A New Year!

In 2014, I resolve to be more involved with blogging! Starting this blog has been such a rewarding experience, and I look forward to being inspired by even more educators in the new year. To start, I'm linking up with Jennifer from Simply Kinder for a teaching blog linky party! Head on over to find some fabulous teaching blogs!

Another resolution I have is to start putting more of the resources I create and use on TpT. I've been using that site since student teaching to find ideas, and now I'm ready to give back some ideas! I'm starting my resolution today (a little early, I know). Enjoy this New Years freebie activity with your class! Students can brainstorm their resolutions, and write a letter to their future self stating what they resolve to do in 2014. 

To grab a copy, head over to my new TpT shop!

I've been looking everywhere for a great activity for the first day back, and found several ideas on Pinterest. Make sure to check out my New Year's board for ideas!

Elfcapades

Hi friends, how were your holidays? My Christmas was fantastic. I'll admit, I did a lot of last minute shopping, which is very unusual for me. But in the end, it all turned out wonderfully, and enjoyed the time with family and friends. After all, that's what the holidays are about, right?

Amidst all the holiday hoopla, I've been meaning to link up with Michelle from Apples and ABC's and Mel from Seusstastic to share what shenanigans our little classroom elf has been up to lately! Here are a few snapshots of Tinsel from this passed week...

On the third day, he R.A.C.K.'ed our class, leaving us little elf erasers, and left us a note asking that we pass on the kind gestures to others in our school.  He even left me a "How to RACK" note - what a little helper! The kiddos LOVED this! Right away, we brainstormed ideas for who and when we could deliver little acts of kindness. We started with a fourth grade class down the hall; each student wrote an inspirational post-it note and as soon as their class left for lunch, we tip-toed into their room, and left these little surprises on their desks! Each day we surprised another room, and spread the holiday cheer!

I'll admit, I was a LITTLE annoyed that Tinsel sprayed the window for this subtle hint. 

Isn't he so creative? The kids immediately tweeted about how they would spread cheer on our classroom Twitter. 

On Thursday he was feeling "On Top of the World" with our elf-tastic behavior! 

On Friday, he told us that he had "SNOW much fun" in our classroom and left each one of us a little treat to say thank you for his time with us. We were sad to see him go, but we loved having him!

Tinsel really was so much fun for our class - I couldn't have asked the North Pole to send a more well-suited elf for the job! It was so fun waiting for someone to spot Tinsel each morning, I'll definitely miss it when we go back in January. 

I'll leave you with a little motivation...

Only a few more days until 2014! I'll be back in a few days to share a recap of our last week before break, a freebie, and some planning ideas to celebrate the new year! Can't wait!

Currently December

With December being such a short month, our class is going to be jam-packed with activities galore for the next two weeks! I came in early over the break and decorated the room - it even snowed! (Well... it's fake snow, from a can, that doesn't melt!) While decorating, I had a neat idea for December. Why not ask Santa for a classroom Elf on the Shelf? So, I wrote a letter to the Elf Boss asking for the best behaved, well-trained, elf for our classroom to help monitor our students during this busy time of year. I addressed the letter to the North Pole, and hoped for the best. Wouldn't you know, this week, we had a special announcement that a package had arrived! It was Tinsel, our unique classroom elf, assigned from the Elf Boss at the North Pole to watch over our class. It was too perfect! Tinsel is making a great addition to our classroom. So far, he's really enjoyed "hangin' out" 

Unfortunately, in the chaos of the first day, one of my kiddos grabbed him from the box. Panic spread around the room - the story goes that you can't touch an elf, because they will lose their magic powers and won't be able to return to the North Pole each night to report back to Santa. Even though we were discouraged all day, we were greeted by Tinsel the next morning as he "hung out" under our whiteboard with a little note explaining that his boss was kind enough to provide him a second chance with some magic. (we could even see he was covered with sparkles - must have been his elf magic!) We are hoping for Tinsel to have an enjoyable stay with us for the rest of the month of December! I just hope he stays out of trouble!

I'm linking up with a fellow fourth grade blogger, Farley from Oh Boy Fourth Grade for this month's currently:

 

  

Have a splendid week!

Miss S.