New Life Ahead, Very Merry Centers and a Freebie!

It has been a hot mess express in the Johnson household!  My husband got a promotion, we put our house up for sale, and it sold in FOUR DAYS.  FOUR.  DAYS.  When Scott applied for this job, we kind of had the attitude that it was in God's hands and whatever happens, happens.  It has been a whirlwind!  He got the promotion, and we are moving to Annapolis, Maryland!  AGGHHH!!!  And since we've had the attitude of "it's in God's hands," literally everything has fallen into place.

We took a trip about three weeks ago to go house hunting and we stopped in D.C. to visit Arlington National Cemetery.  I'm a HUGE history buff and this is one place in D.C. that I haven't yet visited.  I loved it.

 The views were breathtaking.

 And I got to witness the Changing of the Guard.  It was amazing.

Unfortunately I have to leave my first grade babies in the middle of the year, which is devastating.  In addition, I don't have a job in Maryland.  If I can't teach, I don't know what I'll do with myself.  My whole reason for getting up in the morning is for my job.  I'm just hoping and praying that will all fall into place too.

So on a more positive note - VERY MERRY CENTERS!

I needed some little bags to hold my books on CD and TJ Maxx had these little bad boys for three bucks a piece!

So stankin cute, right?

I've also finished my Work on Writing for December and was able to get that set up for my students to use.

I like to keep a couple of laminated rubrics handy for them to use during writing.

The word cards I got a couple of years ago from Kristen Smith at A Day in First Grade.  You can get them HERE.  The clips and ribbon came from Michaels.  

I also added some new Sight Word Work mats.

I put the words in a cute little Christmas bucket and now the center is new and interesting again.  Viola!

I also started pulling activities from my Very Merry Phonics pack.

The cookies for Santa are a favorite.  I like to put the cookies in a little bowl and I give them spoons to stir it with.  It always makes it more fun!

I had some fall "Mystery Critters" where my students had to read a short passage and make inferences as to what the mystery critter was.  Then they had to draw what they visualized and write the clues.  Some of them liked it so much they asked me to make more.  So I made some for the Holidays!

Its really interesting to look at their illustrations and see that each child has a different vision.  If you would like to use these in your classroom, you can get them HERE.