Take Me Back Tuesday {A Weekly Linky}

Happy {early} Thanksgiving! I have so much to be thankful for...including the fact that I am currently spending my Thanksgiving Holiday in the Bahamas! :) Since the beach is calling my name, I am going to be short and sweet today. It's time for another Take Me Back Tuesday! Don't forget, if you want to link up, you can join the party below. 

If you are a teacher that will spend some time during Thanksgiving Holiday planning for Christmas, this post is just for you...AND...since we have had a little rain on our cruise, I have been able to put the finishing touches on two new units that will include some of the projects below! They will be loaded to my TPT shop tonight...if my internet service works. ;) So excited to share these with you! 

Now let me take you back to....

************************************Originally Posted: 12.20.12**************************************


We are almost there! We have never continued this late into the year, and I am so ready for a break! I see lots of hot chocolate and Christmas movies in my near future...like tomorrow night! :)  Here is what has kept our little minds busy for the past two days. 

Yesterday was Polar Express Day. I wondered how that would go over in third grade. I honestly think they were even more thrilled about it this year than in the past. I am pretty sure that they love the holidays as much as their teacher! I have created monsters! :) 

After our trip on the Polar Express, we turned out tickets into Christmas ornaments so that they can always remember this tradition that we started way back when in first grade! We were all a little sad that this will be our last year following this tradition. Oh how I will miss these sweet loves next year! 

After we enjoyed hot chocolate while watching a reading of The Polar Express on Storyline Online, we used one of our favorite treats to help us work on our content. The students began by writing a "tell me" description of hot chocolate. As we read these to our partners, the students really saw how weak their content was without strong adjectives, verbs, and a variety of sentence structures. Next, they turned their "tell me" into a "show me" writing. They were way more pleased with their second writing. Then, we made this way too cute craft thanks to Teri at A Cupcake for the Teacher. Check her craft out {HERE}.

Today, we worked once again on building and strengthening our persuasive writing. Okay...have y'all heard "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas"? Probably one of the cutest songs ever. We *may* have listened to it 4 or 5 times today. Seriously...cute! After we listened to the song (which includes great persuasive language), the kiddos wrote an essay to persuade their mom/dad to give them their very own hippo for Christmas. We finished with a little craft! 

These just makes me laugh! 

This week, we have been learning about the Gullah culture in our South Carolina History Unit. A craft that is very unique to this culture is the weaving of sweet grass baskets. This year, rather than creating gingerbread houses, we created gingerbread sweet grass baskets. Then, we filled them with peach rings to represent the peaches from our great state. 

I love how these turned out! 

Now...it's party time! 

Friday, I thought you would never arrive! TGIF!!! 

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I hope y'all have an amazing Thanksgiving Break! Be sure and take us back to one of your favorite posts below. I will *hopefully* be back with some previews of my new units tomorrow...internet willing! :)