Build Your Own Bingo Boards (holiday edition)

Do you love BINGO? Do your kids love BINGO?

My sweet girl loves BINGO. Maybe it is the fact that she gets a piece of candy at the end of each game she wins or she just really loves the game. We play it a lot in my house but I wanted to make it a little bit more than a game for her. She is a preschooler and needs practice with fine motor skills.  I wanted something where she could cut, color, and write as well as play her favorite game. I also wanted her and the students I will eventually use this with to be able to personalize their board for the game. This is where the build your own Bingo Boards comes in.

Since I use this at home and plan on using it in my classroom as well I tried to make it as simple as possible to prep. I started with pre-made game boards. There are 5x5, 4x4, and 3x3 boards that are black and white. All the boards have a space at the top for students to write their names and the name of the Bingo game they are playing.

Then the pages go by holiday and each holiday has the same pieces just with different images corresponding to that holiday. I am using the St. Patrick's Day game boards in this post as an example since that holiday is just days away.

I created pieces that can be cut and glued onto the game boards in each of the three game board sizes. These pieces come in black and white so that the kids can color if they choose or you can print the pieces in color. There are also pieces in color and black and white for you to use as call pieces for the game. Examples of these items are in the images below. I like to use the black and white call sheet as my base and I place the color call pieces on top to show what I have called and what I have left. You can use it however it works best for you. Examples of these items are in the images below.

In this packet are pieces for Back to School, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and St. Patrick's Day. Within the next few weeks I will be adding Easter and Summer Fun to the packet.

I hope you enjoy!

Ashley

St. Patrick's Day History

Did you know that St. Patrick's Day is a day of remembrance for the Patron Saint of Ireland?

Many people do not know this about St. Patrick's Day. Our country has become so good at partying in our green on this day that we have forgotten that it came about for a reason. This is why this is one of my favorite units to teach: The History of St. Patrick's Day.

I love utilizing vocabulary in all the units I teach, so there are vocabulary cards, flip flaps for interactive notebooks, and a match page to have practice with key words that are a part of this unit.

There are also two different ways to read about the life of St. Patrick. There is a short story page that I use when I teach this unit whole class and then there is a mini reader that I use for small groups. Each tell the life of St. Patrick and how he is the reason for the day day of remembrance on March 17th. We also use the interesting facts page to discuss some of the different elements of the holiday.

Since students are usually pretty interested in learning about St. Patrick, we have a little fun and talk about 6 different legends that are connected with him. It gives us all a good giggle to see what kind of stories have been connected to St. Patrick. There is a interactive notebook activity that goes along with this discussion. If you do not use interactive notebooks in your classroom than you could always have them glue these on separate sheets of paper.

Once we have talked about St. Patrick, I post one of the write the room activities. Which one I choose depends on the level that will suit  my students the best. One is less challenging than the other.

 At the end of the unit we make one or both of the clover mini projects. I work at a christian school so I am able to complete the project on the Holy Trinity with them. If you are at a public school than you could complete the 4 leaf clover activity which talks about faith, hope, love, and luck. There is a poem to attach to the back of each clover. 

This is just a glimpse of what we use to talk about the real reason for St. Patrick's Day. If you have any questions let me know : )

Ashley

Working on Goals

Happy New Year!!

I hope you all had a wonderful end to 2018 and are feeling ready for all the adventures that 2019 will bring.

So one of my goals for this year is to actually cook three or more meals a week and be healthier. My little family and I tend to let schedules and activities overwhelm our food choices and that leads to unhealthy eating. I really want to change this and get us all on the right track for 2019.

I know that if I don't write things down then I end up waiting until the last minute and we go with the fastest (usually unhealthiest) option. To keep me accountable I sat down today and created a calendar template where I will input what the meal for the day is going to be. This will help me with shopping for the week and keep me from trying to figure something out at the last minute. I blocked off two days a week for leftovers. On one of those days we have swim practice which goes late and the other we usually are with family in the evening so we only need food for lunches. There is also nothing planned for this week because we already have special plans for all but one of those days. Below you will see our meal plan for the month of January.

I am posting this here to hold myself accountable for sticking to this plan and to share with anyone who may want to do something similar in this new year.

So here is to the new year and making it a healthier and more balanced year : )

Ashley

Bring it On 2019

2018, what a year! It has been a roller coaster ride of events and emotions, but I wouldn't change it. It taught me some important lessons and made me step back and re-evaluate where my time is spent.

For the first time in my life I am working part time. That is not easy for me as I have either worked multiple jobs or full time since my freshman year of high school. At first I fought God on this one. I didn't think it was right or that it should be this way. It took many rejections and words from a new friend made in my part time position to see that this is what this year is supposed to look like for our family. I am supposed to be stepping back and spending more time with my sweet girl and husband. We have had more movie nights, weekend adventures, and have eaten much healthier as I now have more time to focus on making healthy meals. It has not been an easy transition. There has been lots to figure out, but God has seen us through each moment.

Even though we made it through the roller coaster ride of 2018, I am hoping that 2019 is a little less crazy. Although if its not we will just pray and follow God's lead to make it through. With that said, I do have some goals for 2019 that I am hoping to accomplish.

1 - Cook three or more healthy meals a week. This sounds like it would be easy but for us it is not. I have done better the last few months but I need to up my game and hit the three a week mark. I tend to fail towards the end of the week because we have swim classes and game nights with family.So I am hoping that if I can get two healthy meals at the beginning of the week then I can focus on one towards the end of the week. Our little family can use left overs for the days in between.

2. Actually organize all my personal and professional files. You would think that this would be something that I already have done, but no. My files are a hot mess and really need to be organized to regain a measure of sanity.

3. Live in the moment. I want to spend more time focusing on the here and now, instead of worrying about the future and holding onto the past. I have been blessed with a beautiful life and I need to spend more time actually enjoying it and showing my daughter how to enjoy life as well.

I don't know that I will be successful with all of these because sometimes life just happens and you have to change your goals, but these are the goals I would like to attempt in 2019.

Here's to 2019....may your be full of adventure, love, and many blessings : )

Ashley

Advent Adventure: Days 2-6

Today I  will briefly walk through the next 5 days of the Advent packet, so that you can get an idea of what is coming. Throughout this post, if you click on any of the book titles you will be taken to that book on Amazon so you can purchase it if you choose to.

DAY 2

For day 2 the theme is Prince of Peace which is mentioned in the Scripture verse for the day, Isaiah 9:6. Once again since my daughter is not able to read yet, we will be doing a letter hunt in the scripture verse as we read it. This is just to get her engaged in the reading of the verse.

The activity for this day is to make Christmas cards. There are two templates in the packet or you can come up with your own. We will be doing a little of both. I won't lie. I may have used this day as my motivation to actually send out Christmas cards from our little family this year.

The story for day 2 is called The Best Thing About Christmas which you can get on Amazon or you can try the read aloud link in the packet. We will end our time by listening to the song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

DAY 3

The theme for this day is Immanuel which is found in the verse for the day, Isaiah 7:14. We will continue to do a letter hunt with our little one, but you could also look for sight words with older ones or have them draw a picture to illustrate the verse.

The project for this day is actually the start of a two day project. For this day you will be making a wreath. We will most likely be making a handprint wreath, but there are other options in the packet. We just have a lot of fun tracing our hands : ) I will include a picture of our final product under day 4.

Once we have finished our wreath we will read the sweet story God Gave Us Christmas. There is a read aloud link in the packet for this story, but we prefer the actual book. We will finish our time listening to one of my favorite Christmas songs, "O Come All Ye Faithful."

DAY 4

The theme for day 4 is God's Son and is found in the theme verse 1 John 5:11. We will continue to do a letter hunt with our little one, but you could also look for sight words with older ones or have them draw a picture to illustrate the verse.

The activity for this day is to make the paper candles that attach to the wreath. I have provided information about each candle and the colors for each candle. Your church may use different colors or may have a candle mean something different. I just went off of what I found to be the most common in meanings through research and the colors that our church uses.

We will finish our time with the story Christmas Time: It's All About Jesus and the song "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." This story does not have a read aloud link available so you would need to use the actual book or read from a different nativity themed book that you already own.

DAY 5

Our theme for day 5 is hope and can be found in the verse Matthew 12: 221. Since we have already done several letter hunts with verses, we are going to take a break and create a picture to go with our word. We will make a colorful design to cover a standard sheet of copy paper and then we will use black marker to write the word HOPE in big letters in the middle.

Today's activity is similar to Day 3. We are making another handprint wreath. I promise I am not crazy and no its not because I couldn't come up with other ideas. I chose this because this will be a wreath that we hang up on one of the bedroom doors. I really like wreaths and how you can use them as a visual reminder of Jesus. Wreaths were traditionally made with evergreens, so the green of a wreath reminds you that God's love is everlasting. It is without end. The red of the berries that are usually found on leaves remind us of the sacrifice that God's own son made to save us from our sins. and the circle has no beginning and no end which reminds us that God is eternal.

After we finish our wreath, we will read the story Who is Coming to Our House?. I love this story and it is a good example of keeping hope. This story has a read aloud link in the packet that you could use. Once we have read our story we will listen to the song "For Unto Us a Child is Born."

DAY 6

Our theme for today is light and we read about it in our verse, John 12:36. We will continue to do a letter hunt with our little one, but you could also look for sight words with older ones or have them draw a picture to illustrate the verse.

The activity for today is to make a candle. In the packet I listed a few ways that you could make a candle. We will be going with option two where we make a paper candle using the template that is provided. There is a color by number candle sheet in the packet, and directions for a toilet paper roll candle. If you are craftier, and braver, than me you could definitely use this day to make an actual wax candle.

We will keep the candles with us as we read one of my favorite Christmas stories, The Night of the Las Posadas. This story is such a great reminder that our Light (Jesus) is always there with us and uses every situation to spread his word. This story also has a read aloud link in the packet. We will end by listening to the song "Joy to the World."

I hope you enjoy the next 5 days of time shared with your little ones focusing on the reason for this beautiful season.

Ashley

Advent Adventure: Day 1

It's here! December first is tomorrow! I know many of you are feeling the stress of the holidays because the to do lists seem to grow no matter how much you accomplish and there seems to be a never ending collection of events to attend during this month. Sometimes we let ourselves get to the point of being so overwhelmed that we heave a sigh of relief when the holidays have come to an end.

I am somewhere in the middle. I absolutely love this time of year, but I feel the stress that this month can bring. That is why I am making a point this year to take a little time each day to do a few small activities with my daughter to center our hearts and mind on the reason for the season. The activities come a from a packet that I created which can be found here. I will be walking through several days as a time here on the blog starting tomorrow so you can see what it consists of. With that being said, here is day 1 on our Advent Adventure.

Our focus verse for tomorrow is Isaiah 9:6 and the focus or theme is everlasting. We will use the verse card to read the verse, but since I have a preschooler I will have her color the alphabet letters we are working on to get her to focus on it as we talk about it.

Once we have finished our verse, we will move on to the activity for the day which is making an Advent paper chain. Each link of the chain has the day and a verse for the Christmas story that we will read each time we remove a link. I printed our pages off in red and green to make it a festive decoration for our daughter's room.

After we are finished with our paper chain we will move on to the story and the song. Surprisingly, What is Christmas? is not one of the many Christmas stories that we own, so we had to look on Amazon to find a copy. If you click on the book title, it will take you to the book on Amazon to purchase it. If you are not able to order the book, there is also a YouTube link in the packet to a read aloud of the story.

To finish up our study, we will listen to the wonderful Christmas song, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

This is how we will begin our study of Advent. Tomorrow I will post the information for days 2-6.

Ashley

Embracing Advent

I love all things Christmas! It is my favorite time of year. The books, songs, decor, coffee flavors, and so much more are just so magical. One of those magical parts for me as a Christian is Advent. I have always enjoyed Advent with my students and family, but this year I decided I wanted to make it a more prominent part of our home life. I want to make sure that my daughter focuses on the real meaning for this beautiful season each day, even while being bombarded by everything else. I looked around for awhile to see if I could find something that would work for our family and be engaging to our little one, but all I could find that I liked were in pieces. I don't know about you, but for me, having things in pieces is not a good idea. I lose track of things. This is where my brain took off.

I decided that I would create my own Advent Adventure. I knew what I wanted and I worked to create all the components needed to make it meaningful, engaging, and have as much in one place as possible. I created a day by day packet so that we can focus on Advent daily. Each day has a theme, a scripture passage card, an activity, a story, and a song. I will be including links to song videos and story read alouds on you tube for as many books as I can. This will hopefully help you on those days when you may not have the story in your collection. This is something that can be done at home as a family or in the classroom with your students. Below you will see an image with a few of the things that you can find in this packet.

If you would like more information about this packet you can check out my stories on instagram or the video on my Facebook page.

Instagram: 1st_grade_jungle

Facebook: First Grade Jungle

I am so very excited to start this journey through Advent with my little one. It keep our hearts and our minds focused on the real meaning of the season and it gives us something special to do together each day. 

An Advent Adventure

Ashley