A Little Elf Magic

Does one of Santa's magical little friends visit your classroom each year?  If not, you are missing out on some much needed sanity at this time of the year!  Our Elf on the Shelf, Elfie, made his appearance Monday when we came back from Thanksgiving break and my sweeties have been absolutely wonderful these past two days.  What's even more fun is that I've incorporated the Elf on the Shelf all in our learning this week using my Elf on the Shelf: Literacy and Math Activities.  I just realized how yucky my pics look.  I guess that's what happens when you leave your "real" camera at home and use your phone instead.  Sorry!

Syllable Sort

I held up the pictures and called on a student to name the picture and clap while saying the word to tell how many syllables the word had and then added it under the elf with that number.  They do the same for the recording sheet and color in the elves to show how many syllables are in the word.

Patterning

There are several different pattern cards.  On the back of each is a small envelope.  The cards to duplicate the pattern on top, extend the pattern in the middle, and create a pattern on the bottom are placed on the back of each card in the envelope.  On the recording sheet they cut and glue to extend the patterns.

Here's Elfie!  And yes I'm cheap like that!  We have a plush Elf on the Shelf that was $18 compared to the $30 ones.  There's my note from Santa and of course, he sent one to the boys and girls as well.  The middle pic is of our behavior forms Santa sent for me to fill out at the end of each day.  Elfie takes them to Santa at the North Pole each night so Santa knows if our class was good or bad that day. It's working!  We're 2 for 2 on the smilies.

Elf on the Shelf Craft

We're making these tomorrow.  Each one will have the same hair and eye color as the student who makes it.  Then we will do a little writing so Elfie can let Santa know what we want for Christmas.

Beginning Sounds

Students match the picture each elf is holding with the letter that it begins with.  For the recording sheet, I just have them turn over an elf card and say the picture name and write the beginning letter sound.

Counting Candy

Students count the candy on each card and match it to the elf with that number then record it in the correct spot on the recording sheet.

Number Sequencing

Students line the elves up in number order 1-10, 11-20, or 1-20. 

Count the Room/Write the Room

Students find the elves hiding in the room and record their answers on the recording sheets. 

If you need some Elf on the Shelf magic for your room, you can check it out here or by clicking the pic below.  It's on sale now for $5.20 plus you can get another 10% off by using the code CMT12.



{FREE} Let's Talk Turkeys! Craftivity

We've been gearing up for Turkey Day the last couple of days with a couple of craftivities.  Our first order of business was to make these sprawled out turkeys.  I think they turned out absolutely adorable but MERCY ME if you have a student that has a little difficulty following directions and you want to keep all of your hair, you may want to forego the turkey making process with that child.  Totally kidding (sort of)! 

We read some informational texts about turkeys and made a tree map.  I forgot to snap a pic of the tree map but we included things that turkeys are, can do, and have.  The students were able to supply words to complete each section based on what they had learned about turkeys from the texts we read.  We then used the tree map to fill in the blanks on our Turkey Talk writing page.  You can get this FREE packet here or by clicking on the pic below. 

We also made the little indian children that you can see in the display.  I tied these to math and we learned about pattern cores.  They glued their pattern core to their little headbands on their indians.  Then they extended the pattern on a sentence strip.  And NO the pattern strips are not beside the indian children that they go with (with the exception of the redheaded indian child).  We totally ran out of room on the wall and ended up sticking them up wherever there was room.  Can you believe they only get to stay up for another week and then it'll be time to deck the halls??? AHHH!  Where has the year gone?

Last Week's Literacy Centers

We had so much fun reading There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie last week.  The kiddos love The Old Lady books and this one was no different.  With the exception of the few kids who may have thought that perhaps it was going to be me that may die while I was reading the book.  Something nasty hit last week and left me without my voice and looking like I probably was on death's door so it's no wonder a few were a little teary as I croaked out the words to the story and sounded like somebody really was dying.  Seriously, I think they were REALLY worried the old lady was going to explode and die.  Their little eyes were as big as saucers.  I hope I haven't traumatized their sweet little selves.  Since she lived we were able to have lots of fun with her during literacy centers. 

                                                    Sequencing the Story with a Flow Map

Students worked on sequencing the story.  They cut out the pictures and glued them in order on the flow map. 

Save the Sight Words

Students had to help save the sight words from being eaten by the old lady by writing them in the correct places as fast as they could.

Alphabet Soup

In this center students worked on beginning sounds.  They turned over a card, named the picture and the sound they heard at the beginning, and colored in the pot with that letter on the recording sheet.

Where's the Old Lady?

This was a whole group game we played.  I hid the old lady card behind one of the pies.  The students took turns coming up and reading the sight words.  If they read the word correctly, they got to look behind the pie for the old lady.  They loved this and it made them want to learn those words! 



Congrats to Kelly and Kim!  You are the winners of the giveaway last week.  Your files have been sent to your email.

November Homework Sheet {Editable} FREEBIE and a Giveaway

To download the editable homework sheet for November, just click the pic below.  I love the ease and simplicity of keeping the same sheet throughout the month and just making quick changes each week.  I hope it helps some of you out as well.

Thank goodness for getting Election Day off!  I've gotten so much done.  Plus I think I'm (finally) getting my creative juices flowing again.  It's been quite awhile since I've posted any new products and I was able to finish up 2 with my time off so I'm going to do a quick giveaway.  Just leave a comment with your email and I'll choose 2 winners with rafflecopter sometime tomorrow afternoon.  Here's what you can win.

 I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie



Help Save the Turkeys!