The Barefoot Teacher: Christmas

Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Need a quick and cheap treat for a holiday classroom party? Christmas crack is a yummy candy dessert that will guarantee to be gone by the end of the night!

This is a treat I often forget about during the holidays. In fact, it was an accident that I even remembered it! I was trying to come up with a holiday treat idea for the class and got to talking with my own children about the types of holiday sweets and treats that I enjoyed as a kid. 

That's when I remembered...CHRISTMAS CRACK! Do people even still make this? I haven't seen it around in a looooong time! (Ok, not THAT long of a time. I'm not super old...yet! Ha!)

I was excited to remember this recipe because, besides being delicious and festive, it's a recipe you can easily send home with students to do with their family over Christmas break. You don't need a lot of ingredients and it's fairly cheap to make. Plus, it's so yummy! Let's be honest, this is a treat that will be eaten very quickly. 

You'll need to grab a large cookie sheet and some foil. Heavy duty foil works best, but you can use regular foil if that's what you have laying around. You can use parchment paper too. 

Buy a box of saltine crackers, two sticks of unsalted butter, 8-10 crushed candy canes, 1 cup of packed brown sugar, and about a cup of mini chocolate chips. 


Once you've got everything ready to go, put your foil on the cookies sheet. MAKE SURE YOU GREASE YOUR FOIL! I'm embarrassed to admit that when I was making my first batch, I completely forgot to spray the foil...which wound up being ok, but it took me a long time to carefully peel the foil from the crackers! So save yourself some time, and don't make the same mistake I did!

Lay the crackers on the foil. Make sure they are touching on all sides. Then bring the butter and sugar to a boil in a small pan. Once it's ready, pour it over the crackers and spread it out evenly. 

Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the butter/sugar mixture. Wait just a moment while they start to melt and then spread those out evenly as well. Once that's done, sprinkle the crushed up candy cane on top and put the cookie sheet in the fridge for a 2-3 hours. 


Once it's hardened, pull the cookie sheet out of the fridge and use a pizza cutter to slice it in many directions. It's a good thing you remembered to grease the foil so that they didn't stick! 

Put it in a cute holiday tray and serve! 



Thanks for letting me share this recipe with you! I hope your littles love and enjoy this yummy treat. 

Don't forget to download some FREE Christmas Strip Puzzles for your kiddos to do while they eat their Christmas treat!

Enjoy! 

-Til next time
    
These Christmas Bible nativity activities for kids include crafts, readers, Bible stories, lesson plans for teachers, posters, games, songs, & more!
I'm very excited to introduce the newest unit that has been added to my Bible Curriculum for Toddlers, Pre-K, & Kinders

"God's Gift" is a Christmas unit mapped out especially for your choice of Toddlers, Pre-K, or Kindergarten kiddos. It includes FIVE easy to follow, 60-90 minute lesson plans that were made with Sunday School in mind, but are also a perfect fit for church curriculum, Sunday School teachers, Homeschool Parents, Christian parents, and Christian school teachers. 

---Update: An additional 6th BONUS LESSON has been added!---


The unit includes a Big Truth: God's Gift Is Jesus and Bible Verse: 1 John 4:10 "God...loved us and sent his son." that are reiterated throughout all of the lessons in the unit. Colorful posters of the Big Truth and Bible Verse for your classroom are available to print.


The lessons included each have their own unique mini-truth while also reiterating the Big Truth of the unit that God's Gift Is Jesus. The lessons are as follows:


(Update: An additional 6th BONUS LESSON: SIMEON SEES JESUS has been added!) 

Each lesson included can each be used for a 60-90 minute class time, depending on which activities you choose to use. This allows for an easy stopping point if class time is running short or long. Easy-to-follow teacher directions are available so that you can simply print and hand to whoever is teaching the class! 


Also included in the unit are TONS of activity sheets, craftivities, class & student books, games, song & song poster, Big Truth & Bible Verse posters, teacher instructions & more...


One of my personal favorite activities in the unit is letting the kiddos break apart uncooked spaghetti noodles, match the sizes to the pieces of hay in the picture, and glueing them on. There is something very therapeutic and stress relieving about breaking uncooked spaghetti! 



Much prayer was spent before making each Bible lesson in the unit. My goal with all of my Bible curriculum is to retell the Bible stories in a way that helps little learners understand God's Word while also meeting them where they're at and building their skills. My prayer was that God would help me simplify each story for these younger loves, without taking away from it. 

The following student stories/emergent readers (plus full sized corresponding colorful class books) use easy-to-read text and are packed full of sight words! Kids will LOVE having their very own kid-friendly version of the stories to take home with them after the lesson each week. They are a great way to get parents and siblings engaged in the stories the kids are learning in your class. Hopefully, they will re-read (or help their little learner read) the emergent readers at home!



I have truly enjoyed creating every unit that is added to my Bible curriculum and hope that you and your littles are blessed by it as well! 


Here are the links for purchasing:

You can save a lot of money by purchasing all of the units in a bundle rather than separately:
 Bible Curriculum Bundle for Toddlers, Pre-K, & Kinders

OR purchase this Christmas unit separately:
"God's Gift" Christmas Bible Unit

Don't forget to PIN this post so that you can remember this unit for future planning!

PIN ME:
These Christmas Bible nativity activities for kids include crafts, readers, Bible stories, lesson plans for teachers, posters, games, songs, & more!


Thanks for letting me share these activities with you! I hope your littles love and enjoy them. I also hope they make your teacher life & prep just a tad bit easier!

Merry Christmas and blessings to you and your family!

-Til next time
    
Celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas with a flip book and emergent reader for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First grade kids! The duo pack is a perfect addition to the other activities, crafts, and lessons you have planned this holiday for your students.
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...! This nursery rhyme and Christmas song is already being sung by the kids in my house. Christmas seems to be hitting us earlier this year. We've had record breaking temperatures and snow as early as Halloween. It seems to be inspiring people to put up trees and decorations a little earlier than normal. 

As you begin to compile activities for your Christmas lesson plans, there are two brand new 12 Days of Christmas activities in The Barefoot Teacher shop this season that you won't want to miss out on. 

This '12 Days of Christmas' flip book gives kids a chance to practice writing (and cutting & gluing) skills while practicing counting to 12. 

There are 12 pages, plus a cover included. There is one page for every verse of the song.
Here is a close up of just the cover that the kids will color and cut out:


Each page has a 'glue' tab at the top to show students exactly where to glue. Glue sticks are best for this. That way, if they make a mistake, it can easily be fixed! 


Here's a peek at the last 12 pages of the book:

When they are done, they can cut them out and glue them together at the top (don't forget, the tabs show where to glue on each page). And the complete project looks like this:
It's great for helping the kids remember the order of the song. Even I often forget which number has maids milking or pipers piping, lol! 
You can get the 12 Days of Christmas Flip Book HERE!
The second activity goes right along with the flip book. It's a 14 pages emergent reader that comes in two versions, which I'll explain below. This book will fit right into your kids book boxes and is great for keeping at school for reading practice. 
This reader is printed two to a page so that you can use the copy machine's double staple function when making your copies, and then use a slicer to slice the books apart.
The first page students will read is set up to introduce all the objects given during that 12 days of Christmas. 
Students can highlight number words and practice counting on each page! 
I included two versions of this book. You can use:
'seven geese laying' OR 'seven geese a-laying' for your little readers.
Get this 12 Days of Christmas Emergent Reader HERE.
Celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas with a flip book and emergent reader for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First grade kids! The duo pack is a perfect addition to the other activities, crafts, and lessons you have planned this holiday for your students.
Don't forget to PIN this post so that you can remember these activities for future planning!

PIN ME
Celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas with a flip book and emergent reader for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First grade kids! The duo pack is a perfect addition to the other activities, crafts, and lessons you have planned this holiday for your students.

Thanks for letting me share these activities with you! I hope your littles love and enjoy them. I also hope they make your teacher life & prep just a tad bit easier!

-Til next time
    
Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!

The Gingerbread Man is one of my favorite units of the year! I'm going to give you a handful of gingerbread ideas today, including: three Gingerbread Man emergent readers that you can use with your kiddos, a recipe for some Gingerbread scented play dough, a video from my favorite YouTube channel for kids, & a couple of simple crafts.


**This post may contain affiliate links.**

Let's start with the emergent readers first. One of them covers the fairy tale story itself, one uses manipulative printouts to practice positional words, and one teaches students the directions left and right.

Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!

Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!

Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!

Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!


Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!

 Students won't even realize that you've snuck some positional word practice into the lesson as they work on building their reading skills with this interactive emergent reader! 

A printable Gingerbread Man manipulative moves around on the pages of the book.
Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!

Activity mats are also included to use at your centers. Glue corresponding mats back to back and laminate them so that on one side students will have a guide, and on the other, they will be able to practice on their own with the manipulatives. They are a great way for students to self check what they know!
Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!


Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!

This fun Gingerbread Man reader will take students visually through the story while practicing right and left directions. It also focuses on the sight words "my" "little" "is" "to" "the" "of" and repeats them on every page of the book.
Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!

Have your kiddos trace the dotted arrows on each page so they are focusing on which way each direction goes. 
Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!

The last page lets them draw a picture of themselves, as the Gingerbread Man stands to the left of them.


All of these readers can also be found in a large Gingerbread Man Bundle of 21 math and literacy activities that includes 230 Gingerbread Man related pages to print for your kiddos. Wow!
Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!

Here's a sneak peek at some of the other activities included.

There's over 230 pages total to print!! 
Cool School is one of my favorite YouTube channels for Kindergarten. Here is Cool School's version of the story of the gingerbread man!

Also, here is a recipe for making gingerbread smelling play dough. I especially like the Christmas gift idea! Check it out:

Here are some cute Gingerbread Man crafts that are easy to set up and simple to do. 
I like the tray idea for this first craft. It's way less messier than putting the items into individual bowls or cups!


I love this next one... A gingerbread man ornament craft. Simple enough to do individually at a center!


Thanks for letting me share these with you. I hope your littles love and enjoy them. I also hope they make your teaching life just a tad bit easier! 


PIN ME FOR LATER!... 
Gingerbread Man activities for kids, scented play dough gifts, crafts, & more for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or First Grade students. Perfect for your winter literacy or fairy tale unit on the gingerbread man, girl, boy, or baby!


-Til next time
       
I know Thanksgiving hasn't yet passed, but I wanted to get this out to you guys so that you will have a head start heading into December. I'm gonna keep it quick and to the point today.

I've bundled together every single one of my December resources. You read that correctly! Every. Single. One. Which means two things.... 1) You can have all the extra resources you need all in one download. 2) You can your precious hard-earned $$$ (and use it on a little something for yourself) by getting all of these together in one pack. 

So here's what I got for you.
I'm calling it the December Holidays MEGA Pack.
Looking for holiday activities? This December mega pack will go right along with the other crafts, games, and ideas you have planned for your preschool, kindergarten, or first grade kids. Includes math, phonics, literacy, and more! Includes gingerbread man, Christmas, Santa, nativity, polar express, and more! #christmas #polarexpress #gingerbread #gingerbreadman #winter #december #kindergarten #math #literacy #holidays
This MEGA pack comes with over 550 pages of printouts you can download and use with your littles this December. A variety of themes are included, such as Polar Express, Gingerbread Man, Nativity, Santa, Winter, Christmas Carols, & more. 
 There are all types of activities including emergent readers, Common Core aligned morning work, pocket chart pieces, high frequency word practice, pattern & number review, fun sheets, Color-By activities, vowel reinforcement, alphabet & handwriting practices, & so much more. 
You can find a very detailed description of all that's included HERE.  
Get it now so that you can spend some time browsing and deciding which activities you want to print after Thanksgiving. Make this December a stress-LESS one by staying ahead of the game. I promise, you'll be glad you did! 

Hang in there! And have a blessed Thanksgiving. 
-Til next time
     

This may just be my most favorite thing that I've made yet! 
"Away in a Manger" is my kids' favorite Christmas carol. 
There's nothing I love more than listening to their little toddler voices singing it.

You can get it HERE!

~Til next time

Yum, yum, yum!
Help Mrs. Claus count cookies for Santa!
(Also available in Spanish.)
This book includes counting numbers 0-11 and practices the words: how, many, are, & there.

The following repetition is used:
"How many cookies are there? 
There are ____ cookies."
The perfect addition to your classroom Christmas activities!
You can get it here: Claus' Cookies Emergent Reader
Enjoy!

~Til next time

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