Someone touched the elf 2.0

Last year I had to do some quick thinking because one of my students touched our classroom elf.  You can read all about that here.

This year I was so excited to introduce an elf to our classroom.  We received a package in the mail and found out there was an elf inside.

On the very first day of having the elf, not one, but TWO students touched the elf.  I was having a mini panic attack about this since it was the first day.  I told the students that I hoped he would return the next day.

The next day when the students came in they saw him like this:

He was sick in bed with a big bandage on his arm.  We also received a letter from Santa telling us that our elf, Jingles, was unable to make it to the North Pole and Santa had to send out a search party for him.  Jingles was so sick that he needed a big shot in his arm to inject more magic into him so that he could come back.

The kids felt so bad that the elf had to get a shot that we haven't had any trouble since.  My aide and I really played it up and talked about how much his poor arm must hurt with a bandage that big.  His bandage stayed on for two days.  Tomorrow when he arrives he will be bandage free!

What do you do when this happens in your classroom?

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Someone touched the ELF!!

Ahhhhhhhh……..I couldn't believe it!  A student touched the elf even though we kept talking about how no matter what we could NOT touch the elf or he would lose his magic.

Here is what happened:  Yesterday I had to leave at lunch to go to the dentist.  (Sounds like fun right?)  Well, I was getting the kids lined up for lunch and while they line up I have to run another student to the office to give him his meds each day.  (Our school nurse doesn't get there until after lunch.)

So I walk back into the room and one of the sweetest little boys in my classroom is standing mouth wide open and bug-eyed.  I ask him what is the matter and he stammers, "________ touched the ELF!"  I honestly thought this sweet boy was going to cry.  Well everyone heard what happened and I made a big deal about how I hoped Zack (our elf) would be o.k.  At that point, I had to take the kids to lunch.

I had to think fast once I got back to my classroom because I was leaving and didn't want my sub to have to deal with the fall out.  I made up this note and when the kids came back from lunch Zack was gone.

I asked some friends on Facebook last night what I should do, but I kind of had a plan in mind.  I really wanted to still use the elf, but wanted it definitely understood that no one could touch him again.

Today when the students arrived this is what they saw.

I made a big deal about how Zack was sick from what happened yesterday.  Zack left us this note.  (Thanks Krista for the cute frame!)

The kids ate this up!  They felt so bad for Zack.  It was truly priceless to see their reaction.

We write in our "Elf Journal" each day and it is really nothing fancy.  Here is one of my little kinder's journal entry for today.

Thankfully we also found this note from Santa.

We each got to take a pinch of medicine and sprinkle it on Zack.

This is what he looked like afterward.

I am pretty sure Zack will make a full recovery.  PTL!  Although, I did pull my special friend out in the hall and told him he is in no way shape or form allowed to touch the elf again.  I think after seeing everyone's reaction I don't have to worry about it.  :)

Have any of you ever had a student touch your elf?  How did you handle the situation?  I received a lot of great ideas, but this one worked best for me and my class.

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High Five for Friday.......Elf Inspired

I am linking up with Lauren for High Five for Friday again, but this time my high five are mostly about the Elf on the Shelf.  {insert evil laugh}

I am really getting into finding new and creative ideas for my Elf on the Shelf not only at home, but also at school.  Thank you God for pinterest or I may be lost! :)  These are some of the places Hermie (our elf at home) has been hiding that has made my kiddos super excited!

1.  Hermie drew on my favorite picture of the kids.  {I had to use a 3M strip to hold him up in that position....shhhhhh....don't tell the kids ;)}

  2.   He wrote on the bathroom mirror with toothpaste.

3.  He popped some popcorn and watched a movie.

4.  My birch box arrived.  I am loving the items in mine this month!

5.  We had one of our many family Christmas parties this weekend.  My kids looked too cute so I had to get a pic.  We are so lucky because every year Santa comes to this party with a little gift for the children. {P.S.  I made that tutu Claire is wearing and I am making another one for her Christmas Program at school that is just red & green.}

My sweet little niece loved Santa, but didn't want to get close to him.  I just love this picture because I mean really don't we all have a picture like this??  {Santa doesn't look too excited either...ha!}

Have a great weekend everyone!  One more week until Christmas break!!!!

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Elf Yourself & Elf on the Shelf

This week we are "traveling" to different countries to learn about the different holidays, customs, and traditions celebrated throughout the world.  I love this unit and I have taught this every year I have taught.  This year I found this wonderful unit on TPT called Holidays Around the World and I am using some ideas from there!

Unfortunately though with our Holiday Program coming up on Monday and these sweet little kinders who have never been on risers before, I haven't had as much time to focus on this unit.  We have spent a lot of time practicing how to safely get on and off the risers as well as time practicing our songs.

For our program, the teachers "decorate" the gym by hanging up student art work.  Of course, I am using my Elf Yourself Craftivity.  I can't believe the response it has received not only by the staff members, but also the students.  Everyone just loves them!  I can't wait for the parents to see them too!

Here is a sneak peak at a few of them!

If you are interested in this craftivity project, please click on the image below to go to my TPT store.

Our Elf on the Shelf, Elfie, has been helping with classroom behavior.  We have computer lab towards the end of the day so during computer lab each day he leaves us a note to let us know if we will be on the naughty or nice list for that day.  If we are on the nice list, he leaves us a special treat (Hershey's kisses).  Here are some pictures of where he has been hiding!

He brought us a new book one day.  That Elfie is awfully generous!!!

Hanging on the plant hook.  The kids went bananas for this!

Oh no, Elfie got out the legos while we were gone!

Elfie likes the art center.  He stuffed himself into the cup so no one could put a clip on the cup to go to that center today.

On a side note, I have had a TON of tattling lately.  One day I told the kids that they could no longer tattle to me.  I mean we have been working on the difference between a tattle and a "tell" since the beginning of the year.  Instead, now they have to tattle to Elfie.  If they want to tattle on someone, go right ahead, but don't tell Mrs. Pauley go tell Elfie.  It has been WONDERFUL!  I love it.  Granted, we spent a lot of time talking about when it was o.k. to talk to Elfie and when it wasn't, but I am loving this.  I am thinking about getting a "tattling turtle" or something along those lines for after Christmas.

What do you do in your room for tattling?  Do you have something that works really well?  I would love to hear about it!

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Reindeer Fun!

We have been working hard learning about reindeer in our classroom this week.  Here is some of what we have done.

We made a reindeer schema and new learning chart.  This chart is from Tuesday.  We have added many more new ideas since then. :)

We are making an "All About Reindeer" book from Deanna Jump's Reindeer Unit.  I did a directed drawing of the reindeer and I think the students' reindeer turned out so cute!

 This one is pregnant. Hahaha......we learned about what it means to be a mammal and one thing that stuck in their heads was that mammals carry the baby in their belly.  I just loved this illustration!!

Reindeer & baby reindeer

We did another directed drawing of reindeer in our science journals and then labeled the reindeer.  The students LOVED this!  I love seeing how excited they are about knowing how to draw something.  It gives some of my students the chance to really shine.

Today we made Reindeer Glyphs from my new TpT product.  Here are some of my little sweeties' reindeer.

If you are interested in this glyph activity please click on the image below or visit my TpT store {here}.

I found this idea on pinterest through our amazing art teacher {here} and I just had to make this for my classroom door.

I know this has been a long post, but I want to share with you our Elf on the Shelf, Elfie.  Each day when the students come to school they must find him and then write about where he is in their Elf Journal.  Here are some of our lastest additions. :)

Elfie hanging upside down from our Christmas lights.

Elfie riding Mr. Caterpillar

Yesterday my kids were quite wound up and would NOT.  STOP.  TALKING.  So, I wrote a letter to Santa for Elfie to take to him and he wrote us back a letter and look now where Elfie ended up today ;)  

You guessed it.....right by our classroom rules.  Unfortunately, they weren't any better today :(  But there's always tomorrow (I am totally singing the song from Rudolph as I type that...ha!)

But now I have to share with you the best thing that happened today.  Today is St. Nicholas Day and my mom usually sends my kiddos a little package with some "fun" socks and a little bit of candy. (Got to love grandma's right?)  Today we got home and saw we had a package, but instead of socks this year she sent two books:  one about how St. Nicholas became Santa Claus and the other was this.

So of course we downloaded the song right away and read along.  Loving this new Pete the Cat book!!  I don't really know who was more excited about the book the kids or me!  Honestly I think it was me, but the kids were pretty darn excited like jumping up and down excited so you can imagine my reaction.......I was jumping up and down with them!  :)

Since I am now in a FABULOUS mood thanks to my mommy, I have decided to giveaway my reindeer glyph free to the first person who comments below.  Make sure to include your email address.

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Giveaway Winner, Gingerbread, & Elf!

Thank you to all of you who entered my giveaway!  The winner is Kelly M.  Kelly, I have already emailed you about being the winner.  Congratulations you won every holiday item in my TPT store!  Thank you for entering my giveaway!

We had an exciting week in our classroom.  We finished our Gingerbread unit and had a visitor in our classroom.

We finished up our gingerbread unit by making some Gingerbread glyphs from Deanna Jump's gingerbread unit.

We wrote about what we would look like if we were gingerbread boys or girls.  This idea came from Kindergarten Smiles.

Most of the students chose to run away from a fox.  I just loved seeing how creative they were with deciding what they would look like as well as their house!

We made a chart comparing some of the gingerbread stories we read.  This idea also came from Deanna Jump!

This week our principal came into my classroom and delivered this package.  He said a short little guy he had never seen before delivered it to the office and said it was from the North Pole.  Oh boy did that get my students' attention.

Inside was the book "The Elf on the Shelf" with our very own classroom elf.  One of the rules is that you can not touch him or he loses his magic so we just set him by our window and didn't take him out of the box.

 The students were so excited and kept going over to see him all throughout the day.

We voted on a name for our elf and his name is now Elfie.  {I was really hoping that Diamond or Midnight didn't win.}

The next day when the students got to school Elfie was hiding on top of the projector for our Smart board.

Throughout the day when the students would do something good or bad I would look at Elfie and say "Elfie did you see that......."  The kids are eating it up!  I also made a journal for the students to complete.  When they get to school they write the date, draw a picture of where Elfie is hiding, and then finish the sentence "Elfie was__________."  I can tell this is going to be a lot of fun!  

Now we are on to reindeer.  I will using some of Deanna Jump's ideas in my classroom as well as some of my TPT items :)  

I am also creating a reindeer glyph so check back this week to see my new reindeer glyph that I will be posting to my TPT store.  You will also get to see some more of Elfie! :)

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