Elf on the Shelf

This was my second year to use an Elf on the Shelf in the classroom. It is great to help tame the kiddos who are getting so anxious for Christmas and all the holiday festivities in December.

I have seen many teachers who "request" an elf from Santa and have it "sent" to them. I like to have my elf just show up one day with his book and act like I am learning about him at the same time my students are.

The first day he showed up in our tree along with his book. We read all about him and the rules that go along with him. One of the rules is that you have to name him... so we finally settled on "Prince". We had some interesting names to choose from...

The second day Prince found a new spot on the pumpkin we had in our room from one of our field trips. One of the kiddos "accidentally" knocked him over. Oh. My. the DRAMA that comes with touching the elf! He stayed knocked over because no ones is supposed to touch him. When we left for lunch, the secretary put him back on the pumpkin where he was before. The look on the children's faces when they saw that he had moved was probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. They were so glad he did not lose his magic. =)

We watched An Elf's Story to help reinforce the idea that we do NOT touch the elf. It totally worked. Definitely a must have if you use the elf in your classroom.

Here is some more of the mischief our little elf got into...

 Toward the end of his trip, he brought a friend from the North Pole to visit our room!

(These letters to Santa are from Macy's.)

Some days it can be SO hard to think of an idea for the elf, especially on those crazy days. How do you use Elf on the Shelf in your classroom? Click here to see my other Elf on the Shelf posts.

Christmas Fun and Freebies!

This month has been full of fun and craziness! I love December and all things Christmas, but phew! It is exhausting with a class full of five year olds!

Somehow we have managed to accomplish some learning mixed in with all the excitement, elf on the shelf, gift making, and preparing for the Christmas Program.

We made this fabulous elf craftivity where the students wrote about what they would do if they were elves. 99% of them would "watch kids and fly to santa to tell him who was bad". No surprise there. =)

You can get this free elf craft here. I made my own writing sheet to go along with it that you can download here.

I used this multicultural construction paper so that the kiddos' elves would look more like them. They loved it!

We worked hard with this poem last week. My class loves working with poems and I love it because they don't even know they are learning!

Each week, we add our new poem to our poetry notebook and do an activity that goes along with it. This week they were hunting for sight words. This poem would also be great for senses or rhyming words. On Fridays, the students take their poetry notebooks home to read their new poem to their family.

You can grab a copy of this poem here. (Disclaimer: I did NOT write this poem. I am not that talented.)

Have a great week and try to stay sane until break!

Elf on the Shelf 2

I got very a little behind on posting my Elf on the Shelf pictures. Mr. L was very busy throughout the month of December (and so was I!). It can be hard to come up with a fun/cute idea every. single. day. Here are some pictures to give you some ideas (and maaaaaybe also so I remember my better ideas for the future...). If you do not have an Elf on the Shelf, I DEFINITELY suggest getting one (if your school allows you to have one). Not only do the kiddos love seeing where he has moved each day, it does wonders for their behavior. I mean, who wants to upset Santa's helper?

Mr. L riding on his reindeer friend.

Mr. L made a Christmas countdown chain just like the one we made as a class.

If you have not seen this website, it is amazing! There is a live feed of "Santa's reindeer". Santa comes out to feed the reindeer at certain times throughout the day. Check out www.reindeercam.com to see the times. My kids were so excited and surprised when they saw Santa. It also really helped them believe than him and Mr. L are friends.

Mr. L with the kiddos' Christmas gifts.

Mr. L brought us letters to write to Santa. (Thank you Macy's.)

Mr. L playing games with his friends.

My kids loved to make pictures and cards for Mr. L. This kiddo wrote ELEVEN cards that all said exactly the same thing ("Mr. L this your book").  How stinkin' cute!

Of course, Mr. L wrote a tiny thank you note to each student that made him a gift.

Mr. L was feeling a little under the weather.

On the last day before break, we caught Mr. L emailing Santa 

and telling him what a great time he had in our class.

Want an elf for yourself? Click the picture below!

Do you have any good Elf on the Shelf ideas/experiences?

Elf on the Shelf

Day One

We started Elf on the Shelf in my classroom on Monday. The kiddos are LOVING it! They are so excited to see where he will be each morning. Not to mention, it doesn't hurt to have "Santa's Helper" watching over them. ;)

The first day our Elf showed up with our Christmas Tree and his book. (If it is your first time to do Elf on the Shelf, like me, I really suggest getting the book! It explains the story and rules that go along with the elf.)

(Please ignore my pile of testing folders in front of  the tree...)

I introduced our elf by reading his book and talking about his rules. Then we voted on a name. My kinders voted for "Mr. L". I couldn't tell you why they picked that but hey, they love it! (and no... it was not supposed to be "Mr. Elf", that was also a choice) Towards the end of the day, our tree fell over on Mr. L. The children were SO concerned about if he was okay. It was so cute/hilarious that I had to try hard not to laugh. 

Day Two

Mr. L showed up with a cast on Tuesday because of his little incident with the Christmas Tree the day before. He was waaaayy up on the projector. Silly little Elf =)

Day Three

Today Mr. L got up on top of our board! I guess he wanted to make sure we remembered his name...