Classroom Kindness Ornaments

After searching the internet for an ornament activity to do with my middle school students, I was unable to find anything that wasn’t geared towards younger children. So, I decided to create a lesson to do with them that could be educational and also create a keepsake to hang from the tree.

Students write compliments to their classmates, and their words of kindness are turned into an ornament.

My 8th grade students loved the lesson and ornaments, and I was able to work out all the kinks before sharing with you!

I am also excited to announce that I have joined the world of TeacherspayTeachers.  I originally had the opinion that teachers should just be generous and share their work with others for free, out of the goodness of their hearts.  Surprisingly, A LOT of lessons are free (including this ornament one), but the ones that do cost are definitely worth it.  After seeing the quality, I now understand the time and effort that went into the activities, lessons, posters, etc. and definitely think the teachers who created them deserve to be compensated. 

I doubt  I will be charging for anything anytime soon, but am kind of excited to have a new outlet to possibly earn some extra moula.

~Mrs. Scott

Homemade Christmas Gifts

Pinterest inspired me to give homemade gifts for school Christmas presents. I actually came up with ideas for my boys teachers without stealing them from someone else, and they didn't include they typical coffee mugs that teachers always end up with!

Homemade cake balls:

1 tub for each teacher and a jar-full for daycare.

At school, our Student Council gave baggies of Jolly Ranchers to all of the staff:

~Mrs. Scott

Geometry Ornaments

The Christmas tree in my classroom was needing some decorating, so I took the opportunity to review geometry with my students.

This would make a great classroom lesson for lower grade levels (4-7th). I bought some gumdrops from Walmart (mini marshmallows work too, but aren't as colorful), and used left over spaghetti noodles and toothpicks.

Students build 3-dimensional shapes (could work with 2-d shapes too) using the supplies given. We built cubes, triangular prisms & pyramids, rectangular prisms & pyramids, and then students calculated the number of faces, edges, and vertices, and showed me which side they would use to calculate "B," the area of the base.

~Mrs. Scott

Adopt-a-Family

This is why I love being a Student Council Sponsor:

Tonight I am organizing 76 gifts from our Fall service project: adopt-a-family. This year we have adopted a family with a single mom and four children, ages 5, 8, 9, and 11 years old.

Our members stepped up and really took care of this family, ensuring they have a wonderful Christmas. One of our members even purchased gifts (including shoes for mom) with her own money because she said a few years ago, she was "one of those families." What a perfect way to pay it forward!

Anyone who complains about "kids these days" needs to step into a junior high and see that there are plenty of children (teenagers too!) with huge hearts!