Christmas Activities & Elf in the Classroom

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 

One of my favorite times of year, but also one of the most stressful because I have so many fun things I want to squeeze in to these last 3 weeks before break.

 

 

Here is my door for our school's Christmas door decorating contest.

 

These fun collaborative mosaic door coloring sheets came from Art with Jenny K. 

 

 I didn't tell my kids what we were going to do with their coloring pages.  I just handed them out and let them color.  Students who colored quicker than others would get an additional sheet, there were 30 altogether.

 

They were amazed when they realized that the pieces fit together and made a picture.

 

BTW - this was super easy to put together.  Each page had a letter and number on it so that you knew where each one fit into the picture.  My wonderful practicum student cut them all out and relabeled the backs.  Then I taped them together and our awesome first grade assistant put it on the door for me.  It was a team effort!

Then it was time to get out the Christmas tree.

 

Unfortunately, half the lights were burnt out.

 

This was my Christmas tree in my apartment in college, so it's had a good long life.

 

I went to Walmart that night to get a new tree...

And it's black.

 

I seriously did not know they made black Christmas trees.

 

Well I got one!

 

I decided I was not going to stress about it.  So this year I will have black Christmas tree.

Last week, Santa came to visit and he brought some of his reindeer.

The kids were amazed when they were told that the reindeer with antlers was actually a girl, while the reindeer without the antlers, in the picture above, was a boy.

 

It blew their minds when one of my kiddos put two and two together and realized that that must mean that all of Santa's reindeer are girls, because they have antlers.

Mrs. Claus is in the background of this picture.

My kids were so excited to see Jolly, our elf from last year.  He came the Monday we returned from Thanksgiving Break. And as usual, he appeared sitting on our Christmas tree.  He must be okay with black trees.

 

This year Jolly has discovered TpT and has been bringing us an awesome countdown to winter break card each day when he comes back from the North Pole.

 

You can check out this awesome freebie from Missing Tooth Grins here.

I love these cards because not only are they super cute!  But they have the countdown till Christmas Break, a fun and easy Christmas activity, as well as a kindness challenge for the day.

 

After we read our card each day, I hang it on our bulletin board.

The first card suggested that we make some snowflakes!

 

I honestly can't remember the last time I made snowflakes with a class.  I'd say its been about 8 years.  But they loved it!  I grabbed some copy paper, taught the kids how to fold it, and then we snipped away.

 

I hung everyone's snowflake up somewhere in our room.

 

The next day, Jolly's card said that we should write letters to Santa.

 

So during P.E., I searched TpT and found this freebie from Kidology by Krista Reid, check it out here.

 

 I thought it was so adorable with the little naughty and nice check boxes at the bottom.

 

And the kids did a pretty awesome job!

 

Here are my favorites.

Dear Santa,

For Christmas I want a good Christmas for all the kids around the world.  All I want is a stuffed giraffe, stuffed unicorn, and to have a good Christmas.  I love you Santa so much.  I love you Mrs. Claus and all the 9 reindeer.

Dear Santa,

I love Santa!  I wish for a new horse!  I love you!!!!  I love you!! I love you!!  I love you!! I love you!!  I love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

(We've obviously been learning about exclamation marks)

 



Dear Santa,

I have been nice.  I wish I had Jurassic World toys.  I wish I had an Elf on the Shelf.  I wish I had palace pets.  Thank you Santa.  I love Santa.  I can't wait for you to come again.

Dear Santa,

I have been nice.  Thank you for Daphne (her dog).  Thank you for the unicorn.  Thank you for Christmas.  Thank you for dolls.  You're the best.  I've loved you forever.  You're the best forever.  I love you.  You're the best Santa.

 

I just thought these were the sweetest letters to Santa that I had ever read. 

- Please don't judge the state of my shelf.  Yuck! I had no idea how dusty it was.

 

(Just a quick note about the kindness challenges.  My kids love reporting back to me when they have fulfilled the day's kindness challenge.  On this particular day, our door holder informed me that not only did she hold the door open for someone today, she held the door open for the entire class.)

 

Next, Jolly's card said that we should think up a new holiday name.

 

So then I walked into my friend's classroom that morning and saw this fun freebie from Teaching Superkids. 

 

This is a job application to work as an elf for Santa.

 

What a super cute idea!

I knew this would be a hit!

First, we had to get new elf names.

 

Your first name was based on your birthday month.

And your last name was from your favorite color.



My elf name is Tinsel Sweet Feet.

Then the kids completed their elf application with their age, which job they were applying for, and why they thought they would be a good elf.

 

Is this not the cutest thing ever?  And it was free!

 

I love the application in the picture above:

Jolly McMerry is 6 years old and wants to be a Stocking Stuffer.

She would be a good elf because...

"I can be quiet.

I can be quick.

I am a good elf.

I love you."

 

Trying to get on the boss's good side.

Then, depending on which job they were applying for, they had to complete a second sheet to show off their elf skills.

 

If they wanted to be a Stocking Stuffer, they had to list three things they would put in the stockings.

If they wanted to be a decorator, they had to design and color an ornament.

If they wanted to be a toy maker, they had to list three toys they would like to make.

And if they wanted to be a gift wrapper, they had to describe how they would wrap a present.

Sparkle Sugar Plum is 7 years old and wants to be a Decorator.

"I would be a good decorator because I would pick sparkly ornaments."

Glitter Sugar Plum is 7 years old and wants to be a Gift Wrapper.

"I will be a good gift wrapper because I put the bow on top."

Then she described how she would wrap a gift.

 

Holly McMerry is six years old and wants to be a Decorator.

(She asked if she could write the number word for 6)

She would be a good elf because "I am a good decorator."

 

On Friday, Jolly had way too much fun with our calendar board!

 

My kids watched me very carefully to make sure that I didn't accidentally touch Jolly when I was retrieving our activity card and our calendar piece.  Jolly brought us the Elf on the Shelf movie last year, we watched it again this year, and so they learned all about what would happen if you touched him.

 

 

Our Christmas activity of the day was to listen to Christmas music while you work.  So we had a blast rockin' out to Christmas Kids Bop music while we worked!

 

Stay tuned for more adventures with Jolly!

 

I'm excited to see what other Christmas activities he has in store for us.

 

And he also whispered something to me about bringing his reindeer friend with him next week.

 

 



Valentine's Day

I know I'm a little late on the Valentine's Day post.

 

But I've had a sinus infection and we've been having snow-mageddon in TN.

 

No for real,

TN has declared a state of emergency because first we had an ice storm, then it kept snowing.

 

(Can you tell where the road is?)

 

So all the beautiful snow you see, has at least an inch of ice underneath.  Then you add in all the hills and "hollers" of TN and you have some pretty scary road situations.

 

On a happy note, due to our snow-mageddon, we have enjoyed a snow week. 

 

Not just a snow day,

but 4 snow days in a row, we were already out Monday for President's Day.

 

Anyways.  Back to Valentine's Day.  Not the real Valentine's Day, that was on a Saturday this year, but we celebrated on Friday instead!

 

And we started off our awesome Valentine's Day with...Spiderman!

 

Because you can't have Valentine's Day without Spiderman right?

 

Haha, just kidding.

 

Spiderman was actually supposed to make an appearance on this little guy's birthday last month.  But we had a snow day.  So we rescheduled for Valentine's Day because I figured this was going to be a wild and crazy day anyway, might as well add a superhero.

I really thought my kids would go wild.

 

But I think they were in shock when he walked in.

 

Then they finally warmed up to him and told him how much they liked his movies, asked questions about the movies, and asked about Mary Jane.

 

Then we made these fun marshmallow dipped treats.

 

I got the idea on Pinterest here.

 

These are so super simple.

 

All you need are:

- marshmallows (I went with pink ones)

- sprinkles

- Wilton's Candy melts (I used vanilla)

- and some lollipop sticks (or whatever else you have)

- oh, wax paper is a big help too

All I did was heat up the candy melts in the microwave, stick the marshmallows on the lollipop sticks, and label the wax paper so I would remember whose treats were whose.

I called my students back by tables, showed an example of what to do, and let them go for it.

 



Then we let them dry while we went to lunch.

The treats laying crosswise were my examples.  I shared a few with other teachers and then ate two myself.

And then what did I do with all that extra candy melt?

 

Ate it of course!

 

Just kidding.

I actually had so many left over marshmallows and candy melt, that I donated them to my teacher friend across the hall, so that her kids could make marshmallow treats too.

 

They really were super easy!

 

I just called the kids back while they were doing independent work.

 



Yep, they enjoyed them!

We played in centers before parents arrived for our party.

 

So a few early bird parents and I helped the kids pass out their valentines.

 

I learned this trick a few years ago.

 

We would spend all of our party time passing out valentines, and there was no time to enjoy them or do any extra fun stuff.  Plus it was a madhouse with 20 kids trying to pass out their valentines at once.

 

So a few years ago, my kindergarten team and I decided to set all the valentine's boxes out at each student's desk and then call up 2-3 kids at a time to pass out valentines while the rest played in centers.  This way, you can spend your party time, we only get 30 min, enjoying and looking through the valentines, and doing other fun stuff. 

 

Because lets face it, most of my kids have trouble reading each other's names.  Several of mine could, so I let them pass out their valentines all on their own.  But others needed help, so my parent volunteers and I helped them read the names.

 

I didn't get a picture of the passing out though.

 

Then it was party time!

We kept this party simple.

 

All I asked for were plates and napkins, capri-sons, un-frosted cupcakes, frosting, and sprinkles.

I have a wonderful parent volunteer who called a few kids over at a time to my reading table and helped them decorate their cupcakes while the rest of the students looked through their valentine boxes.

I always love looking at the valentine boxes. 

 

Some are store bought, some are homemade, and some were probably forgotten about until the night before or the morning of the party (like the tissue box in the picture below)

And then others are just plain adorable!

 

Hope you had a happy Valentine's Day!



Kindergarten Assessments - Halfway through the Year

Back in August I did a blog post showing how I use my Kindergarten Beginning of the Year Assessment to determine where my incoming kindergarteners stand in different academic skills.

 

At the beginning of the year, my kindergarten team and I give this assessment to all incoming kindergarteners.  That way we can get a snapshot as to what skills each student has mastered and which need some more work.

 

So when it came time for our winter conferences, instead of reinventing the wheel, I decided to pull these assessments out and reassess my students on skills that they missed at the beginning of the year, just to see how far they've come.

 

Click here to see my full blog post about these assessments.

 

Oh and did I mention it's a freebie in my TpT store?

 

I used a different color marker this time (blue was used in August, purple in January) so that the parents and myself could see their child's growth in each area, or lack-thereof.

 

The kids were so excited to see how much they had improved during the first half of the school year!

This sweet girl is struggling to count to 100, but can recognize all the numbers to 20.  Go figure!

 

She has made so much progress, still has a long way to go, but is improving!

 

Aug - counted to 3

Jan - counted to 12

 

Aug - wrote numbers to 1

Jan - wrote numbers to 10

 

Aug - could not touch and count objects to 10

Jan - was able to touch and count objects to 10

 

Lots of progress going on here!

 

And it makes such a difference when you see the 2 assessments together on one page, as opposed to flipping back and forth between 2 different ones.

Here's where things got really good!

 

Aug - recognized 2 letters

Jan - recognized 43 (upper and lowercase)

 

Aug - identified 0 letter sounds

Jan - identified 14 letter sounds

 

Yay!  This little one's parents have been rocking the letters and sounds practice at home.

 

So even though this is called a "Beginning of the Year Assessment."  It is totally appropriate to use throughout the year.

 

Especially to see growth in those fundamental kindergarten skills of your struggling learners. 

 

Being able to see for myself and show the parents and child how far they've come is awesome!  And this little girl has started working so much harder because now because she has seen for herself how much she can improve!

 



This next piece to my winter conferences was a new find!

 

A student self evaluation!

 

What a neat idea!

 

My kids were hilarious filling these out; we did them one-on-one.

 

They really did try to think out each statement and they didn't even try to fudge on their rating of themselves, because they knew I'd call them out!

 

This is a blog freebie from A Teachable Teacher.

Check it out here.



In August, I met with every family.  This time I only met with family's that I needed to speak with, if you catch my drift.

 

My parents really enjoyed seeing the progress that their child was making, compared with the beginning of the year, and the student self evaluations were a hit.  The parents loved them!