SoCal Wonderland Blog Hop and Giveaway

I am so excited to be a part of this blog hop with a group of amazing SoCal bloggers.  We thought it would be fun to share with you all a little bit of what we do in SoCal during the winter.

First of all…a SoCal version of winter is very different than other parts of the country. For one,  it doesn't snow. You could still go down to the beach and enjoy a nice day. On Christmas Day, for example, my husband wore shorts and flip flops because it was so warm.  

Secondly, what we think is cold is probably not cold for others. In my opinion, these last few days have finally started to get cold… around 40 degrees at night and 50 degrees during the day. For a SoCal gal like me… that is cold. I am ready to wear Uggs and scarves! Please don't laugh!

In Decmeber, one tradition that my husband and I have is to go up to one of the local mountains called Lake Arrowhead with his family.  It's a big group and we all stay in a huge cabin. We ban cell phones and tv. The family, even the men, take turns cooking meals and we get to all lounge and relax. We pass the time mostly playing games with the kids. My nieces and nephews can play a mean game of chess!  

This is the only picture we took while there! It's at Lake Arrowhead Village. As you can see even in the mountains there wasn't any snow. 

You can't tell but the hubby is in shorts and flip flops here too. Me? I took advantage of the cool weather to wear my scarf.

Being the first of the year, is a great time to think about what you want to do in the coming year. In 2015 I want to focus on writing more with the students at my school. As an instructional coach, I get to work with different grade levels. The one thing all grade levels have in common is the rigor of writing expectations. Our students need to be able to explain their thinking whether they are close reading, stating their opinion or or solving a math problem.

This freebie is a banner template where your students can write one resolution for the coming year.  If you tie up all the banners, you'll have a long banner ready for classroom decor.

This freebie is part of a larger product that will get your students writing the reflections for 2014 and resolutions for 2015. It all seems so sophisticated but I've included vocabulary cards  that help you add to what they know about reflecting and goal setting.

These are just 2 examples of the brainstorming sheets that I've provided. The reflections are kid friendly and relevant to what their year might have been.  The resolutions are also kid friendly and simple goals that a students might make.

The unit also comes with writing paper for the students to write and the chance to make a their own New Years hat!

Who doesn't love that?!  Here is a sample that I made.

On each side of the hat the students will get to write one reflection and one resolution.

I suggested using sentence strips for the band that goes around their head. Make sure when you staple the headband that you staple from the inside out. That way, students won't get stabbed with the staple. (I learned that the hard way.)

Make sure to check out my New Year Writing unit.  The best part is that I will update this every year! Buy it this year and use it every year after.

(Click on the image to see it in my store.)

To add to the excitement of this blog hop we are giving away one $60 gift certificate to Teachers Pay Teachers and one $60 to Target! Two prizes means two chances to win!  Make sure to enter the giveaway in the rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway





Are you ready for some more SoCal Wonderland… head on over to Sandy of Soaring through Second! Just click on her blog's button to hop over to her blog!