Elftastic Fun and Freebies - Our Little Mischief Maker

Yesterday I shared all about our elf applications and now that we were all official elves, it was time for the next round of elftastic activities.

I love love love when our favorite mischief maker makes his appearance in our room.

The day after we received our approved applications, a very special package arrived for us straight from the North Pole! We had NO idea what it could be.

After tearing it open, they peeked inside to find:

*A letter from Santa

*Our Elf on the Shelf with his book

*A magic elf key

*Christmas Lists for the students to complete and mail to the North Pole

We opened and read the letter first. They were getting ridiculously excited at this point.

After reading the letter and seeing all of the wonderful things Santa sent us, we read the Elf on the Shelf book. Many of the kids hadn't heard of Elf on the Shelf before, which surprised me! After the story it was time to name our Elf. We made a graph on the SmartBoard. We started by having each child choose a name. We wrote those on the board and then narrowed them down to 4 choices through a vote. The final 4 choices were: Zippy, Snowy, Elfy, and Snowflake. After the long  voting process, we finally chose "Snowflake"! There was a bit of conflict about it because he is a boy and Snowflake is a girl name apparently, but in the end we decided that it doesn't matter because Snowflakes can be boys or girls. I realize this doesn't make sense, but I was using 5 year old logic here and it worked for them :)

The next day, the kids came in to find Snowflake dangling from our document camera. He brought some special treats with  him as well! He brought us the Elf on the Shelf movie - "An Elf's Story", cookies from the North Pole Bakery, milk, and a note. 

 

 

I am so proud of those labels for the cookies :) You can snag the label and note for FREE by clicking the picture below:

We ate our yummy treats and watched the movie from Snowflake!

 At the end of the day, we filled out our Elf Adventure Log. Each day the kids write about where they found Snowflake and draw a little picture. They did a pretty amazing job! To use this with your class click HERE.

 On Friday, Snowflake left us with quite a mess. He toilet papered the Christmas tree! YIKES! The kids were laughing ridiculously hard at this. I even had kids from other classes peeking in.

Sitting on his throne of destruction was Snowflake, with his sneaky smile.

You may have noticed the Snowflake is holding a key in each of his pictures. I created this fun little idea to help explain how Snowflake gets in and out of our room each night. You can grab your copy of this FREEBIE by clicking HERE. 

  

 And there we have it! Our first week of elftastic adventures! For a sneak peek of things to come, you can download my free Elf on the Shelf planning calendar below!

Hope you are having a wonderful week... and I hope your kids aren't too CRAZY! XO

We Are Official Elves!

It's ELF TIME! I seriously love elf activities and so do the kids. This week was FULL of elftastic adventures! On Monday, we read the story "The Littlest Elf". It's always a winner in our room. They love the cute pictures and the story is so sweet.

After reading the story, we talked about each of the different jobs elves can have up at the North Pole. The students then had to decide whether they would like to be an elf! We used our SmartBoard for this. Of course most of the class said they would want to be an elf, but two little friends were not interested.

After making our graph, I told them that I was speaking with Santa on the phone the other day and he was mentioning that he could really use a few more elves to help him out. I told Santa that I had a class full of friends who would LOVE to help him out this year. So, Santa mailed us some super important Elf Applications for the kids to fill out. We talked about what an application is and why you would need to apply for something. We even talked about the importance of doing our best work because first impressions count and we want Santa to hire us as helpers. Each child had to choose which job they would like at the North Pole and fill out a short questionnaire to see if they would qualify. The job choices were: Toy Maker, Treat Baker, Reindeer Caretaker, and Gift Wrapper.

 

After completing their applications, I mailed them to the North Pole for them. The very next day (Santa works fast) we found a package under the Christmas tree from Santa himself!

When we opened it, we found a letter from Santa, our elf applications {now with the official seal of the North Pole and Santa's signature}, and very special Elf IDs with each student's name on it! Santa's letter explained that he sent back all of the applications and approved them for the job they applied for. Although he didn't need any helpers at the North Pole at this time, he did want them to have special jobs in our room so he sent Official Elf IDs. Here are the special classroom jobs:

*Toy Makers: make sure all the toys, games, and center activities are put away each day

*Treat Bakers: pass out snack each day

*Gift Wrappers: pass out our little treats for our Rocking Stockings each day

*Reindeer Caretakers: take care of our 'Reindeer on the Roof' each day

Official Seal of the North Pole and Santa's Initials

Here is their reaction after seeing their approved applications and hearing me read the letter:

 

 

After we calmed down a bit (good grief), we filled out our Elf Ids. I laminated them overnight and added some string so they could wear them as necklaces. They loved it!

You can have official elves in your room too by grabbing a copy of my Elf Application Set!

Get ready for tomorrow... I'll tell you ALL about our new mischief maker!

Love and hugs!

Christmas Crazies!!

Ho ho holy crow - I can't believe there are only 10 more school days until Christmas break! Jeepers! We have had a total blast with holiday activities this week and the kids have been super excited, which has led to a bit of chaos. I'm not sure my little friends can handle all the excitement without totally losing it. But honestly, who doesn't freak out a little at this time of year? It's just so fun!!

Last week we got ourselves ready by creating our countdown chains. The kids hang them next to their desk and we cut off a link each day until we reach the top! When we cut the final link off, it will be Christmas! You can create countdown chains with your little ones too by clicking here!

 

 

On Monday, we decorated the room to spread some Christmas cheer :) We decorated the tree together and put up our lights. It was so sweet to see them working together. This was the first time decorating the tree for some of them and it just warmed my heart.

 

  

They are so cute!! I also added a bit of charm this year by creating a fireplace in the room to hang our stockings. I am in LOVE with it. It makes me feel like I am still up north :)

At first I put the the bow above it, but it just didn't do it for me. SO I went out and bought a cute little wreath to hang above it. The kids love sitting and reading their books in the library next to the big fireplace.

I use the stockings as part of our special December behavior management system. Because our classroom has a Rockstar theme, we call them their "Rocking Stockings". Each day in December that they end the day on a good color (green, orange, purple, or blue), they earn a special treat to put inside their rocking stocking. I just use little goodies that I pick up from Walmart, the Dollar Tree, and Oriental Trading. Things like stickers, pencils, erasers, candy, etc. They really do work harder to earn good behavior colors! They get to take their stocking home the day they leave for Christmas break.

 

Outside of our room, I always create a huge gingerbread house. The kids always get excited when they see it. I added a little something different this year by putting some fun sparkling snow toward the bottom. I put some lights on the floor and covered them with polyfill. Then I sprinkled some glittery buffalo snow on top. It looks much better in person, it was hard to capture the "magic" in a picture.

This week we also began our Holiday Behavior Books! These things are a blessing in my room. It is just the right amount of bribery to use this month. Read below to see how it works!

 

 Santa delivers the books to our classroom in December. It has a special rhyming note on the cover from Santa explaining how it works. There are three pages for the three weeks in December before we leave for Christmas break. Each page has 5 missing pictures. At the end of each day, all of my little ones who are on a good color get to add a sticker to their book. On day 1, they put their sticker in box 1 (it is a little cat sitting in front of the fireplace). On day 2, they put their sticker in box 2 (a gift under the tree) etc. They are sooooo sad when they don't get to add their sticker. But it's good, because they work harder the next day! At the end of the week they get to color their picture in. The next week, we move to page 2, and so on!

HOLIDAY BEHAVIOR BOOK PAGES

DAILY BEHAVIOR BOOK STICKERS

That is just the beginning of our Christmas fun!!

This week I will tell you all about our crazy, mischievous little elf visitor.

Here's a preview of what he's been up to...