I'm Gonna Try This Again...

Ok, so I need my kids here with me at work to show me how to put that Advent Conspiracy video clip on my blog!!! Here is a link to the video in case you couldn't open it in my last post :-) I do know how to do that.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Here are a couple of items I wanted to pass along.

First of all, I know some people love to shop on the day after Thanksgiving. Personally, there are a lot of things I would rather do than face a crowd of mad consumers. I may be persuaded to pick up a couple of things we really need, but I don't really want to get sucked into buying stuff just because it's on sale. Maybe I could look at the experience as an adventure in spreading cheer to grumpy shoppers. That could be fun :-) If you're more into staying home and shopping online, I got an email from www.currclick.com about their Black Friday giveaway. They will have some of their downloadable home school materials free on Friday only. So, I am planning on checking it out and thought some of you might want to as well.

Secondly, I thought I'd share a video clip from an organization called, Advent Conspiracy. My niece shared this with me and I thought some of you might appreciate it. They are all about spending less at Christmas, but giving more and worshiping more.



So, in light of that, I am going to be spending some of my time with your children in December doing some crafts that they could give to others as gifts. We will be wrapping up our fairy tale unit by writing some fractured fairy tales and may read a couple of Christmasey tales like The Elves and the Shoemaker, or The Little Match Girl. The rest of our time we will be making things! If you have any cute ideas or craft supplies to donate, let me know. When we resume in January we will be studying medieval times!

For Brown Bag, I will be reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson the first two Thursdays in December. I would like to take the last Brown Bag day (December 17) to do something like visit the nursing home or hospital caroling with the kids. If you have any other service oriented ideas, please pass them along!

Enjoy your families this weekend!

Operation Christmas Child

First of all, for those of you wondering if I am still planning of showing Cinderella tomorrow (Thursday Nov. 5) the answer is YES!!! My fever broke last night, so I will be officially fever free for over 24 hours by tomorrow morning. So, Cinderella, my room, 10:00 am!!

Secondly, I am so excited to be able to do another Operation Christmas Child event with the children. We have been doing this for 4 years now and I have even had children asking when we are going to do it. I love to see children who are thinking more of others than themselves :-) You are doing something right at home!

So, NEXT Thursday (Nov. 12) at 11:00 we will pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child. If you are new to this, please check out the link. I also have some brochures in my classroom you can look at. OCC is a ministry of Samaritan's Purse, which provides Christmas gifts to children all over the world who would not otherwise receive any gifts. Items are placed in a shoebox and collected at drop off centers around the US. You may either pack a shoebox as a family and bring it next Thursday, or you may donate items to be sent in boxes we will send as a group. Choose gifts for either a boy or a girl age 2-4. 5-9 or 10-14.

Some suggestions for gifts include; school supplies, small toys, hygiene items, hard candy, t-shirts, socks, ball caps, sunglasses, hair accessories etc. If you include something that needs batteries, please include extras. Do not send used or damaged items, war related toys such as guns or military figures. Also, no chocolate or other food, liquids, vitamins or breakable items.

Lastly, we will need to send $7 with each box to cover shipping, so if you feel led to help out with that, feel free. :-)

We will watch a short video clip about Operation Christmas Child before we pack the boxes. I will take photos of the children to send in the boxes and will give them the opportunity to write a short letter to the child who receives their box.

I look forward to doing this and as always, thanks for sharing your children with me!