Can't Wait for January!

I have missed all of my blogging friends this month! I can't believe this is my first post of December....I will definitely make it a New Year's resolution to blog more in 2012! I am ready to be done with December and move on to January! I love how kinders come back from the holiday break magically able to do so much more than they could the first few months of the year. I am ready to see their reading and writing really take off now that we are into a solid routine and have a lot of basic skills under control. I also absolutely love the themes we study in January. I'm getting planned for winter animals, Martin Luther King, Chinese New Year, and the 100th Day of School (has it really been almost 100 days?!).

So, what have I been up to this month...since I clearly haven't been blogging? Holiday craziness! Even though our last day of school was December 16-those first 16 days of the month were crazy! All my students could think of was the upcoming holiday and all I could think of was end of the quarter assessments and report card writing! So glad to have that behind me! Writing papers for my grad school classes just made that first part of December all the more hectic-so I was more than ready for the break to start on December 17! And then the first day of break I woke up with the flu...just absolutely a terrible way to spend the first part of winter break! Luckily, my break has drastically improved and I am gotten to spend plenty of quality time visiting family in Chicago where there are tons of fun things to do.

I have also been getting very crafty over the winter break....I blame Pinterest. I have been pinning craft projects and school projects like crazy. A few weeks ago I pinned the most darling yarn wreaths with little felt flowers....and then I attempted to make them.

My attempts actually went fairly well, and I made these three wreaths. My sisters share my owl obsession, so I had to attach little owls to their wreaths (the owl free wreath was for my mom). If you ever decide to try making your own felt flowers or yarn wreaths, there is an awesome set of directions on this website. 

I also made these little button trees. It was definitely time consuming pinning each individual button on, but I love how they turned out! I hope you all have had a restful winter break. I am a bit in denial that it's almost time to head back to school. I guess I better enjoy these last 3 days off!