12 Days of Fun (and a tiny bit of learning!)

My first blog post from my new computer!  The old laptop C-R-A-S-H-E-D so I had to get this new guy.  Merry Christmas to me!  You forget how much you rely on technology until it leaves you stranded.  I'm just glad my files weren't lost.  Phew!

Can you believe Christmas is already here?  It seems like school just started for the year.  Hard to believe it's almost halfway over.  If you're like me, once Thanksgiving is over it's just a mad rush to January.  There are so many fun books and writing activities and math games.  I need an extra hour each day just to fit the Christmas stuff in!  One thing my grade-level team has done for many years is the 12 Days of Christmas.

The kids are all given a booklet like this one:

There's a page for each of the 12 days.  The idea is to give a little number sense refresher everyday.  You can download it here. (I'm giving Googledocs another try.  Let me know if it works.  Fingers crossed!!)

Here's a breakdown of each different box.  I'll use the 3rd day as an example.

1. Write the number word. [three]
2. odd or even?  [odd]
3. Write an addition equation and two subtraction equations that all equal the day's  number. [2+1=3, 10-7=3, 100-97=3]
4.  Draw the hour hand on the clock. [3 o'clock]
5.  Draw tally marks. [ III --how do you make tally marks in this font???]
6. How many more days until the 12th day of Christmas? [9]
7. Draw a coin combination. [3 pennies]
8. Write a story problem where the answer is the day's number.  [I had 8 pencils.  I gave some to my friend.  Now I have 5.  How many pencils did I give to my friend?  3]

Nothing too terribly difficult, but it's a good little practice.

What you can't tell from this photo is at the top of the page is a prompt, "On the ____ day of Christmas my teacher gave to me ___________."

When my team first started doing this, we actually gave them something everyday!  1 pencil, 2 erasers...11 M&Ms, 12 pieces of popcorn.

It got tricky to manage and pricey.  One year I had a boy with diabetes so we switched to non food items (12 minutes of recess).  But I slowly started adding in different things.  Now I have 12 printable activities that we do.  And I'll be sharing one of those activities each day for the next 12 days.  So check back tomorrow for the 1st Day of Christmas!

ETA: How to make the booklet!  It's pretty straightforward, but in case you're curious here's the how-to.  For each booklet you need a paper for the cover and 3 white sheets.  Print the cover out.  Print the number of the day page on the front and back of each white sheet.  That'll give you 12 days worth.  Fold in half and staple.  Voila!