$1 Gifts, $1 Gifts, $1 Gifts Everywhere!

All teachers have been there!  Searching, scouring the web for new and improved ideas for student gifts.  First off, teachers struggle enough trying to provide for their own families Christmas that the idea of adding on 18, 20, even 30 more recipients to the list is daunting.  Look no further! Here are some great ideas to help IF you are wanting to get gifts for your kids. Remember, we give so much of ourselves each and every day that we should not be obligating ourselves into more!

                                          

Many teachers participate in Scholastic Book Clubs!  They usually have $1 and $2 books or even a lot of books for discounted prices too!  I also loved the idea of upping the motivation by playing bingo and winners choose the book they wish or even playing the left right left game!

If you haven't been to Oriental Trading you need to go run and check it out right now! This is seriously a rabbit hole for trinkets, candy, crafts, activity books and so much more.  Usually they are bulk priced and you get a dozen for the price, which makes them perfect for a classroom.  It is best to order when they are offering free shipping, but ask around and see if you can gather up enough sales in your school to reach the minimum for free shipping any day!  This year I am getting my kids these adorable plush animal bookmarks!

As educators we are innovative and constantly trying to find the next best thing.  Keep it mind that it is SO EASY and CHEAP to please.  A simple tube of chap-stick, pack of gum, any food, or a candy with a witty little pun attached will make them grin!

The other idea is to buy a classroom gift that the students can enjoy for the remainder of the year and future students too.  This is a great way to build up activities for fun Fridays, indoor recess, genius hour, or stem time!

I also was super intrigued when I found personalized pencils for super cheap!  Kids love different writing utensils and this would be a great way for them to take some ownership over their supplies.



This idea is too cute and seems way too easy to be true!  Holiday sock exchange! You can use bingo or the left right left game to distribute.  This would also be a great idea for the kids to gift to one another. I can just see the last day before break and everyone hanging out in their Christmas socks, drinking hot cocoa, and watching a good holiday film!







Completely free and again so easy would be a no homework pass or if you don't or rarely give homework then you could adjust it to adding 5 points to any assignment (excluding tests).





Do you have a full proof, affordable, and easy Christmas gift that you give to your students?  Share it with me below!

Catholic Schools Week UPDATED

Gearing up for Catholic Schools Week I thought I would share some of my favorite Religion projects I have done this year and in the past!

I had been searching EVERYWHERE to get a Catholic version of the Ten Commandments Phone I saw all over the place.  I just couldn't seem to find it and it was very confusing for my kids to see one thing in their Religion books and then another in the activity, so I created one that perfectly aligns to the Catholic Bible!  If you are interested in this activity click the pictures below!

This created the most amazing hallway display!!  I just found an image online and had my aide trace them onto large pieces of construction paper, white printer paper, and some yarn...voila!  The kids looked in magazines for the letters to the acrostic poem and we brainstormed words that described our Catholic School!

We have really been trying to get our students to actually utilize their Bibles!  This is a great activity for any time of the year (we actually did it around Christmas), but would be great during Advent, Lent, and even Easter!  The kids first used their Bibles to look up the verses and find the name(s) of Jesus in each verse.  Then as a follow up activity each child selected a name and did an illustration.  If you are interested in snagging a copy just click either picture below!

As we get closer to Catholic Schools' Week please come back and check out how I have updated this post to include more fun!!!

UPDATE NUMBER ONE

One theme to Catholic Schools' Week is to show our appreciation to our families for supporting our school.  The students are going to write thank-you letters and we needed some stationary to match!  This is FREE on TeachersPayTeachers!

UPDATE NUMBER TWO

Keeping in theme with the family appreciation we added something new to our calendar this year that EVERYONE is raving about!  Family Picnic Day!!!  Of course it is January and today was a high of 28 so it was an inside picnic, but still.  As a parent and a teacher it was great to get a glimpse of the pros for all parties......no work on the teachers part, except sending home an invite and super motivating for the students!  My kindergartner asked all weekend when her picnic was!  Basically each grade level had a picnic one day during the week. We doubled up so it was K with 5th, 1st with 4th and so on so that there weren't too many parents in the cafeteria at once.  The kids ate at their regular time and either brought a packed lunch or families brought in something special.  It was easy peasy!!  Here is me and my little one....of course she got McDonald's!  I have included an example of our invites.  The CSW logos can be found at https://www.ncea.org/csw .

Another thing we did this week that went along with our religion chapter but was also great for CSW because it allowed the kids to get up and move was Fruits of the Spirit posters.  Each child found 9 pictures, one for each fruit and wrote a caption.  It opened up great discussions about what are examples of gentleness, patience, etc.  Again, so easy for such a packed week!

 STAY TUNED!