Buddy the Elf

Happy December! Our week started off with holiday-themed stations and books. The first book I shared with the class is the ever so popular The Elf on the Shelf. I asked the class if they had spotted any elves on Monday, but no one had. I mentioned that at the last school I taught at in Mankato, we had an elf named Jingle. I told them I wasn't sure if Jeffers Pond had any elves during the holidays, but that we should keep a look out for any little elves. 

As the day went on, a mysterious package showed up outside of our door. 

The kids were SO SURE an elf was in there since it was from Santa himself. However, when we opened it, no one was in it. We were stunned! Instead, we found a clue. The clever clues led to a scavenger hunt for our elf around the school. 

Finally, the last clue led us back to the classroom. We were so determined to find that little rascal, but it sure took us awhile (he's just so tiny and all!). Finally, Brooklyn spotted him...!

Reading in the books!

After finding our elf, we came up with ideas for what we could name him and voted on our favorite name. The end result was Buddy the Elf. We found him in such creative places this week! For those of you who don't know who Elf on the Shelf is, Santa sends you an elf to watch over you to make sure you're being kind and making good choices. The elf is magical and flies back to the North Pole when you're sleeping at night and reports to Santa about how well your day went. When the elf comes back the next morning, he's in a new spot and your job is to try finding him. However, the only rule with having an elf is you CANNOT TOUCH HIM; otherwise he will lose their magic and be sent back to the North Pole to get healthy again. 

Fishing for goldfish

He made us a tree!

Hanging high

Taking a snooze

Making new friends

Every morning after the class finds Buddy, we write in our Elf on the Shelf journal. Here are some of our entries.

in the stickers

The kids love Buddy. During playtime, a lot of them draw him pictures and put it in his mailbox (yes, Buddy the Elf has his own mailbox) so he can take the notes back with him to the North Pole. How adorable are their creations?!

I'm pretty positive Buddy goes to the North Pole to report only the nicest things about our class! Despite the big upcoming holiday (Christmas), they have been such hard workers. A little chatty/hyper, but I would be too if Santa was coming to visit me. To go along with the elf theme, I thought it'd be fun for the class to turn themselves into elves! It took 2 days to complete, but our elves turned out great.

In social studies, we've been learning about holidays all around the world. We learned about Hanukkah and why people celebrate it. We played dreidel using recycled milk cartons and beads to trade with. They played in partners and each kid started with 25 beads. To start, each person has to put 2 beads of their own in the middle, and then spin the dreidel and either take beads out of the pile or put in their own. The goal is to the have the most beads.  

We also talked about the Menorah and what it represents. 

Another holiday we talked about is Saint Nicholas Day celebrated in Europe. The class thought it was so interesting how Saint Nicholas had so much in common with Santa Claus. They even look similar! Similarities between the two: they have white beards, red suits, and leave gifts for children. Differences: Saint Nick has horses that he rides in on whereas Santa has reindeer. We have stockings that Santa can put gifts in and Saint Nick put treats in shoes (the kids cracked up on that one!).

We made our own shoes to see if Saint Nick will put any goodies in there. We also made pretend hay and carrots to see if the horses will eat them. We will find out next week if we were able to draw Saint Nick and his horses into our classroom!

Holiday Themed Stations 

Writing CVC words (consonant vowel consonant)

Stamping beginning letter sounds 

Sorting letters

Reading number words and writing numbers

Ten frame practice

Tallying (groups of 5)

Our Math Journals even had holiday themed story problems!

Other Odds and Ends

Here we are during a math lesson working with pennies and groups of 5.

We started BRAVO which is a music appreciation program taught by volunteers. Our BRAVO instructor is a parent of one of our students---Sarah (Parker's mom!) Her first lesson was about composers and different components of a musical piece (staccato: bouncy parts of a song and accent: when the song gets loud or soft). She will come in every first Monday of each month. We are so happy to have her in the room to teach us new musical things!

Stay tuned...next week will be more holiday fun. Hint hint: Run run as fast as you can....You can't catch me....