Share the Wealth 'Give Thanks for Freebies" Linky Party!

Fall Greetings My Friends!
Time has flown by- next Friday my school year 1/3 over already!
WHAT?!?!? I hope your year is going well!

My dad posted this picture on Facebook:

It made me laugh. This is SO very true. It made me really want to host a Thanksgiving/Fall themed FREEBIE LINKY party! So, here we are, enjoying some great FREE resources. WAHOO!

However, I wanted to share a couple Holiday resources that you may want on your planning radar now!
One is my ever popular Christmas Dodecahedron Project:

This project has your kiddos reading, writing, using their math skills, not to mention art and direction following practice! You will want to start EARLY in the month so they can be enjoyed before sending them home as a holiday decoration/gift for each student's family.

If that look like TOO much- you can try the Mini-Dodecahedron Ornament Project:

There are still the 12 sides, but the projects are much shorter. a perfect project for the busy teacher.
AND, if your school doesn't celebrate the holidays, you can use this holiday-"less" Traditions Around the World Dodecahedron Project:

This projects has students working in small groups to compare and contrast traditions for various cultures around the world. If you just can't wait for December to get started on a dodecahedron project, check out my wildly popular Thanksgiving Edition!

If you aren't into Dodecahedrons (and even if you are), check out these engaging Mystery Picture activities based on words (lower grades) or parts of speech (upper grades):

       

Don't forget to add all these great holiday learning opportunities to your wishlist!

So, now that I have tempted you with all these hands-on holiday activities, let's get started with the Thanksgiving/Fall Themed FREEBIE Linky! Enjoy these amazing resources from teacher-authors, and be sure to leave feedback on any that you find useful/use in your classroom. WAHOO!
Have a great weekend-
Mr. Hughes

Get the Goods! WAHOO!

Hey My Friends!

I hope you are well. It is has been a while. I have had some crazy things going on in my life but I think I am starting to get things back under control.

So... what has Created by MrHughes been up to???

Well, my oldest son (who is currently 13) told me he needed to start saving money for a mission and for college! He asked me for some ideas. He is a pretty good artist, so I suggested that he start making clipart. Of course I was mostly kidding. Well.... HE WASN'T!

He is addicted to his drawing. When he isn't at school, practicing his piano, or at basketball practice, he is drawing and getting after me for NOT getting his clip art uploaded!

Here are his current sets (he has 3 more waiting for me to edit and get uploaded).

Here is his FREEBIE set. I LOVE how they turned out. Click on the picture to get the FREEBIE!

This is his first paid set. I LOVE how he was able to get such great shading and detail into each piece. I also really like the sketchy feel of the pieces. Click the picture to check out this PAID set!

This set was just added last night. It is fantastic. I LOVE IT! Thankfully I get to use them for free... ha ha. He wanted to have more than just a regular bulb. So, he made an "ON" bulb and an "OFF" bulb of each color. He also loves to include a "bonus" image in each set. Sometimes he wants you to see what it will be, and sometimes he likes it to be a surprise. This set you can see the bonus image- it is a frame that has plugs on the ends. LOVE THIS KID!

Okay, okay, enough bragging about my son. Let me tell you about one amazing giveaway that is going on for the next few days! CHECK IT OUT! Oh, and enter it too!

Cheers-

Mr. Hughes

Who doesn't love a giveaway? Well, Krystal from Lessons From The Middle and Kate from Kate's Classroom Cafe have teamed up to create giveaway just for middle school teachers, as a little thank you for all you do! I'm excited to be apart of this middle school giveaway and there are lots of fantastic prizes to be won! Let's get to it!

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Creative Writing Is For the Birds (Turkeys..that is!)

Being the writing teacher for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students has many challenges all on its own, but add in holiday break fever, and you have a REAL challenge. I knew I had to try something new this year to keep my students interested in writing. Hence, my Turkey Pick-A-Story came into existence. I love how it turned out. I had purchased some fun clip art that had the feathers and the body of several different turkeys and I knew what I wanted to do. 

I added some fun characters to the body pieces and some silly settings to the feather pieces.

To play, I laminated the sheets and had my amazing wife cut out around each piece. Then, when I got to school, I placed the bodies in one plastic deli container and the feathers in another. (I love these little deli containers. They are so useful for everything from crayons to art projects.) The students then drew one piece from each container and then, giggling to themselves (and sometimes moaning), the set to work writing their stories!

I must say, I had some VERY amazing and some pretty crazy stories created. The classes all enjoyed sharing and laughing at the creations each student had made. I even hung the best examples for the other students in the school to see. I must say, that this is ONE activity that I plan to do every year.

Cheers!
MrHughes :0)

P.S. You can get your FREE copy of this activity by clicking on the picture below, or by clicking HERE. Enjoy!

May the Force be Thankful...

Each month I try to do a bulletin board that reflects the season. I love doing the fall leaves. The students color them to their taste and then write what they are thankful for on them. This year several of the students got very creative and made the words look like part of the veins in the leaf. In fact, if you enlarge the photos you can see some of them.

P.S. Thanks my dear wife for making the background and tree, they look wonderful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Later...

Fall

Thanksgiving.

Gratitude.

Pondering on our blessings.

Looking beyond ourselves.

What a wonderful time of year this is. A time that is filled with crisp mornings, warm blankets, hot chocolate, and homemade toast.

A time of crunching leaves, gusty winds, scarves, hats, mittens, and thoughts of a tasty bird with all the trimmings gathered 'round.

Family, friends, smiles, hugs, and well wishes.

Laughter, pumpkin pie, and lazy naps.

These are the things that bring a smile to my face and memories to my heart.

Later...

What Is Next?

Today was Thanksgiving. What a great day. I love that I have one day given to me that causes me to reflect on all the many things I have to be thankful for. Like electricity!
     We awoke this morning at 7am to find that we had none! I feel bad for all the people who were cooking turkeys at that time (like my mom- she ran it down to my brother and he put it in his camp trailer oven!). The power was out for almost 2 hours! I wish they would not have ever put in that stupid new substation- I think we have had more power outages in the last 6 months that we have in the past 6 years. (Probably really NOT, but it feels like it!). I am a little touchy about it as the power went out yesterday as well and they sent all the students home an hour early! I had a lot I wanted to do and all I got was to babysit a bunch of kids while they waited for their parents. Oh well.

I am also thankful for family!
    Today my little one year old was playing outside. He went in to my shed and was trying to get one of the gardening tools out of the holder and jabbed himself in the cheek. He was bleeding everywhere. We called my sister-in-law (the same one who has saved our butt SO MANY TIMES- like mine about a month ago!) and she came right over. She told us he really ought to have stitches, but our only option was to go to Price to the ER and since I got my bills yesterday and saw what the cost is on this insurance, it is so NOT worth it! I don't have $900 to pay for a few stitches. So my sister-in-law was so helpful and used a lot of her medical kit to patch him up. She even stopped by after the dinner with her family to change the bandage and check on him. Thank so much my brother and wife! :)

I am thankful for my continued learning (even if I make it sound like I hate it most of the time!).
     I went to the High School basketball games last night. Two of my sisters were here and it was nice to visit and have fun. I was earning Intern Hours my patrolling the mezzanine for rouge children playing. I only had to get after a few kids a couple of times. The games were very intense to say the least! Nail-biters! All 5 of the ones that I watched! I got about 6 hours on interning in. So yea for that. I only have around 40 hours in internship left. The only major hurdle that I have left is really my praxis test. I need to take the practice writing section this weekend. Phew. I took the multiple choice practice test and bombed that- so I hope that I can make it past the writing section. We shall see.

I am thankful to be a dad.
     I have had a blast today with my babies (well, except for the part where my baby hurt his face). We decorated for Christmas both inside and out. The kids have been so fun. My two oldest are at a stage where they really want to help. Not to mention they have lots of "ideas" about how we should do things now. What a great experience.

I am thankful for an amazing wife!
     Where would I be without my better half? She is totally amazing I love her so much. She sure does know how to make the house function. Laundry, cooking, kids- and then a stressful man like me! She really does deserve the gold medal! I love you babe!

I am thankful for good parents.
     My parents are amazing people. They definitely take good care of their children. Today we gathered at the elementary school (my whole family was there except my oldest sister). We ate, relaxed, and visited. It was really nice. My brother-in-law even ordered two toner cartridges for me! YEA! Well...okay. Yea that it was ordered, not yea for the cost of it- but it should last for a couple of years and I can't really complain about that. Our meal was sure good. All the kids ate and played basketball, ate more, played more. I was a very happy time!

I am thankful to live in a free country!
    I am grateful for this land of liberty. More so, I am thankful for those that risk their lived everyday so that I CAN live in a free country. What a blessing it is to live here. I try to teach my students that they should be thankful and work hard because of the chances they are given here! It is frustrating to watch kids being disrespectful during the pledge of allegiance, etc. I try to express to them how lucky they are and share that my brother has also risked HIS life so they could sit in my classroom and learn. That usually helps straighten them up a little. I just think they are so far removed from the real "cost" that they completely take everything for granted.

Well, I think that this is long enough post for now. I am sitting here waiting for all the Black Friday Ads to go live on-line. It will be a lean Christmas, but it will also be a good one. Happy Thanksgiving!

Later...

A Weekend for Giving Thanks

This weekend was been a whirlwind blur of activity. It started on Friday with meeting to write a paper (or at least get it started). A frustrating part of this whole experience has been that the teacher has been very wishy-washy about what is required for the project which has made it very difficult to meet her expectations. But that is okay.
Saturday brought my little sister from Salt Lake, one of my older sisters from Emery County (the "other" side of the county), and my older brother who lives here, together at my parents for an early Thanksgiving dinner (as everyone is busy on the actual weekend). It was a nice dinner (no turkey- thank heavens!) and it was nice to visit with everyone. It was crowded at my mom's house, but I guess being cozy isn't a bad thing. Just lots of noise and kids (and sports on TV which I am so NOT into at all!). In the late afternoon I was able to go and help my friend work on his Motel. He was replacing/strengthening some floor joists. He let me run the power tools (crazy man) and I only destroyed the plumbing (which he said he was replacing anyways- but I still think he was just being nice). Then, that evening I got a phone call from the a member of the Stake Presidency asking if he could stop by later that night. That could only mean one thing- NEW CALLING in the ward. He came and yes, I have a new calling. Can't share it yet as it has NOT been announced, but it will be good.
After church today we had my parents and my little sister and family over for "linner" (lunch and dinner). My wife made breakfast pizza with county gravy for dipping it in. T-A-S-T-Y! Then my little sis and I sang for a while before they had to head home to SLC. That was nice. I haven't really sang anything (except for the Veteran's Day thingy) for quite some time. I really enjoyed that time.
This evening we decided to play games as a family after getting everyone ready for bed. We settled on Go Fish! after some debate (UNO among others was a choice). We were playing with some way generic cards that only had fish on them and numbers. As we were playing, my little Z leaned over and said, "Pause! Everyone close your eyes except dad. Dad, what number is this?" We all laughed and laughed. What a great way to end the evening, playing a game. We plan to play more after FHE tomorrow night (of course, after school I have a teacher's book club, planning, and a meeting with the other teacher in the Master's Program to get the agenda for faculty meeting ready.
Tomorrow will be a great day. I am loving teaching again. I am not sure where the change came from (maybe I just decided this is my calling as a career and to buck up). By no means does this mean I won't be having more bad days and whining again, but I think that teaching will be the choice to stick with- now living here for the rest of my career, that's a whole other decision that needs to be faced and soon). I really don't think I want my children going to the high school here in its current state.I won't say much more as it isn't professional to do so, but it gives me food for thought nearly daily.
Well, since I have been staying up WAY TO LATE the last two nights (2am), it is time to head to bed and get some good rest. I hope everyone out there in Blog Land is well- PAUSE- I just realized that I forgot to mention one of the top events of the weekend. Houston, we have a brand new printer HP Color LaserJet. I was going to make my wife wait, but the box came trashed and the printer was upside down. I didn't think it would be worth waiting and besides, we really needed to have a way to print. So YAHOO! We can print again (duplex even)!!
Have a great week!

Later...

Thanksgiving Greetings!

Give Thanks! That's the theme that is hanging around in the air these days. Okay, maybe that has to do with the fact that it is November, and Thanksgiving is Thursday. But see, my family already had Thanksgiving dinner. Sunday we all got together and ate dinner. All my sisters and my brother was there. In fact, the only people missing were my oldest sister husband and her step-son. It was a great meal (kudos to my little sister for putting it all together).

I am glad that it is a short week at school. Not because I want a break from my students, but because I have so many things that I have got to get done. I am sure the kids will enjoy the break as well, but I love what I do. I have such a great class this year, and we are growing and learning and have a blast! Go Bears!!!!

Well, I better head to bed. I have faculty meeting at 7:15am! Yuck! I am SO not a morning person. Thanks for reading (Welcome Amanda- it was great to find your family again!)

Later...