Embracing the Elf Activities

Hi everyone, I hope you are surviving the last few weeks before Christmas break with your students.  It is a hectic time for teachers as we try to keep our students engaged during the day and then work to finish all of our Christmas home projects at night.  Even though it is a tiring time, I love teaching during the month of December.  If your students are anything like mine there is a lot of talk in our classroom about the Elf on the Shelf, his or her pet reindeer or pet dog.  I like to capitalize on my students' interests when teaching.  If they are engaged it makes my job so much easier.  Here are some ways I have embraced the "Elf"

 Math

I am currently teaching data management and pictographs.  To help keep my students interest I decided to put cards with a picture of a boy elf, a girl elf and a reindeer pet in a brown paper bag.  Students take turn drawing the cards out of the bag and using tally marks to record their results.  The students then use their data to make a pictograph.

There is something about using the Elf that suddenly causes all my students to want to see who is hiding in Santa's Bag.

If you think the "Elf" might help you teach pictographs, you can get it here

Language Arts

If you haven't ordered the book "Memoirs of an Elf" from Scholastic you should.  My students love the story and it is a great book to get students writing about Elves and their adventures.  

I love giving students hashtags and having them write about the "Elfie" they made.  Below are just some that I have used with my class.

If you own the book and would like this writing activity, you can get it here.

To help your students write about the Elf and answer that popular question "How do you spell?", you may want to download this FREEBIE.

Hang in there, only ten more days until a much needed break!

Christmas Countdown Fun and some FREEBIES

With seven days to go to the Christmas break, I am pulling out all the stops to keep my students engaged and learning at this exciting time of the year.  Over the years I have set up a number of ways to countdown the days to our break.

1.  Secret read alouds

Each year I order some new Christmas books from Scholastic using my bonus points and then I wrap them up in Christmas wrapping paper and put them on display.  Each day after our recess break I pick one student to open one book.  My students get so excited to see which book is hidden behind the wrapping paper.  This year I also ordered some books that come with a CD which can be played while a student holds the book.  I really love the few minutes break you can get when a CD is playing in your class during this time of year.

2.  Chocolate Advent Calendar

Each year I buy a chocolate advent calendar (peanut-free of course) for my students to use to count down the days to Christmas.  My students have all been given a number in the class.  I use the numbers to help with distributing supplies and books at the beginning of the year.  On the day of each student's number they get to look on the advent calendar and find their number and then open the door to receive their chocolate.  For example:  student #1 gets to pick their chocolate on Day 1.  If their number falls on the weekend they get to open their chocolate on Monday.  Some days I forget about the chocolate calendar but my students never do.  They know their day!

3.  Elf on the Shelf

Whether you love him/her or not, it is a part of many students Christmas traditions so I have decided to embrace the elf and use it to my advantage.  I find the Elf is a great motivator for writing.  I find even my most reluctant writers will always want to write in their journal about where the Elf was hidden and what he/she was doing.  One of my favourite activities is to have students design their own Elf and write about what makes a good one #santahelpers #toptoymakers.

This is also a great companion activity to go with the book "Memoirs of an Elf" by Devin Scillian and Illustrated by Tim Bowers.  I think this is now one of my favorite read alouds and my students love that the elf is texting and taking "elfies" instead of "selfies"

You can check out my Take An Elfie unit here!

4.  Christmas Solve the Room 

Students find it harder to sit this time of year so I try to get them up and moving every chance I get.  Students love working with a partner to move around the class and I love that they are still practicing their math.

Christmas Place Value Solve The Room

If you teach multiplication and division, try this freebie with your students to see if they would like participating in a solve the room type activity.

Operation Christmas Multiplying and Dividing Whole Numbers

5.  Gingerbread Ornaments

Applesauce and ground cinnamon mixed together make a great parent present.  Grab my recipe here.  Students have to measure the ingredients so it is a great way to sneak in some math at the same time.

Waiting to be decorated with some glitter and a ribbon!

6.  Reindeer Cam

Indoor recess or lunch play is just a bit easier when you have the Reindeer Cam playing.  My students love watching the reindeer move around the field.  It seems to keep their attention while they eat.  Check it out by visiting the Reindeer Cam.

I hope some of these ideas help you to countdown and plan for the busy few days before the Christmas break.  Happy Holidays to you and enjoy your time away from school!

Jane Feener

Gingerbread and "Elfies"

Hi everyone, it is Jane checking in once again.  I find this time of year so busy that I almost forgot to blog! One of the things I have enjoyed most about blogging this year is that the blog posts act as a record of some of the things I am trying in my class.  It is like having an electronic plan book of the school year.

One thing I have learned since moving down to Grade 2 is that this time of year in the primary classroom is exhausting and primary students love anything to do with gingerbread and elves.

Gingerbread Fun

We have been reading all kinds of books about gingerbread.  We have been learning about adjectives and nouns, comparing the books and focusing on sequencing the events in the stories.  

 After reading the Gingerbread Baby, students made a disguise for their gingerbread baby and then wrote about their disguise and why they chose it.  The Batman disguise was one of my favourites!

Next, we watched the YouTube video where Jan Brett shows step by step how to draw the gingerbread baby.  My students were so quiet and worked so hard to draw her gingerbread baby.  Here is a picture of their finished products posted on our classroom door.  If you want a nice quiet activity for the upcoming week you may want to give it a try.  

How to draw Gingerbread Baby

Finally, we made gingerbread ornaments for the students to bring home as a gift for their parents.  This is a very simple recipe using ground cinnamon and applesauce.  You can find the recipe and how to make them here.   We will put the finishing touches on them this week after they dry. 

Gingerbread Ornaments

Take an "Elfie"

Memoirs of an Elf

I ordered Memoirs of an Elf from Scholastic this year and my students have really enjoyed the book.  In the book, Sparky the Elf likes to take "Elfies" instead of "Selfies" of himself with his cell phone.  The students really liked the term "Elfies" so I knew I had to design something to go with this cute book.  I came up with "Take an Elfie".  I had students pick from five different cell phone templates and then draw either themselves as an elf or another elf.  (A lot of the students wanted to draw their Elf on the Shelf). When they finish drawing their elf they have to pick a writing page which includes a hashtag to tell about what their elf is doing in the picture (Is it Christmas Eve? Are they helping Santa, etc., )  I can't wait to display the finished products!

Take An Elfie

You can find this activity here.  

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!  I hope you enjoy your time off with your family and get a much needed rest.