Sunday, December 9, 2012

Elf On A Shelf

I started ELF ON A SHELF for the first time in my room this year. 
I saw so many adorable ideas in Pinterest, so I am doing it at school and at home with my daughter!
I know you are supposed to start in November, but we started the second week in December.
Better late than never.
Our Elf left reports from Santa each day.
You can download them for FREE HERE.

I have pictures of my class elf and of my Kindergarten partner's class. I think her elf is a little cuter and her camera takes way better pictures! 

Day 14:
Day 14 was our last day with Elfie! We found him riding on our Express Train! He left us tickets to ride the Polar Express, bells, popcorn, hot cocoa, gingerbread marshmallows and the movie,
The Polar Express. That day, we had a pajama party and watched this special movie!!!





Day 13:
On day 13, Elfie had fun playing with all the cool technology in our class. He was playing games on the i-pod and reading stories with the Tag Reader and CD player.
He left us the book and CD "The Gingerbread Man Loose at School".





Day 12:
On Day 12, our Gingerbread man was ON THE LOOSE AT SCHOOL and he toilet papered poor Elfie when he was trying to catch him. The Gingerbread Man was just too fast!

Oh no! I can't find my picture!


Day 11:
On Day 11, Santa was "puzzled" by the kids behavior, which made Elfie want to put some puzzles together in our class. He left us the book, "Gingerbread Kids".





Day 10:
On day 10, Elfie was hanging from the ceiling with linker chains. He said he loves being crafty and made a countdown to Christmas chain. He left us the materials so we could make our own chains. Elfie left us the book, "How Santa Lost His Job".



Day 9:
On day 9, Elfie left a report that the kiddos were a little "naughty". This upset our stuffed animal friends and they tied Elfie up and told him to go home. Poor Elfie. He left the book, "Pete the Cat Saves Christmas".


Day 8:
On day 8, our poor little Elfie got sick. We found him in a tissue box covered with tissues, Band-Aids, a cup of hot tea, lotion and hand sanitizer. He left us the book, "How Santa Got His Job."



Day 7:
On day 7, Elfie wanted to practice zipping around in a sleigh like Santa, so he made his own ZIP LINE in our classroom. He left the book, "Moosletoe".



Day 6:
On day 6, Elfie was very thirsty for a sweet drink and we found him DRINKING SYRUP FROM A STRAW. He left us the book, "There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed a Bell."



Day 5:
On day 5, Elfie had STORY HOUR with the friends in our class. He also left a giant picture of an elf. Santa reported that we need to write as many adjectives about our elf on the shelf. Elfie left the book, "Santa's New Suit."





Day 4: 
On day 4, Elfie fell in some snow on his way back from the North Pole and got dirty. He needed to take a MARSHMALLOW BATH in the sink! On day 4, we were doing a ton of reindeer activities, so Elfie left the book, "Who Will Fly The Sleigh?"



Day 3:
On day 3, Elfie was trying to go ARCTIC FISHING in the bathroom. For the fishing pole, I used a candy cane, yarn and a ring for a hook.  I put colorful goldfish in the toilet and blue cleaner. He left us the book, "The Littlest Elf."




Day 2:
When the kiddos came into the class, our room was decorated with Christmas/holiday decorations (a tree, lights, snow globe, etc). Elfie was HANGING POPCORN DECORATIONS on the window. Each day he leaves a book and a report from the North Pole. He left us the book and CD, "When Santa Lost His Ho! Ho! Ho!"





Day 1: 
We read Elf on a Shelf and we received a letter  from the North Pole.
Note: put the note in the freezer for a while so when it gets delivered, it's cold, straight from the North Pole!!!
We met our Elf and voted on a name...ELFIE! Elfie is VERY old! We call him Grandpa Elfie (he has a HUGE beard!!). The kinder partner teacher is also doing Eld on a Shelf. The kids in her class also came up with the name Elfie!!!!
We also made an Elf craftivity using a glyph.
The glyph is from Mathwire.com. Click HERE to download it.







Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Santa's Christmas Writing Kit

This is a really cute writing kit I created for Christmas!
Students can use these templates to write letters to Santa.
There is also a "nice certificate" and
lots of toy pictures to use during the Daily 5: write the room.


 










Friday, November 30, 2012

Gingerbread Unit and Christmas Fun

I am so excited!
I put my first items on Teacher Pay Teachers!
Check them out below!!!

Here are some pics of my little cuties using some of these activities:
 Baking Up Some Sight Words! Students scoop up gingerbread cookies
and match the sight word to the candy.

These are the ingredients and the gingerbread recipe. 
We made a gingerbread man together as a class.


We made our very own gingerbread man!!!!
While were making him, the students wrote the cooking steps.







 How many words can you build with the words "Gingerbread Man"

 Building CVC words with magnets and tiles.


Baking up rhyming words!

Rolling Pin and Tally Game!



Writing


Comparing and Contrasting all the Gingerbread stories


On the last of school before winter break, I set up gingerbread man literacy and math stations.
Almost all these fun activities can be found in my
Here are some of the activities we did:


 We used gingerbread man play-dough and gingerbread play-dough mats from Sparklebox.com
to practice counting.  



Matching letters with pictures that make the same sound





Sight Word Practice (scoop a gingerbread man from the tray and search for the matching candy)




Roll a Gingerbread Picture (woman, gumdrop, fox, gingerbread man, etc)
 and find the matching letter




Put a gingerbread baby puzzle together




Ipods: Play "Oven Break" (a gingerbread App)



Computers: Create a gingerbread man on Starfall.com
                              


    


I Have...You Have Games

These are some fun 
I HAVE...YOU HAVE Games 
you can play whole class or in small groups with your class.
These games focus on ABCs, numbers 1-30, and short vowel word families.