Asking for an Elf on the Shelf

Have you been debating on whether or not to have an Elf in your classroom?  Well, I absolutely LOVE having an Elf in the class during this time of the year.  It adds so much excitement to our school day! The kids can't wait to get to school in the morning to see what the Elf has done or where the Elf is next.  They talk about our Elf throughout the day and all night at home too!

We watch the Elf movie as a class (with parent permission) then we talk about whether or not we want an Elf for our classroom.  Of course the kids all say, 'YES!'.

For our writing lesson that day, we all write a letter to Santa asking for an Elf.  Now I do have a mix of students in my class- some celebrate Hanukkah and some Christmas.  I get parent permission beforehand and I explain to parents that we will cover ALL holidays throughout the month and we will respect others traditions and beliefs.

After everyone has written a letter, we add them into envelopes so I can mail them off! 

Then I wait a couple of days before introducing our Elf to the class!

I want to incorporate the Elf more into writing this year so I made these Elf writing pages/journal. 

Click below to download yours for FREE.

Elf on Shelf: In the Classroom {Week 2}

Last Friday, our class made these cute wreaths to hang up in the classroom. A couple of the girls decided to make wreaths to give to Sparkle for their doors in the North Pole. Well, there was no way Sparkle could fly with all of those wreaths! So, when we arrived at school on Monday, we found Sparkle hanging along side our wreaths! 

This week, Sparkle also brought snowballs to our classroom! She had a little snowball fight of her own, but she also left us a little note saying that if they were good, they could have their own snowball fight! 

Sparkle also showed up in a new skirt!! The kids couldn't believe it!! The girls just knew that Santa must have given her a sparkly skirt because of her name!

 They didn't earn their snowball fight right away, but on Friday they were able to have one! SO MUCH FUN! I have 10 girls and 10 boys in my class so it is just easy to do girls vs. boys. We put a line down the center of the class and I told them that when the music started they had to try to get all of the snowballs off of their side. When the music stopped, whoever had the least amount of snowballs would win!

Believe it or not, the girls won every time! I think the boys were more concerned with throwing it at the girls instead of just getting the snowballs off of their side! I purchased the snowballs HERE.

I was out for team leader meetings one day this week, so Sparkle left them a little reminder to 'be good' while I was gone!

 We are having so much fun with our Elf! Read about other 'classroom elves' below!

Elf on the Shelf: In the Classroom

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having an Elf on the Shelf in the classroom! The kids absolutely love the elf and it really is a great behavior management tool as well :)

I have students in my room that celebrate holidays other than Christmas; however, I make sure to teach ALL of the holidays represented in my classroom (and more). I also send an email to parents letting them know about our elf and reassuring them that it is just for fun and explaining to them what a great behavior tool and motivator the elf is. My parents always agree and they love that the kids are so excited each morning to see the elf. I have so many parents each year that actually end up getting an elf on the shelf for their own home--I love that they are starting a new tradition for their family!

Before our elf arrived, we watched An Elf's Story DVD. The kids are always amazed by this movie. When it is over, we wrote letters to Santa asking if we could have a scout elf for our classroom. The letters were adorable! We sealed them up in an envelope and 'mailed' them out!

About a week later, I wrapped up the Elf on the Shelf box and put it in the freezer to make sure it was cold. I used the 'special delivery' tag from Kinder-Craze on the top of the box.  Then, our principal made a special delivery to our classroom! I told the kids to feel how cold the package was and they couldn't believe that it came straight from the North Pole! We read the Elf on the Shelf book and we quickly started brainstorming names for our new elf! We came up with Sparkle! The rest of the day I watched kids go up to Sparkle and talk to her. I love listening to their little conversations.

Everyday Sparkle is in a new spot in the classroom.  This week we were actually headed out for a field trip so Sparkle left me this little pad to write down children's names. The kids knew I had this pad with me on the trip and let me tell you...they were all as good as gold! They kept asking me if I had written down any names yet, haha.

Sparkle also colored a picture for us and left us some coloring sheets to color for her! They loved this! They all tried so hard to make beautiful pictures for Sparkle. As they were coloring I overheard them talking about how Sparkle was probably going to decorate her room in the North Pole with these pictures! So cute!

Elf Update!

We have been having a blast with Snow, our elf!! The children really look forward to seeing her everyday and she definitely is great to have around to help me out with behavior!!

Last Tuesday Snow was fishing for some gold fish...

On Wednesday we had our first field trip of the year. We went to see a wonderful play. Snow left me some paper to write down a naughty and nice list ;)

But, unfortunately one of the students touched Snow! So on Thursday she was not feeling great! Luckily, Santa sent some magical recovery dust (I downloaded it HERE for free). The kids had a blast sprinkling the magic dust on her...

and it worked! Because Friday she was all better. But, we couldn't figure out why she was holding a marker?  

It took a while for someone to finally go to the bathroom and see this....

Snow was cheering us on for FIELD DAY!!! Woo-Hoo!!

After the weekend, we arrived to school and found this...

Eeks! I can't believe she saw a mouse!! haha ;) 

I hope your students have been enjoying their Elf as much as we have!! I just love ours!!!

Look Who's Here!! The Elf on the Shelf!

I am OBSESSED with the Elf on the Shelf! I just can't help it! I LOVE it!! I know a lot of people think he is creepy...I just don't see that haha ;)

This year I have a couple students in my class with special needs. I know a couple of them don't do well with change. So, on Thursday I wanted to make sure to give them a little 'heads up'. I told the students that I had written a letter to Santa asking him for an Elf to come to our classroom. I told them I wasn't sure if Santa was going to be able to send the Elf because there aren't enough for all the classrooms and homes. But, if we did get one then we are super lucky!! Of course they had a million questions and I answered them all...how tall is he? Why is he coming? Does he talk? Can he play with us? ....

On Friday the students ran in looking for the elf, but he wasn't there. I told them that I didn't think the mailman came yet, but maybe he wasn't coming.  Then, before school was out, a special package was delivered to our class! It was freezing (came right out of the freezer) because it was a speedy delivery straight from the North Pole!! The kids couldn't believe it!! They thought they were touching snow! (we are in Florida so any kind of frost can be considered 'snow'). We read the book and quickly gave our Elf a name...Snow!! Santa also delivered the Elf on the Shelf DVD so we watched it before we went home. The DVD is totally a MUST! It really explains the Elf and even shows Santa packaging the Elf in the box that they come in.

This morning the kids were so excited to come inside and see where Snow landed!

She was 'bored' over the weekend without us, so she decided to make us little Christmas and Hanukkah countdowns! 

I can't wait for the students to see where she lands tomorrow...this is such an exciting and fun way to get ready for the holidays!! 

I found some ideas for the Elf and have them on my Pinterest board HERE if you need any :)

Salt Dough Ornaments

Yayy!! The ornaments came out perfectly! I ended up leaving them in the oven for the full 6 hours.  Today the kids painted them beautifully! They dry really fast so I ended up painting 2 coats of the varnish on top to make sure they were shiny! I love how they turned out and all the kids are super excited to give them to their parents!

 

On a different note, looks like our friend Wings got in a little trouble...

 The kids had me hysterically laughing when they came in and saw this in the morning. They couldn't believe that Wings was tied up and they really couldn't believe that their toys come to life also!  Some of the students were worried about Wings so we made sure to leave him with a pair of scissors so he could get out :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their last couple of days! I am just hoping to make it through the craziness of the holiday party tomorrow!

Our Elf is Here!

My kids were so super excited when I introduced our Elf on the Shelf.  We read the story together and talked about how you cannot touch the elf or he loses his magic! But first you have to give your Elf a name.  My kids brainstormed some crazy names for our Elf and when the voting was done we were left with.....Wings!!! haha Then we talked about how the Elf is a great listener, but Santa does not let him talk to children. Throughout the rest of the day I would overhear students going up to Wings and telling him what they want for Christmas... you know, the little things...an itouch, a nintendo, a new baby brother!!

Every night Wings flies back to the North Pole and reports to Santa.  When he comes back in the morning he is always in a different spot in the classroom...On Thursday he was fishing for some goldfish 

 

Then, this morning he made our cooking activity for us! We were supposed to be making reindeer cookies in our morning center..but Wings got to it first.

 

He even squirted some icing onto our feeling picture cards and turned those frowns, upside down!!

So fun!!

I know there are a couple other teachers doing Elf on the Shelf as well. If you are, let me know if you have some good classroom ideas! My teacher bff next door (who just started blogging) has a little Elf of her own named Sparkles! Check out her blog over at Paste and Pearls and become one of her followers!!