Valentine's Fun

Valentine's in Thailand is very different.  Only similarities:  Everyone goes out to dinner.  Everyone buys flowers.  Both are quite cheap here.  Other than that it is different.  Valentine cards (for kids) are not possible to find here.  There are some "Happy Valentines Day" cards like what 'grown ups' send.  Candy is not made specially for Valentines other than M&Ms and I think it is just special packaging.  No fun hearts candy or anything like that.

Anyway, we made it work. It was fun.  Last week I had no idea what to do but was suggested to do the felt heart weaving basket.  It was fun! I learned a lot about my kids while doing it!  Some still struggle with fine motor skills like straight lines and cutting.  Some struggle with following directions or trying things that may be hard for them.  So it was a learning experience for us all!  Here is the tutorial that I found.  Pickin' and Throwin'.

My school is blessed to be able to order some supplies for crafts and things.  I had them order me felt. I got way more than I needed.  I had about 100 pieces of 5x12 in. I am so sad that I forgot to take a picture. It was silly how much felt I had, and still have.  I gave half to my buddy teacher.  After her class and my class did it  and a few mistakes, I still have 35 pieces left.

ANYWAY, it turned out great.  It is hard to tell in the pictures but the hearts do open.  I hot glued the edges a little so candy and things could stay in it without falling out.

The other thing that we did during our party time was play Valentine's Bingo.  It was a huge hit.  Even for my boys who HATE Valentine's Day as I was told so so SO many times!  I found it through Pinterest but it led me here: Prepared Not Scared.  It is beautiful. I did not have time to laminate it before playing but I made sure the kids did not destroy it so I can use it again next year.  I LOVE IT!!

Here we are in action: 

Finally, my Valentine/February bulletin board in our hallway.  Each student made a heart and wrote what book they LOVE reading and why.  I love the board and it was SO easy! I made the large heart 3-D by folding a file folder in between two construction sheets.  It flaps in the wind a little but it is quite fun!

What did you do for Valentine's Day?  I hope your day was as wonderful as mine!

Need help and a Giveaway

I can not believe Valentine's is THIS week.  Wow! Where has the year gone.  In Thailand Valentine's is not really celebrated. At my school we do acknowledge it but definitely not in the same way as in America.  We will have a small party do a craft and thats about it.  No Valentines to share or fun boxes or heart candy or any of those things.  My heart will be a little sad but we will try to make it fun.

The only problem is I am having trouble finding crafts that are simple that I can do here that don't require any of the specialty Valentine's things.  Do you have any suggestions for me????? Please help! What are you doing for it?


Also I wanted to share the giveaway that Shanyn from Coffee, Kids, and Compulsive Lists is hosting.  She has reached over 500 followers on her blog, TPT, and Pinterest! What a feat!!  Go be part of her giveaway!

Sorry to be so short. The school is hosting a MAJOR basketball tournament and I am volunteering! Hopefully it will be cool as some games are played outside!  

Merry Christmas

This holiday season is very different for me.  I am away from family and friends.  New friends are with their families either here or back in America.  I am truly blessed to be where I am this year, in Thailand with my hubby.  But the holidays are hard to be away.  For those of you enjoying family time, please treasure it.  It is such a blessing and easily taken for granted time.  I know that you all do, but just wanted to remind you of how special family time and this time of year are.  No matter where I am, it is still my favorite time of year, just now for different reasons!

I pray that you are happy and healthy and joyful this holiday season.  Merry Christmas!!

p.s. I love the snow effect because surprisingly I AM missing the snow!

Holiday spirit and craftivities

Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!!

I am officially on break and have been since Thursday!! We have two full weeks off, which is apparently more than some schools :))  Hubby and I are going to enjoy every minute of it.

The last week of school was crazy but I will post more on that later.  For now holiday activities.

I tried to be a little crafty this holiday season.  We dont have much decorations other than a tree, but I did try one thing.  I put tape on cardstock.  Painted over it.  Glitterized it a little :)  Only sad thing is I havent hung it up anywhere!

  

At school we were a little crafty too!! We made strings of lights with colored paper and string.  Here is mine: We wrote one letter per light to spell out our names.....

On the back we wrote adjectives about the person whose name was written on the lights.  

Here are half of the kids ones hanging up in the class.  It was really fun and educational :)

We also made button ornaments.  Mine is the one on the left.... I was going for a random look.  I was then showed up by a kid who made the one on the right... very festive!

Another teacher donated this tree to us, so we decorated it with our button wreaths.  Some girls made the snowflakes for me so I put them on the tree too!  

What kinds of crafts did you do this holiday season?  I hope you all are enjoying time off and finding time to relax a little.  May the holidays be just as good for you wherever you may find yourselves this year!

Currently

I can NOT believe it is December already.  But in honor of it is the new Currently from Farley.

Keeping up with shows makes my heart happy after long days at work!  Bones and Revenge are my current favorites!

I love that is December and things are becoming Christmasy!! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! It is so weird to be in a foreign land during this time but I am excited to experience new things.  I went to the market yesterday and found this teeny tiny watch shop turned Christmas with real stuff from AMERICA!! I was stoked. I got myself a 3ft tree, some real lights that do not burn up as soon as they are plugged in and some decorations................ Only problem is I have only put 1 strand of lights (which is clearly not enough) and 2 ornaments on.  It is need of some help!

Can you see the one ornament that is on it!?!?!

Shopping! Who doesnt love shopping during Christmas.  The sales here are nothing compared but still I want to shop!  Plus, I need new dress pants for school.  Not having a dryer means I cant shrink my pants.  MAJOR problem.  Plus I have been losing weight - yippeeeeeee! - but again means problems with the pants!  ugh.  I will figure something out eventually.  

RAK - I LOVE this.  Random acts of kindness are my favorite things.  This week I have been planning on writing some notes of encouragement to my friends and family. I would love to include some goodies.  

Props Farley for this section.  I can not wait to see what others are planning on doing!

This week I am planning on starting a contest with my class.  We have two doors to our room. The boys get and the girls get the other.  Their goal is to create the best Christmas tree they can out of paper and other available materials.  We will also be discussing shapes during this time so we can try to include as many of our shapes as possible!  Then, the school is going to vote for the best one.  In order to vote, each person has to list an adjective describing the tree.  The girls especially seemed very into this but I think the guys will come around to it.  It will also be good bonding for my class.... because they NEED some mega bonding time!

What fun Christmas/holiday ideas are you doing in your classroom?? What crafts are you doing?