper you need for a present? I always seem to cut off too much wrapping paper...or not enough! These munchkins did AMAZING compared to me ;)

By the way, this project wasn't just great for math. My class consists mostly of ESL students, so many of them were unable to explain the word "area" when I asked them to tell me what they knew about this math term. Many of them said that it meant 'where they lived'.  Well, after this hands-on lesson they realized that AREA can have MULTIPLE MEANINGS. Teaching vocabulary in a meaningful and hands-on way really helps my ESL students grasp new concepts as well as academic vocabulary.

Look at all the food that has been donated so far... and we're still collecting!

 2. Giving to a Family In Need: 

 Each year, the social worker at our school nominates a family in our community who is in need of some holiday cheer. The family nominated this year included a single mother and her 6 young children. The family was asked to write up a wish list and the school then came together to make the family's Christmas wishes come true! Most of the wishes included bare necessities like snow pants, clothes and food... looking at the wish list really made me realize how much I have to be thankful for.

After all the presents are collected, teachers volunteer one day after school and wrap the presents before giving them away! Can you just imagine how delighted these 6 kids will be on Christmas morning! I wish I could be a fly on the wall!

 3. Canadian Tire Money 

I'm from Canada... so this concept might seem strange to you if you don't have a store like Canadian Tire where you're from.  With every purchase, a buyer receives Canadian Tire money... it's kind of like a rewards system but instead of collecting points, you collect money in the store's 'currency'. Now, here's the deal with Canadian Tire money... any Canadian will tell you that they have wads of this money laying around random parts of their house...and I don't think anyone actually uses it towards their next purchase because let's face it, these bills are worth pennies.. usually anywhere from 5 cents to 50 cents.

Sooo... a brilliant teacher at my school, Stella, had the idea of collecting Canadian Tire money and using it to purchase gifts for sick kids at the hospital near our school. During a time when students' families might be strapped for cash, this is such an easy way to collect money without putting any sort of pressure on families to donate during a time when money can be tight.

I think parents were MORE than happy to give away their Canadian Tire money...  the school raised over $200!!! That's a lot when you consider the fact that most of these bills are worth 5 cents!

I loved how my pal made math so meaningful for her grade 3's. First, they had to add up all the money they collected. Then they used Canadian Tire fliers to make decisions about what presents they could afford to buy!! The last part required planning a budget, and lots of adding and subtracting with decimals...all in a completely meaningful way. I doubt the kiddos even realized they were doing so much math. Don't you love when that happens!!

What are you doing at your school to give back to the community? I'd love to hear your amazing ideas! 

Click below to check out my Cinnamon's Synonyms blog as well :)

December Family Memories - Spirit of Christmas

When I was young, I truly believed in Santa. Our family would always stay at my grandmother's because we lived in another city in Louisiana. When I went to bed on Christmas Eve, I always had this special feeling that I couldn't explain. I loved the excitement and knowing that Santa was flying up in the air delivering toys to every child. (At least I thought he was.) And, there's no way my parents could pack my new bicycle without my knowing it. I still get that same feeling every year when my granddaughter stays at our home for Christmas. So, yes, Virginia, there is a Santa!

My granddaughter Harper

Gathering Friends

My father worked for the telephone company and had access to two wonderful movies with beautifully detailed puppets. We would call our neighbors and friends to come over during the holidays to watch the movies. We served Christmas cookies and all gathered in our living room. You could hear a pin drop when we watched The Night Before Christmas and Oh, Holy Night. I learned the poem by heart and still recite it to my granddaughter. We tried to get access to the movies years back but were unable to locate them. So, we just read the book every Christmas Eve. And, I purchase Harper a different Christmas book each year.

Learning from a Family Tradition

When I was in high school, I was the typical self-centered teenager who was only interested in what I was receiving for Christmas. I didn't understand the true meaning of Christmas. On Christmas Eve, our parents would let my brother and me pick out one gift to open. One year, I knew I was getting a new ring, so I wanted to make sure I choose it to open. Instead, I chose a gift from our neighbor which was in a small box like a ring. I was so upset when I opened that gift and not my ring. I felt so badly for acting so selfish, that I went to her house to personally thank her for the Avon sachet. Believe it or not, I still have the container to remind me about the true meaning of Christmas. Today, my family chooses a needy family from our church Christmas tree so they will have a Merry Christmas.

Have a wonderful holiday,Sandy

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December Memoirs: Happy Holidays!

December has always been a special time of year for me.  After all, I was born 4 days before Christmas and I came home from the hospital in a stocking instead of a blanket.

There are so many wonderful memories I have from this time of year.  Baking cookies with my mom, eating our traditional breakfast on Christmas morning, trying to figure out which gift belonged to which kid because my Grandpa always forgot to put our names on the outside!  (Side note--don't you love how all of the "old" pictures are all red!?)

















Of course, there was always a lot of gifts, food, and family fun too!  There was always a camera or two around to capture the moments.  Many of my pictures included me with some of my new books.  Yes, I have always been a "nerd" and I am very proud of that!  :)

It seems that Christmas time was always the time of year we had our "professional" pictures taken too.  Remember those backdrops that the photographer at K-Mart or J.C. Penney's always rolled down?  It looks like this one was our favorite.  Years apart, but the same background!

And, now, I get to help make our own traditions with my kids.  Since we haven't lived in the same town as our family, we haven't ever spent Christmas morning at our own house.  But, this year, we are going to do it!  The kids are getting older and I want to make sure they have some memories of just the 4 of us having some time together.  Of course, we will see other family members too, but the morning will be just OURS!

Another tradition we have is to have matching Christmas pajamas for the cousins.  I figured it was better than the underwear and socks I always received from my grandparents!  (There may have even been a tradition of which cousin could grab the others undies and throw them on the Christmas tree first).  These are from two different years and with different sides of the family.  I just can't believe how much the kids have grown up!  In fact, neither of my kids really wear pajamas anymore, but we will be continuing this tradition anyway!  (Or, if they have any complaints, they will start getting underwear!)

 I am so excited to get this holiday season under way.  I enjoy the extra time with family as well as the time to reflect on the year that has just ended.

I would love to hear about your December Memories!  How do you celebrate the holidays?  What traditions do you continue each year?

Make sure to follow me over on my page {Teaching Momster} as well!

December Memoirs: Friendship cards, holiday mugs, and a whole lot of love!

There is so so much going on in my classroom this December! We have gift exchanges for the teachers and students, door decorating, standards left to teach, and end of the quarter testing. It's a crazy balancing game getting it all done! 

The Actual Teaching

My students finished a project at home where they create and decorate a tree to bring into class. Many brought Christmas trees, but my favorite was a very creative palm tree! Not all of my students celebrate Christmas, so this was a great activity that every student could do their own way. This week we are doing two writing assignments about the amazing tress they made! You can check out the specifics on how to do this activity on my blog.

Gift Exchanges

My class is participating in two gift exchanges this year. The first one is just our class, and each student is making a Friendship Card for the secret person they drew from a jar. This is my favorite holiday project because the supplies cost me less than $5 total, and they don't have to buy or bring anything to participate! 

The next gift exchange we're participating is with two other classrooms. Each student is bringing a mug and filling it with goodies. It's exciting to see what creative things students fill the mug with! We exchange the mugs during our holiday party, where we use them to drink hot chocolate. Yum!

Door Decorating

Every year at my school we have a fierce door decorating competition. There are a lot of Pinterest-worthy doors; none of those doors are mine. Each year, I have my students pick a theme and they make all of the decorations. I haven't won yet, but my students enjoy being such a large part of the process. This year was by far my best student-created door.

 

I have to say that the most exciting part of this holiday season is how much work my students put into creating! This is by far my hardest working group of kids!

What are you doing in your classroom for the holidays? Share in the comments below!