Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Hello friends! I wanted to share a quick and easy gift idea for your favorite teachers or even friends!


Have you ever heard of 3-2-1 cake? So simple and easy to make. You take a box of cake mix, any flavor, and a box of Angel Food cake mix (has to be Angel Food!!).


You dump both boxes in a large ziploc bag, close it, and mix it together really well. That's it. When you want a piece of cake, you take 3 tablespoons of the mix and place in a mug. Then mix in 2 tablespoons of water and microwave for 1 minute. Bing, Bang, Boom you've got a 3-2-1 cake!! So simple and delicious.

My favorite is red velvet. Though we have made chocolate cake before and dropped a dollop of peanut butter in the batter before microwaving. You can also make single serving frosting using 2 tablespoons butter, 2-3 tablespoons powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon of milk.

So I found these adorable jars at Walmart in the Christmas section up front. You know, the area where they have all the boxed gift sets and cookie cutters and candy-stuff like that. Not the area near the garden with the trees and ornaments. Anyway, it had a cookie cutter tied to it with a ribbon but the jar was precious! I kept the cutter for another time.

I mixed up a red velvet 3-2-1 cake mix and filled the jar. Tied a Tablespoon to the jar in place of the cutter (found tablespoon at Dollar Tree!). Also found a mug at the Dollar Tree that would make a great addition to the cake mix.

I made these "Piece of Cake" tags to give out to teachers. Just look how cute it turned out!



Grab your own set of Piece of Cake tags HERE.

Happy holidays!




Pin me!

Does your school do Secret Santa?
Every year during December my co-teachers and I exchange a week's worth of gifts. It's so much fun! We spend a week shrouded in mystery and receiving a small surprise in our boxes. Trying to guess who our Secret Santa is, enjoying our fun treats, it brings such joy to everyone on campus. So I created these simple tags for easy to find and give gifts.
Day 1: Those easy to find foam ornament making packs could be used for multiple things! Does your Secret Santa have a little (or littles) at home? They can spend a night creating Christmas memories. Or your teacher friend can have an easy classroom activity or early finisher activity.
Day 2: Tea, Coffee, Coke products, any caffeine will do! (also included one without caffeine!) I also pick up a new Tervis or other insulated drink container to add with this tag.

Day 3: Paper Plates! Holiday plates are super easy to find as well as cost efficient and your Secret Santa will love no dishes for a night!
Day 4: And who doesn't love a gift card? Find out your teacher friend's favorite store and get a gift card. The amount is up to you. I usually do about $10.
Day 5: And finally I make a batch of my favorite Chewy Cookie Bars with red and green baking chips and place in a Tupperware dish, tie some curling ribbon, and attach this tag. I place it all in a glass or ceramic 9 x 13 inch baking dish, along with a yellow cake mix and Christmas baking chips, include the recipe, and I may add a dish towel or oven mitt themed for the holidays.

In the past, I've glass etched the baking dish with the family name using my Cricut, some vinyl, and glass etching paint. SUPER EASY BTW.
That's it! All together I spend about $25 on Secret Santa Gifts. You can find a lot of stuff at the Dollar Tree (including glass baking dishes!!!) and possibly Target's Dollar Spot. Other things I've stockpiled from after holiday sales from previous years.

Click HERE to grab these tags and my recipe for Chewy Cookie Bars (pro tip: these cookie bars are amazing year round and can be made with multiple types of baking chips). You could even include your own favorite family recipe. I hope these tags inspire you this Christmas Season!
Hi guys!! Welcome to another Thoughts on Thursday! Thanks for joining Kristi and I for December's topic: Your Favorite Christmas Traditions!

I love Christmas! It really is the most wonderful time of the year. There is so much going on all around the city and the state and the Internet and everything!

I know in our family we always do Christmas in a big way. One reason: my grandmother was born on Christmas Eve and we have her birthday party every year on that day. We do it themed and have the best time.

One year we did the Grinch!

We also have our Elf, Sparkle. She has a pet reindeer, Ginger. And graphic tees. 
We've had Sparkle for about 7 years now. She comes each Thanksgiving and hangs out with us. 

Another family tradition is the purchase of our Hallmark Keepsake ornament for the year. This year it's bittersweet because it's the final ornament in the Santa's Sweet Ride series. We started this when Carly was six and this is the tenth and final one. 

Carly and I watch movies starting Thanksgiving day. Sometimes sooner. Okay a lot of times sooner!!
Hot chocolate and movie time!! That's our favorite things to do!

In the classroom I love to decorate for Christmas!! I know that not all of my kiddos celebrate Christmas, but we can still have fun with the themes and activities!!



We even have a classroom scout elf!! 


This year I'm doing it with my sixth graders. They love it, too! It's just something fun and new for them. And they are only 11 years old!! 

Though one of them did touch Gatsby and he was sick. They wrote him get well soon notes!! 

He brought stickers!! 

And of course we love playing all sorts of Christmas themed games!! My favorite, any math game that let's us have fun and celebrate the season!!
These are from my Addition and Subtraction shortcuts centers. These centers help with Mental Math. They are helpful for reinforcing mental shortcuts like adding and subtracting 10 or 20 and doubles and doubles plus 1.  


And because I love Christmas and you so much, here's a little Christmas present!! Here is a FREE center for place value sorting. 


Well thank you so much for stopping by and reading up on my Christmas traditions, both in and out of the classroom!

Make sure to check out the linkup below to read about other Christmas traditions from my teacher friends! 

Join us for the next Thoughts on Thursday: January 5th!

Happy Holidays!

I call him Loki in honor of my favorite super (not so much hero...) villain: LOKI!!!!!!


Didn't he come out so stinkin precious???? Love!!!!
Last night Carly and I went to Christmas on the Boulevard at the Mall of Louisiana. It was terrific! Really got us into the Christmas mood, and yes I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but we did see the giant tree lit and some ice skating and had some great free live entertainment. We didn't wait in line for the free Build a Bear, but we did get some handouts and a stuffed cow (Eat mor' chikn)!!

So in the spirit of the upcoming Christmas season I am posting a simple little math center. It's about matching standard notation with expanded notation and place value. Always great to have practice with this skill.








I'm spending some of my Thanksgiving holidays gearing up for the Christmas season. I've brought home some books to create units for the season and some workshop games. I'm also reading The Cafe book, hoping to bring it into my literacy workshop. I really like learning about new things that will benefit my students and my professional knowledge.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Jessica
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