Classroom December Decor, Our Elf, & Upcoming Week

   This post will be a whole bunch of randomness! We have had a GREAT week despite the arctic cold that hit our state. We started the week in the 60's on Monday and then dropped to the single digits and below zero the rest of the week. Thank goodness our classroom elf, Manning, has warmed our classroom spirit up! You can read about Manning's arrival and my Elf on the Shelf unit here. After reading about his special mission it was time for my kiddos to find him each morning to draw and write about him in their journals.

 Monday: Manning arrives in style!

 Tuesday: Forget elf, mountain climber perhaps?

 Wednesday: Least someone got to sleep in on this c.....o.....l....d morning. 

 Thursday: Oh no! Where is our class pet Happy Feet?

 Manning has decided to become mischievous and piggyback ride our class pet! 

 Friday: Payback perhaps for yesterdays mischief? 

Here is a peek at part of Manning's plan for Monday. More to come later in the week!

   Last weekend I posted some pictures of my home for the holidays and this weekend I wanted to post some pictures of my home away from home...the classroom.

 Here is our writing center. I have a bunch of gingerbread materials out to support our Compare & Contrast unit we completed last week. (You can read about that here.) There are stickers, stamps, finger puppets, fancy paper, stencils, stuffed writing buddies, and picture prompt cards from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer movie. 

 Here is a look at our much loved Christmas Writing Tree. I have a bunch of arctic animals placed on the tree that the kiddos can take off and write about. This is a picture from later in the week when their "clean-up decorating" is not so pretty. 

 I changed the circle colors above my student work tree trunks out in the hall to whites, blues, and grays to represent snow. These are now covered with our gingerbread proper noun flip books. 

 This is our classroom door. The kiddos love the bells on our door ringing every time they go in and out. 

 One my my teammates door. I made asked if they could put bells on their doors too!

My other teammates door. She has bells on her door knob too! Hehe!

   Our kiddos have been having so much fun the past week with our Christmas Around the World unit. (You can read about it here.) I just love the setup we have this year being able to travel to all of the countries. This week I have the pleasure to take my kiddos to Russia and England. For Russia we will be making folding nesting dolls and for England we will be making these Christmas Poppers.

   My kiddos have been collecting toilet paper rolls for this activity for weeks not knowing what we will be using them for. We will decorate the outside of tissue paper with markers, fill the inside of the rolls with candy and little toys (those are already in my classroom),then rolling up our decorated paper and twisting the ends. Once our travels are over the kiddos get to pull both ends of the paper to make the tube "pop" and release all of their goodies.
   We are finally taking a break from addition with regrouping in math to measurement. Here is a look at the anchor chart we will use on our math focus wall to help use identify various measuring tools.

   On Tuesday we will be making our own "rulers" and measuring various sized candy bars and gummy worms. (Thank god I am not a very big candy lover because I have a lot of candy in my bag right now!) We will then be discussing and completing activities with inches, centimeters, and feet. We will finish the week by making a life sized gingerbread house with specific measurements within a group.
   I just checked the temperature for tomorrow and it is going to get up to 21 degrees! YIPPEE! A heat wave is right around the corner folks! Have a great upcoming week.

Our Classroom Elf, Manning, Has Arrived!

   Last night I was really nervous about the first day back from Thanksgiving break. How were my rambunctious kiddos going to act.....let alone my normal kiddos. I was VERY surprised that my kiddos were on their best behavior. It could be perhaps that our classroom elf made his arrival today.

    I thought it would take my kiddos forever to notice our package from the North Pole sitting on my reading chair especially with all of the Christmas decorations around our room. But, those kiddos are observant when I don't want them to be!!! They all noticed the box as they were walking into the room as though there was a blinking arrow above it. We used our inferring skills to make a prediction of what was in the inside of the box. My kiddos were so excited to see our elf, read the letter from Santa and The Elf on the Shelf book, and get their own writing journal. My favorite part was my kiddos coming up with a name for our classroom elf. I picked five kiddos at random and they gave me a name and spelling. Here were our five choices......

   I love the spelling of Elpherd. We are working on "ph" as another choice to the /f/ spelling and this kiddo really wanted the /ph/ spelling. I also thought it was too cute that we had four really creative names and then a Thomas. That made me chuckle. Anyways it was a close race and Manning scored with my kiddos. Can you tell my kiddos are a little Denver Broncos crazy?!?!? After learning that we cannot touch Manning (so that he doesn't lose his magical powers to fly to the North Pole each night to report to Santa) you would have thought that Santa Claus was sitting at my desk all day. My kiddos were little angels....even my rowdy boys. Is there a way Manning can stay in our classroom until the end of the year? Well Manning is already up to some tricks. I wonder how long it will take my kiddos to find him tomorrow morning?

    You still have time to snag my Elf on the Shelf: A Classroom Unit for 28% off in my TPT store through tomorrow. Have a magical night!

December in a Nutshell

   The last week before Thanksgiving break has come and gone so quickly. Our First Thanksgiving Reader's Theater and 2nd grade feast was a huge success! Here is a little glance at our feast after our play...

   Our kiddos enjoyed lots of mashed potatoes, corn, rolls, pie, and turkey.  And my little kiddo got to disguise his own little turkey for his first grade class last week. Here is his before turkey...

 and his after picture of his favorite living thing on earth...a PENGUIN. 

   Helping my kiddo with his penguin reminded me that December is just a week away and it is time to prep all our holiday Christmas activities. Here is a look ahead at the month of December in our classroom.

   During our Daily 5 Math rotations we will be using my math journals and Polar Express Math Centers each day.  

      During our literacy block we will be comparing and contrasting different versions of the Gingerbread Man. Here is the anchor chart we will be using with each story using sticky notes. 

   We will also go more in-depth with sequence of details, character traits, and comparing and contrasting the settings, characters, and themes. Here are a couple items from my unit. 

   Our writing will include some activities from my Arctic Animals Nonfiction Unit. My kiddos will learn about various arctic animals, which will lead up to our Polar Express unit, and write a research book based on what they learned. This unit contains over a dozen graphic organizers of arctic animals, writing templates, and literacy and math centers. 

   And what is December without a visit from The Elf on the Shelf? This little elf will come packed in a box our first day back from break. My kiddos will infer what is on the inside on the box by using the clues from the outside of the box. Inside will be The Elf on the Shelf book, elf, student journals, and a letter from Santa. My plan is to have our classroom elf hide each day around our room the first week and then become mischievous the last two weeks before Christmas break. My classroom kiddos will draw and write what the elf is doing each morning in their journals. You can get my Elf on the Shelf unit, with package labels, Santa letter, student journals, persuasive writing templates, and math centers, and all of my other December themed units by clicking on the above images. 

Happy Thanksgiving!