Christmas Treats

It's a little late, but here are all the goodies I made for Christmas this year. White chocolate oreo bark, raspberry almond thumbprints, decorated christmas tree and snowflake shaped spritz cookies, mint oreo truffles, reindeer chow, chocolate covered pretzels in tree and reindeer shapes, and white chocolate snowmen. You can find all these wonderful yummy treats on my "Desserts" board on Pinterest. Just follow me, Cacheymama!

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Post Holiday Sensory Bin

Here is our wrapping paper and bow sensory bin we came up with using leftovers from Christmas. My son (13 mo) LOVED the bows on Christmas. He played with them while his presents were being opened by other people. Also, I've noticed that while he really didn't have much interest in tearing the wrapping paper off his gifts, he does often like to tear apart a random paper or tissue that he gets a hold of. So, seeing all the sensory bins other people have been doing on various blogs, I decided to give it a try. Here are some photos. (You can also see our light box in some of the photos.)

Yeah, little buddy is very active and tends to get distracted sometimes, but that's ok. He did come back to it.

He decided to decorate the light box all on his own :)

As you can see, I just used a drawer from my plastic storage cart.

Remember, a sensory "bin" can be anything that will hold the necessary items.

He did end up tearing some of the paper up. He carried one piece all around the room with him for a while. I used different types of wrapping paper in the bin. The shiny and see through ones could not be easily ripped. I wanted to see what he would do if he couldn't tear it, but he never got that far. 

Also, an important thing to remember in learning through play is that there are no such things as mistakes and  that messes are ok. Example: I knocked L's cereal on the floor and it spilled right in front of him. Just as I was about to get frustrated, he began picking them up one by one and putting them in the container I had just given him to play with. What was especially great about this is that earlier I had been showing him how to clean up his blocks from the floor (since he LOVES to throw them there, but rarely picks them up). So you can see why I was a little happily surprised! I love how little ones always put you in check and help you remember the important things. Each and every moment can be a teaching moment if you seize the opportunity.

Have you seized the opportunity for a teachable moment recently? Leave me a comment about it!

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Wishlist Wednesday: Read Write Sing

Here is today's guest blogger from Read Write Sing. There are so many incredible ideas on her blog, you need to stop by and check it out!

I teach full-day kindergarten in a Christian school; we have a class limit of fifteen-- amazing, right?! The low student-teacher ratio is a blessing, but my number one wish is to have a larger class. At the moment, my class size is ten. There are days when I feel like a mother to a set of sextuplets and a set of quadruplets!

With a small class, familiarity can be a detriment. A few extremely vocal students have snappy tempers. They would like to have their own desks and work spaces--in other words, they would rather not share! As second semester begins, I am planning opportunities for this group to celebrate each other's talents and accomplishments. I will model the art of conversation with more thoughtfulness and deliberation. There is a possibility that I will change their table seats every other week, not every week, thus providing them with a longer period in which to learn cooperation.

Birth order dynamics have played a major part in our class dramas. In my group of ten, seven children are first-borns (five of these are "onelies"), two children are the youngest in their families with older siblings spanning more than six years, and one child is the youngest in his family. To see the whole picture, you need to know that nine of my students are girls...and that baby of the family?...he is the boy. I'm considering getting a master's degree after finishing this school year! :-)

In addition to a few more students (boys, please!), I am wishing for creative ways to promote patience, self-control, and lovingkindness. The Christmas break has given me much-needed time to pray for my students, to reflect on the joy they bring to each day. May 2012 be filled with dreams come true for all of you! Thanks, Lori, for allowing me to share my thoughts!

Storytime Sunday: Christmas

What a perfect day for Storytime Sunday! This is the day we celebrate the beginning of the best story ever told. The day Jesus was born. There are plenty of children’s books that tell the story and I’m sure you can find them easily by searching, so I am going to talk about a couple of things from church this morning that I thought you might find interesting.

First, we sang the song “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” Here are the words:

I heard the bells on Christmas day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along the unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head

‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said

‘For hate is strong and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.’

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men.’

Til ringing, singing on its way

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I learned today that the song is from a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow after his wife had died in an accidental fire and his son was severely wounded in battle. I love that after he talks about how hate is so strong, which it’s difficult not to see in the world, that he says the bells got more loud and deep and how the world revolved from night to day and how wrong shall fail and right prevail. This song encourages me that there is hope in the world, no matter how bad things seem to get, if you only trust in Jesus, the Savior. Have you ever felt like you encountered some kind of a sign or a feeling that gave you hope or made or think things were going to get better or be ok? I just think of the star on that Christmas night and what Mary must have felt. She must have had so much faith in God to trust that everything was going to be ok. It’s like in the song, when all of a sudden the bells sounded so much louder and clearer that they had a meaning and purpose if only to the writer of the song.

I also like a couple of things that were in the bulletin. The first is some Christmas reminders. You always hear at Christmas time, you need to keep CHRIST in Christmas, but with all the hustle and bustle this time of year, it is sometimes difficult to know how to do it. I think keeping the spirit of Christmas is not something that takes effort, only thinking about what you are doing and why you are doing it. It’s not to say we need to stop doing all of the secular traditions of Christmas, but to think of the reason why the tradition came about. Here are some ideas:

• May the Christmas gifts remind you of God’s greatest gift, His only begotten Son.
• May the Christmas candles remind you of Him who is the “Light of the World.”
• May the Christmas trees remind you of another tree upon which He died for you.
• May the Christmas cheer remind you of Him who said “Be of good cheer.”
• May the Christmas bells remind you of the glorious proclamation of His birth.
• May the Christmas carols remind you of the song the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest.”
• May the Christmas season remind you in every way of Jesus Christ your King.

And finally some definitions of Christmas:

• Christmas is the light that burns eternally. It is a glow that warms the hearts of people wherever the message of “Peace on earth to men of goodwill” is believed.
• Christmas is peace in a world where people have been alienated from each other by hatred and jealousy.
• Christmas is love that flows from one heart to another.
• Christmas is the joy of brotherhood, of giving, of sharing, of lifting, of caring, and of being what Christ wants us to be.
• Christmas is forgiveness, the time for fresh beginnings, a time to right the wrongs of yesterday.
• Christmas is giving to those who cannot give to us. It is visiting the neglected, lifting the fallen, giving hope to the hopeless, assuring victory to the defeated, living the spirit of goodwill to all mankind.
• Christmas is surrender of one’s life to Christ in renewed dedication, making Christ the Lord of our lives. 

Thinky Linky Thursday: Making Christmas Shopping A Learning Experience

Is this a familiar sight this time of year? For most of us, by this time we are getting a little tired of fighting the crowds just to find that perfect gift for our loved ones. And just think about our children. If you're like me, you may have been dragging your little ones around to all the store with you until they are ready to pass out. But if we take just a little time while we are out to make the trip fun and educational, it can make all the difference. Maybe even become your own family tradition.

0-2 Year Olds: 

• With this age group, they are taking in everything they see around them. Make a game out of shopping like looking for a particular item and whoever spots it first, gets to choose the next item to look for.
• For younger children who aren't speaking much yet, teaching them new vocabulary is a great idea while you are going around to places and seeing things they don't see everyday. Point something out and repeat the word a few times. 
• Make a game out of waving at people, of course only the ones who are friendly enough to initiate the interaction themselves or people who work at the store like the cashier. Teach your child to say hi, bye, and other polite greetings.

3-5 Year Olds:

• Signs are a great learning tool. Have your child point out letters or numbers they know on the sign, especially letters that are in their own name. Let them compare the different types of writing they see on the signs. Talk about the difference between capital and lower case letters.
• Sing a song. In the car, maybe in the store depending on the atmosphere of the store you're in. Let the children choose songs they like, but also add in some with rhyming words, ABCs or counting.
• Have the kids help you make a list before you go to the store. Some of them may even be able to help you write down some of the words. Give each person an item they are responsible for finding in the store such as a gift they will be giving a grandparent. This will help keep them on task so they don't get bored as quickly and distracted by that brand new toy that Santa already got them.
• Talk about safety in the parking lot and have them tell you some safety rules they already know such as look both ways before crossing the street.

Older Children:

• Get them involved in the shopping. Maybe even give them some money (unless they already have their own). Pull out the calculator (or smart phone) and have them do some math. Adding and subtracting the amounts things cost to see how much the total cost will be and how much will be left over. Have them estimate what they think the total will come to. 

• Measure distances between things or how long an aisle is using footsteps. (Not recommended in a crowded store)
• Compare prices on different brands of a product by looking at the 'per unit' pricing label. 
• Talk about caring and sharing. See if they can come up with a way to help people who are less fortunate. Offer to let them choose a gift to buy for Toys for Tots or some other organization or encourage them to save their own money to buy an item to donate. Have them put some change in Salvation Army's bell ringers bucket. You could even have them go through some of their old toys, clothes, etc and choose a charity to donate them to.

Happy Shopping!

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Hot Cocoa Craft and Cheeseball Recipe

Here is a craft I made for the neighbors and as a grandparents gift from the baby. I got this idea from here, but I did mine a little differently. I didn't use pieces of fabric. I just printed out lables with the instructions and glued it on and I used mini candy canes as well. Also, instead of buying the hot cocoa mix and marshmallows separately, I just bought the kind that already has marshmallows in it. I think they turned out ok, except I didn't actually measure the hot cocoa, so I hope it's not too much.

Here are the labels I made and printed out:

I thought I would also include a ham cheeseball recipe that my family makes every year at Christmas. Usually with leftover ham, but I had some already, so I decided to go ahead and make it early.

1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup Mayonnaise

2 cups ground cooked ham

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tsp minced onion

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce

1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Beat cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth. Stir in next 5 ingredients. Cover; chill several hours. Form into ball; roll in nuts to coat. Serve with crackers. 

I like mine better without the nuts, but it's up to you. Plus, I don't always make mine into a ball. This time, I just put it into my Christmas frog dish and used it like a spread. Hope you enjoy!

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Wishlist Wednesday: The Silver Lining

This week's guest blogger, Mrs. D has some great ideas on her blog. I love her thrifty finds and activities she does with her class. Please check out her blog and enjoy her post!


Hi, everyone!  I'm Mrs. D from The Silver Lining!  I am so excited to be a guest blogger today at Cachey Mama's Classroom. :)  {This is my first ever guest post on a blog!  Woohoo!}  So, here are my wishes {just a few!} for Wishlist Wednesday:

{1}

This is my fifth year teaching (all in first grade) and I have built a nice little classroom library.  I look for books all.the.time.  Especially in thrift stores.  I literally oooohhh and aaahh when I find books for $1.00 or less.  However, most of the books I find are classic story books, Disney stories, Dr. Seuss (which of course is fab!), and so on.  I always scour the shelves WISHING I could find some awesome *leveled* books.  So, that is the first wish on my Wish List.  I would love a leveled library to keep in my very own classroom! 

{2}

Have you heard of Teacher Tipster?  I'm sure you have!  If not, Google him NOW. Anyway, he introduced me to these:

They are called Talk Point Recorders.  They record up to 10 seconds of sound!  The possibilities are endless.  I soooo wish I had a set.  I would use them for spelling word practice, sentence dictation, math facts...anything! :)

And lastly...

{3)

I wish that all my students will have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!  There are so many kids in my classroom (and my school) that are dealing with difficulties in their home lives.  I hope they all have a safe and wonderful Christmas.

Happy Wednesday, everyone! :)

Homemade Christmas Ornaments

So, I'm gonna go old school on this post. Here are some Christmas ornaments I made when I was a kid! Maybe you can remember making some of these as well. Hopefully there are some ideas that you can use. Most of these are easy and use materials that you probably already have or are very cheap. Some were broken or missing pieces. I put them back together the best I could, but as you can tell, most of them are over 20 years old!

1. Raffia Angels

2. Styrofoam Ball Snowman

3. PomPom Tree and Bears

(Hint: A piece of felt holds it together in the back)

4. Plastic Canvas Sheet Crafts

5. Pretzel Wreath

6. Safety Pin Angel

(This is the only one that might be a little challenging.)

7. Beaded Candycane

8. Lace Wreath

9. Styrofoam ball with sequins

10. Kiss Angel

11. Oscar the Grouch

(If you can even find film canisters anymore)

12. Felt Mouse

(Ok, so this guy is missing a couple things. 

To see a completed version of this project, check out Skip to My Lou.)

13. Clothespin Bear

14. Angel Yarn Wreath

(Yep, missing a candy cane on the other side.)

15. Pine Cone Skier

16. Pill Bottle Bird Feeder

17. Clothespin Reindeer

What fun crafts have you been making for the holidays? (Or made 20+ years ago!)

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