Fun News + Easy Snowman Craft!

Happy Holidays!! I've started to get into the holiday spirit. Perhaps it's the flash mob dance my school staff practiced today to surprise the kids at our holiday assembly later this month. My dancing abilities are severely limited, but it was fun none the less!

Time for some exciting news!!

I found out my former student, as you have come to know as "Genius Boy," is now working with MICHELLE GARCIA WINNER!!! She is my special ed idol and my kiddo gets to work with her!  He is so lucky!! If anyone can help him, it's her!

For those of you who haven't been long time followers, I'll catch you up... Genius Boy is by far the most brilliant child I've ever met, let alone taught!! The struggle was his autism spectrum disorder caused a HUGE discrepancy between his social and academic skills. Super high in one, and super low in another. His brain mesmerized me every single day. It was fun to see what kind of things I could do with him. He also gave me the opportunity to test every single behavioral strategy I'd ever heard of...and then some! I couldn't be more happy for him! I love the family so much that I still see them despite changing schools. Yay!

CRAFT TIME!!

Our art teacher is no longer on staff (long story!) and there isn't a replacement just yet. I volunteered to be the art teacher for our classroom in the mean time. This has actually been a really fun little gig. All those art projects I tend to decide aren't "educational" enough can now be done freely! 

My school is anti-holidays. It's torture for me! In the past I was allowed to teach all the holidays for one week each. We did both Hannukah and Christmas crafts so all was fair. This school the word "Christmas" is like a curse word. I get it, we have several Jewish kids, but boy does it ruin my holiday crafts I've done for years!! Time for gingerbread and snowmen! I had to get a little creative to come up with a craft that was non-denominational and also easy to do, with easily ready supplies. Also we are supposed to decorate our doors. I created a "snowman snow globe" craft that we can tape to our door.

SNOWMAN SNOW GLOBE HOW-TO

Supplies (all found at Target)

• Cotton balls
• Fine white glitter
• Colored paper plates (helps the "snow" show better)
• Decorations (Target Dollar Spot)
• Plastic Wrap
• Liquid Glue (Elmers)

1. Spread glue on the bottom section of the paper plate.
2. Pull apart 2 cotton balls to make them more thin and "snowy," then place them on the glue
3. Glue/stick on the candy cane and snowman decorations. If you cannot find these, kids can draw or paint them on. Another option would be to make them of paper separately and then put them on.
4. Put small glue dots around the top to make it it look like flakes of snow.
5. Sprinkle fine white glitter over the whole plate. It sticks heavily on the glue dots, but it all sticks lightly on the cotton and plate which makes it extra pretty!
6. Let dry, then cover the whole plate with plastic wrap to make the "snow globe" effect. The bigger the piece, the easier it is to get the plastic to stay on. Taping it down works well too.