Happy Holidays with Oriental Trading

Happy Holidays!  I was very excited to receive my big cardboard box full of exciting items for my students to enjoy from Oriental Trading.  I teach Second Grade and I have to tell you that they absorb everything and they are excited about many things - especially the holidays.

[[Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.]]

When I search Oriental Trading, I love how I can just go to the categories I need - Holidays/Christmas and who doesn't love sales? They have a great sale section as well.

The "main event" of my student gifts are these adorable penguins.  I love the plush toys from Oriental Trading because they are so cute and the kiddos cherish them at this age.  These plush toys are currently sold out, but I also would recommend these holiday bears and reindeers.  Too cute and they are on major SALE!

The slap bracelets are back! I LOVED these as a child.  They are fun to slap on your wrist, but also a fashionable bracelet.

I loved the variety of these but I am hoping that they come out with more of an assortment for boys.  There are other slap bracelet assortments that have different themes, but this particular pack will appeal mostly to the girls of my class.  It was a nice to have some bracelets with designs and some plain, sparkle ones.

The item I was impressed with the most are these 4 1/2 inch snowflake notepads.  For only $5.99, you will receive 24 of these.  Very good quality and they were larger than I expected for the price.  I have lots of artists and notetakers in second grade so they will love these!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy Hanukkah!  I can't wait to celebrate with my students all about the holidays around the world.

Enjoy my freebie from Teachers Pay Teachers full of writing prompts that you can use before and after the holiday season.

The Ancient One and End of the Year Gifts

My students and I were so lucky to receive a copy of T.A. Barron's fantasy adventure, "The Ancient One." A couple of my students were excited to get their hands on a copy and begin reading.

We normally have independent reading time during our Daily 5 and they decided to write a short review on what they thought so far:

The students are enjoying the fact that this book is an adventure about helping the environment.  My one student Kate who is reading was excited to see the main character's name - Kate!

My fourth graders enjoy adventure, suspense, and visuals - the maps that can be found on T.A. Barron's site go right along with the stories.  How cool is that? My children are so impressionable right now and some have developed a dislike for reading :( However, when they can relate to a story and follow a character that they love, they feel like they are a part of it.  

You can find "The Ancient One" at Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, and Amazon! :) T.A. Barron has many other great books that you can check out.  I personally want to check out "The Wisdom of Merlin" myself.


Sooooo it's the end of the year.  My fourth graders have accomplished so much and they were wonderful to work with.  I knew that they deserved wonderful things sooo of course I went to Oriental Trading for my party needs.  I am also getting married this Saturday (4 days, no big deal) and they also are amazing with wedding supplies!

These tote bags were adorable to put lots of goodies in for my kids.  They were bigger than I had expected, but they definitely hold their weight.  These are perfect for lighter objects however, because I know with lbs and lbs of weight, these would break.  I told the kiddos that they would be able to put their beach stuff in these (towel, sunglasses, sunscreen) or put a light book and personal belongings in them as well. 

My kids (at all ages) love oriental trading prizes.  I got the sticky hands (they LOVE anything like this!) and some fun mini neon bouncy balls!  These are mini though and I don't recommend for younger children. 

 I wrapped their goodies in treat bags from the dollar tree to stay organized with the smaller items.  

My fourth graders faces light up with these ADORABLE FOXES.  I can't... they are just too cute.  My 9 and 10 year old boys and girls loved them :) They come in blue, pink, orange, and red.  

I am always a happy customer with Oriental Trading!

Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.

Holiday Gifting with Oriental Trading

Oriental Trading is a place where I can meet all of my holiday needs - crafts, gifts, party supplies, and fun.  I am so excited to share with you some of the fun gifts I got for my fourth graders from Oriental Trading.  They sent me these items (for free!) for me to review the quality and greatness of their products.  As children get older I think it is just as important to celebrate their holidays and culture just as much as the younger children.  I am bringing the spark back into holidays!

How much are gift bags normally?  They are usually around $1.  I loved these gift bagsin packs of 12 for $6.  I gave all of my girls the red bags, and the boys the green bags.  The gift bags were very sturdy and cute - the only thing I would change is you can see where the handles are glued on the side (maybe a way to make it less noticeable) - but for 50 cents each, what a great deal for everyone!

48 mini, mini notepads for less than $5!  These are tiny but so cute and my fourth graders LOVE things like these... there's enough in pack for me to give all of my students two of them.  I would definitely make a purchase with these in the future!

Who remembers slap bracelets?! I loved these as a child.  Of course when I saw these on Oriental Trading, I had to request them. I love these metallic snowflake ones (perfect to use after Christmas too) but they also have many other different kinds.

Do your students love sticky toys? MINE DO!  This bundle came with TONS of sticky insects, animals, and little alien guys.  Some of them are really small and cute but others are big hand slappers and noise putty that are really going to be a hit!

 The footballs and penguins were my differentiated gift between the boys and the girls.  I liked the footballs a lot - I thought they were going to be a little bigger, but I know my sweeties will love them.  My favorite thing I received were these adorable penguins.  They were great quality and I know that they will be a huge hit.  I wish I could keep one for myself! ;) 

 I am so excited to spend the next week with my students and we are going to do the "5 Days" (instead of 12 days) of Holiday fun. The last day before Christmas Eve they will get these gifts from me and hopefully enjoy every prize.

Check out Oriental Trading's Christmas Shop because there are items up to 75% off.  

I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday and some well-deserved time off! 

Looking for a deal at Oriental Trading? Visit their coupon page for the latest in sales.

Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.

Valentine's Day Coasters and Freebies

Hello, hello! I cannot believe how long it's been since I have blogged.. actually, I'll let you in on a little secret - I actually started another blog about my health.  I have written only a few posts, but it holds me accountable for making better choices.  If you want to check it out you can HERE :)

So Valentine's Day is right around the corner! My kiddos made these beautiful DIY coasters for their moms and dads.  We wrapped them in tissue paper and decorated with a few simple words and stickers.  To see how you can make coasters for your home or for a great gift, check out my post from a few years ago :)

 I am so proud of my kiddos for their hard work - they are true rock stars and some of the hardest working Kindergarteners and First graders I have ever known.  This year has been wonderful and I never want to le them go!  I can't wait for them to get my little goodie bags I made for them for Valentine's Day -they deserve it!

 

Check out these great Valentine's Day freebies I found on TPT:

 For the upper grades:

The wonderful Laura Candler's February Activities

 

For the lower grades:

 A Partner Play for Beginning Readers by the amazing A Teeny Tiny Teacher

For the clipart lovers:

Valentine's Graphics from the very talented 3AM Teacher

And something for every grade level:

Non-food Valentine Ideas and Cards from the very lovely Rachelle Smith

I wish you all a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Whimsy Tree Paintings

I wanted to show you the gifts that my students made for their parents this Christmas.  I am so proud of them.  I modeled on scratch paper what a whimsy tree would look like, and they did EVERYTHING themselves! Here are some of their beautiful canvases.  I hope their parents loved them as much as I do!

I am so proud of my K/1 kiddos!

 I love how each one is so unique, and completely done independently - if you would like to these with your own students on canvas or cardstock, or wood (the possibilities are endless)

Below I have listed the materials needed for the paintings - super easy! The kids learned to "blackline" from their art teacher, and the sharpie gave it just the right pop before they painted (just be careful with the sharpies!)  They use their finger prints for the leaves and flowers around the trees, and painted the hills using a medium size paintbrush.  Masterpieces! :)

Cute displays and projects

I was so excited to get some amazing products from Creative Teaching Press for my sweet coworkers.  I feel as teachers, we know how much our coworkers really mean a lot to us - they help us copy, plan, cope, and support! I love them, and I think these are great gift ideas for coworkers to help stay organized (and they are super cute!) - PS-my sweet Lily wanted to get into the picture for this one!

 The stationery sets at CTP are adorable - they come with a folder, blank cards, list pad, and a pen :) They have many different designs - I happen to love polka dots! The whimsy and paisley styles are adorable too!

I also love their bulletin boards... one of the teachers that I gave this one to is going to laminate to use year after year! Such a cute winter display! on sale right now :) 

Since we are having a Thanksgiving breakfast next week, the kids were very excited to create Thanksgiving placemats - there were SO many to choose from online, but I figured they could let their creativity take over, and create their own! All we needed was paper, markers and crayons, a few stickers, and a laminator/laminating sheets! 

Check out those adorable turkeys and apple pie! ;) 

We also made these turkeys! I love them, you can check out the freebie HERE from The Applicious Teacher! They are actually placemats, but I just changed it up a little bit to fit my classroom and made miniature size ones! They loved it and definitely each put their creative spin on them with the sponge paint. 

During their art class, they also made these beautiful fall trees... they used tissue paper, watercolor, and cardstock!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!