13 Days of Christmas Final Giveaway

I hope you have enjoyed all the freebies over the past 13 days! All good things must come to an end and today is no different.  Today your last opportunity to enter all the giveaways from these 13 AMAZING bloggers! :)

Just click the links below to go directly to their blogs to download their freebie and enter to win their giveaways.

 

 

 

There is also one more giveaway  that you don't want to miss out on...it's ALL 13 prizes for one lucky winner! :)



a Rafflecopter giveaway


We hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christina Mauro :)

On the 3rd Day of Christmas

On the 3rd day of Christmas A Tale of Two K Teachers gave to me

What a great way to tie in the Winter Olympics and Ordinal numbers.  Click the image above to hop over to my TpT store and grab this freebie! Let me know what you think by leaving feedback :)

I also have a giveaway at the bottom of this post to win my License to Chill {Winter} Math & Literacy Stations

But before you go enter check out my answers to our 12 Holiday questions and get to know me a little bit better. :)

1. What's your favorite Holiday song?

Carol of the Bells - So something you don't know about me...I was in chorus from 7th-12th grade.

The Christmas concert was by far my favorite concert.  All the alumni would come back and Carol of the Bells was just my favorite one! I still get chills when I watch Home Alone and I hear it




2. What's your favorite holiday memory?

When I was a little girl my parents got me a mini tree that I had in my room.  It was about a foot tall and I decorated it with little wooden ornaments that I got from an advent calendar.  I always had the hardest time falling asleep - who didn't?!? Well in my house when we woke up we weren't allowed to touch anything until everyone was awake. But Santa ALWAYS left me one small gift under MY tree that I could open right away. 
 
3. What's your favorite holiday indulgence?

My aunt used to make this eggnog every year around Christmas. I like eggnog but it's soooo rich that I could never have more than a half a glass.  Well this was special eggnog and it was just as rich - with BOURBON!!! She would make it and put it in the freezer and there was so much alcohol in it that it wouldn't freeze! I still couldn't have more than a glass...but for different reasons....it would knock you on your butt! :-)

4. What's your favorite holiday food?

I love food and I can't pick A favorite.  So instead I'll share my traditional Christmas dinner.: Prime Rib, green bean casserole, yorkshire pudding (it's not pudding like my husband thought - it's a bread and it's delicious) and twice baked potatoes (from my husbands side of the family.)

5. What's your favorite holiday craft?

This is a cute reindeer that we make using our hands.  This was my example - the ones that the kids make are WAY cuter! :)

6. What's your favorite holiday tradition?

The hunt for the last gift!

When we (my brother and I) were kids/teenagers we always had that ONE gift that we really wanted - Nintendo, leather jacket - don't judge me! We would wake up, open our presents and that BIG gift we wanted was never there.  We would begin to put away our toys and clothes and mom would start to cook.  We would TRY really hard not to be sad.  And every year we would get upstairs and we would hear, "what's that...there's one more gift!" We would race downstairs and there would be a clue.  There was always a theme, Men in Black, Lord of the Rings, South Park (random I know.) So my brother and I would have to follow the clues (from a video that I'm pretty sure my parents made the night before while drinking heavily) and at the end of the hunt we always found our gift! It is a wonderful tradition that I can't wait to do with my kids...once they are a little older of course! :)

7. What's your favorite holiday movie?

The Elf on the Shelf! My daughter has made me watch this 100 times already this year and I love it.  The music is so cute and I just love that my daughter really feels bad for Chippy when he loses his magic!

8. What do you get your class for a holiday gift?

I always get my kids these personalized pencils from For Teacher's Only:

This year I also used some of my Scholastic points to order Mooseltoe:

9. What's your favorite holiday thing to teach?

I really love teaching ALL the different holidays.  We have a very diverse community and while most of the kids celebrate Christmas some don't.  It's great to learn about the other holidays and traditions that the students celebrate.  We do a family project in December and send home a blank white piece of paper and the kids get to decorate it with their family traditions and then share. We hang them up in the hall for all to see.

10. What's your favorite holiday book?

11. What's your favorite holiday product?

This is my Holidays Around the World packet with posters and printables about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Ramadan, St. Lucia, and Las Posadas.

12. What do you want Santa to bring you this year?

I already have it! My husband, our two kids, my mom, my brother, and my in-laws are all headed to Disney World the day after Christmas for 10 days! The best part is we have a long Christmas break this year and I don't have to make any sub plans!  Can't wait to go see Minnie and Mickey!
 

And now for the giveaway...enter below for a chance to win my License to Chill {Winter Themed} Math and Literacy Stations for K-1

a Rafflecopter giveaway


If you haven't checked out the previous freebies and entered the giveaways make sure you go check them out by clicking the images below:

Don't forget to come back on day 14 for a chance to win EVERYTHING!

Happy Holidays!

Christina Mauro

Star Writers and a Sneak Peek of 13 Days of Christmas

For morning work in my kinder class we write in our journals.  My students don't all get to the classroom at the same time.  It depends on on how they get to school and there can be a difference of up to about 10 minutes from the first and the last kid that show up.  So I lay the journals out every morning and once they have unpacked they can get to work.

I trained them the first month of school so they know what I expect.  Basically the students write their first and last name, the short date and then draw a picture and write a sentence about what they drew.  Now we also do writer's workshop at a later time in the day, but these monthly journals are great for many reasons: 1 - Practice writing their name (which is one of our standards) 2 - They get to write about whatever they want! So all those things that the kids come in wanting to share about random things that happened at home - they can write about it. 3 - It really let's me work with them on their level of skill.  Some kids were working on compete sentences while others were labeling their picture or just writing a letter or two for their picture. 4 - Handwriting - They can always use extra help with that.  The list can go on and on. 

We've been doing journals for a couple months now and now it's time to REALLY work on those sentences.  So I have introduced my "Star Writers."

This past week we have been working on leaving spaces consistently between our words.  So we had our week of training where I would remind them as they were unpacking to space things out.  If they left spaces between their words then they would receive a blue star on that journal page. 

Here are a few samples of their writings:

Here are the little cards that I have on the tables are reminders. The stars are from the dollar store. 

This next week I am introducing the gold star which is for using word wall words correctly in their sentences.

Drum Roll Please.........

Get ready for the 12 13 Days of Christmas Giveaway brought to you by.....13 Amazing Bloggers!

So here's how this is going to work...

Everyday a new blogger is going to post a blog about their giveaway AND a FREEBIE just for you!

They are going to answer 12 questions about their holiday favorites - feel free to ask your own questions in the comments.

They will also give you directions on how to enter their own giveaway!

But that's not all...on day 14 there will be an opportunity to win ALL the previous prizes in one big giveaway! How exciting!!!

ALL WINNERS will be announced on day 15!

Get excited cause this is going to be one great giveaway frenzy!

The fun starts tomorrow - Monday December 9th over at Simply Kinder!!! :)

Christina Mauro

December Box of Projects

It's that time again....here's some of the projects from my December box!

We have a very diverse community at my school and because of that we always do some super cute projects from holidays around the world.  Here are a few that we are going to do again this year:

Here is our Kwanzaa candle

Our Christmas reindeer

 Our Las Posadas poinsettia

Our Polar Express train from Deanna Jump's Polar Express Unit

Our Hanukkah menorah

Our Kwanzaa mat

This was an ornament we made a few years ago from a paint stick

This is our wrapping paper.  The students get to make a pattern using holiday stampers and we use it to wrap their gift for their parents.

And here is the card they make for their parents that says Happy Holidays in the inside.

I hope you've enjoyed this months treasures :)

Don't forget to check out the American History bundle from Educents

Christina Mauro

Educents American History Bundle Hop

I'm so excited to be included in another bundle with Educents.  This bundle is loaded with American History goodies for 1st through 4th grade!  66% off the regular retail value and over 400 pages! Hurry it won't last!  

I know you will love my Famous Americans & Holidays product.  There are 19 pages on famous Americans and the Holidays associated with them. This would be great as a stapled booklet or an addition to an interactive notebook.

Here are a few pictures of what's included:

There are many other products in our bundle to get your kids learning about America!  

Comprehension passages & questions, timelines, vocabulary, maps, research projects, readers and so much more!  

We have all linked together to show you exactly what's included in this bundle.  So hop along to the next person to see the next product!

The deal won't last long so head over now!