Monday, December 12, 2011
The Adventures of Elfie Day 8
Today Elfie was found sitting on top of the box that holds in the computer cords coming out of the wall (I don't really know the "real" name of it). The kids didn't really get to see him much today since they were in Miss M's classroom learning how they celebrate Christmas at the White House as part of our Christmas Around the World unit that we always do the week before break. In fact we didn't even get to write in our Elf Journals until right before we went home today. Elfie did observe the students from Mrs. H's class behaving quite well while they were in our class learning about holiday celebrations in Israel. He is sure to put in a good report for her students!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
The Adventures of Elfie Day 7
December 9,
Today we found Elfie laying on top of our smart board projector. He looked pretty comfortable all the way up there.
Elfie had a perfect view of everything that we were learning today. He could even watch the kids while they were on the carpet learning. When the students looked up to see if Elfie was watching this is what they saw.
We decided that yep, elfie was watching us! Elfie also left us the fun Pop up book Christmas by Robert Sabuda from yesterday for us to read and look at. Because it's so delicate I don't think it will be making it back to the book corner, but will be on loan from my desk. Next week we are doing a Christmas around the world rotation within our 1st grade team. The kids are going to be learning about traditions from a few places around the world with a little math and literacy tied in there as well. It is always a good time and the kids have fun and actually behave a little better for the other teachers than they do their own teacher. It's a great thing to do the last week of school before break!
Today we found Elfie laying on top of our smart board projector. He looked pretty comfortable all the way up there.
Elfie had a perfect view of everything that we were learning today. He could even watch the kids while they were on the carpet learning. When the students looked up to see if Elfie was watching this is what they saw.
We decided that yep, elfie was watching us! Elfie also left us the fun Pop up book Christmas by Robert Sabuda from yesterday for us to read and look at. Because it's so delicate I don't think it will be making it back to the book corner, but will be on loan from my desk. Next week we are doing a Christmas around the world rotation within our 1st grade team. The kids are going to be learning about traditions from a few places around the world with a little math and literacy tied in there as well. It is always a good time and the kids have fun and actually behave a little better for the other teachers than they do their own teacher. It's a great thing to do the last week of school before break!
The Adventures of Elfie Day 6
December 8,
Today the students found Elfie sitting on the corner of my desk enjoying a book. He was reading the pop up book called Christmas by Robert Sabuda. My students were so excited because they wanted to read the book. I told them that I didn't want Elfie to get mad that we took his book he was reading and that maybe he would leave it for us to read tomorrow. Throughout the day the students noticed that while we were gone at lunch, and specials that Elfie had turned the pages in the book, which of course got them even more excited to read and look at the pop ups inside. This was also the first time that the students had been able to get that close to Elfie. I had to keep reminding them of the "Don't touch me" rule.
Today the students found Elfie sitting on the corner of my desk enjoying a book. He was reading the pop up book called Christmas by Robert Sabuda. My students were so excited because they wanted to read the book. I told them that I didn't want Elfie to get mad that we took his book he was reading and that maybe he would leave it for us to read tomorrow. Throughout the day the students noticed that while we were gone at lunch, and specials that Elfie had turned the pages in the book, which of course got them even more excited to read and look at the pop ups inside. This was also the first time that the students had been able to get that close to Elfie. I had to keep reminding them of the "Don't touch me" rule.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
The Adventures of Elfie Day 5
Today my students found Elfie sitting on top of the filing cabinet - a good place to check out the other side of the room. This is also the first place where the students have been able to get this close to him. I just hope they don't get too close *wink*
Elfie also left us a note tacked up to our date on the math calendar so that we would find it right away in the morning.
In case you can't read the note it says
Dear Class,
Santa was very happy to hear you got so many smilies yesterday. Keep up the good work. Love, Elfie
Elfie also left us a note tacked up to our date on the math calendar so that we would find it right away in the morning.
In case you can't read the note it saysDear Class,
Santa was very happy to hear you got so many smilies yesterday. Keep up the good work. Love, Elfie
The Adventures of Elfie Day 4
Today Elfie wanted to participate in Math Calendar. When the kids came in the found him hanging upside down from our calendar bulletin board in the room.
This year I have been using a new kind of class reward system. I got the idea to use "smilies" and "saddies" from the Whole Brain Teaching website. My kids love it. Today they got a lot of smilies right away and by the end of the day (well almost the end of the day - after interventions) they had only gotten 2 saddies. Because they had more smilies than saddies I had a fun activity for them to do. Instead of doing our read aloud right after interventions, I moved up our social studies lesson - a Time for Kids lesson about helping others - and did that first. I then let the students color some holiday bookmarks (we needed new bookmarks for our reading books anyway) while watching and listening to a couple of stories on Tumblebooks before packing up to go home. They were very excited to get new bookmarks but even more excited that they got to color them and that there were two so they could keep one at school and bring one home to use.
This year I have been using a new kind of class reward system. I got the idea to use "smilies" and "saddies" from the Whole Brain Teaching website. My kids love it. Today they got a lot of smilies right away and by the end of the day (well almost the end of the day - after interventions) they had only gotten 2 saddies. Because they had more smilies than saddies I had a fun activity for them to do. Instead of doing our read aloud right after interventions, I moved up our social studies lesson - a Time for Kids lesson about helping others - and did that first. I then let the students color some holiday bookmarks (we needed new bookmarks for our reading books anyway) while watching and listening to a couple of stories on Tumblebooks before packing up to go home. They were very excited to get new bookmarks but even more excited that they got to color them and that there were two so they could keep one at school and bring one home to use.
The Adventures of Elfie Day 3
December 5,
There is a small quarter sized hole drilled in a ceiling tile right above the TV in my classroom I assume it's was done at one time when they were planning on running cords for one thing or another. My students have noticed it throughout the year but never really said too much about it. On Wednesday when we got the book they were all coming up with their own theory of how an elf would get in to the classroom. A few said that maybe he snuck in through the hole in the ceiling. On Monday morning when we got to school we found this:
Here is a picture of the hole that the rope is hanging out of
The kids are all very excited and wondering where they will find Elfie tomorrow morning.
There is a small quarter sized hole drilled in a ceiling tile right above the TV in my classroom I assume it's was done at one time when they were planning on running cords for one thing or another. My students have noticed it throughout the year but never really said too much about it. On Wednesday when we got the book they were all coming up with their own theory of how an elf would get in to the classroom. A few said that maybe he snuck in through the hole in the ceiling. On Monday morning when we got to school we found this:
Here is a picture of the hole that the rope is hanging out of
The kids are all very excited and wondering where they will find Elfie tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
The Adventures of Elfie Day 2
December 2,
This morning we found Elfie in a new spot where he could see everyone in the room.
The some of the kids were wondering how he had gotten up so high to sit on top of our SMARTBoard speaker. The other students reminded them that he was magic and that he either flew, climbed or just appeared up there this morning. We wrote in their journals the first thing this morning when they were done with their math facts. They have been loving Elfie and have even been reminding each other that he is watching and to behave.
This morning we found Elfie in a new spot where he could see everyone in the room.
The some of the kids were wondering how he had gotten up so high to sit on top of our SMARTBoard speaker. The other students reminded them that he was magic and that he either flew, climbed or just appeared up there this morning. We wrote in their journals the first thing this morning when they were done with their math facts. They have been loving Elfie and have even been reminding each other that he is watching and to behave.
A Surprise Visit
December 1,
So today about 15 minutes before lunch Mrs. C our Vice Principal called down to my room over the intercom and said that I had a package in the office. I asked if it could wait until lunch and she said that it looked pretty important and asked if I could send a student down to pick it up. So I sent one of my boys down to the office to get it. He came back with the package with Mrs. C in tow - I suspect that she wanted in on the action that was about to occur in my classroom. He brought the package over to me and when I had asked him who it was from he said with an excitedly puzzled exclamation "It's from Santa!?!" Of course this sent all the other students rushing over to see what could be in this box. Mrs. C even through in "I think I heard some noises coming from inside the box" he he he. I asked the kids to predict what it could be knowing that it was a package from Santa. Of course they all thought it could be an elf or maybe a toy or a note... one hungry student even shouted out "MAYBE IT'S A CHICKEN NUGGET!" - it was close to lunch after all *smile*! I carefully opened the box and inside we found this:
Of course the kids were STOKED! We decided that we had better read the book again to find out what we should do next and to see if there were any directions on how to take care of an elf. We read that the first thing we need to do was give him a name. I asked for some name suggestions and threw in a couple of my own. The suggestions were Friendly, Elfie, Elfonzo (mine), Scoobie Doo, Nicey, and Elfredo (also mine). The students voted on a sticky note and the winner was Elfie. After we named him we continued to read the book and were reminded of the rules:
1. You can not touch the elf.
2. The elf can not talk to you - Santa's Law
3. The elf reports to Santa each night
I told the kids that after lunch we would try to get our the Elf Journals that were included in the box but that I didn't know if I could get them out without touching Elfie. When we came back from lunch this is what we found:
Elfie was perched up on the edge of the box so that we could easily get the Elf Journals out of the box. The kids are very excited about our new classroom visitor. They even have students from 2nd grade and their big brothers and sisters coming to see where Elfie is hiding for the day.
So today about 15 minutes before lunch Mrs. C our Vice Principal called down to my room over the intercom and said that I had a package in the office. I asked if it could wait until lunch and she said that it looked pretty important and asked if I could send a student down to pick it up. So I sent one of my boys down to the office to get it. He came back with the package with Mrs. C in tow - I suspect that she wanted in on the action that was about to occur in my classroom. He brought the package over to me and when I had asked him who it was from he said with an excitedly puzzled exclamation "It's from Santa!?!" Of course this sent all the other students rushing over to see what could be in this box. Mrs. C even through in "I think I heard some noises coming from inside the box" he he he. I asked the kids to predict what it could be knowing that it was a package from Santa. Of course they all thought it could be an elf or maybe a toy or a note... one hungry student even shouted out "MAYBE IT'S A CHICKEN NUGGET!" - it was close to lunch after all *smile*! I carefully opened the box and inside we found this:
Of course the kids were STOKED! We decided that we had better read the book again to find out what we should do next and to see if there were any directions on how to take care of an elf. We read that the first thing we need to do was give him a name. I asked for some name suggestions and threw in a couple of my own. The suggestions were Friendly, Elfie, Elfonzo (mine), Scoobie Doo, Nicey, and Elfredo (also mine). The students voted on a sticky note and the winner was Elfie. After we named him we continued to read the book and were reminded of the rules:
1. You can not touch the elf.
2. The elf can not talk to you - Santa's Law
3. The elf reports to Santa each night
I told the kids that after lunch we would try to get our the Elf Journals that were included in the box but that I didn't know if I could get them out without touching Elfie. When we came back from lunch this is what we found:
Elfie was perched up on the edge of the box so that we could easily get the Elf Journals out of the box. The kids are very excited about our new classroom visitor. They even have students from 2nd grade and their big brothers and sisters coming to see where Elfie is hiding for the day.
It's a mystery!
November, 30
So today after lunch recess my students and I walked back up to my classroom. I had them get their usual 1, 2, 3, drink and told them to put away their jackets and have a seat on the floor. Our writing block is right after lunch and I like to start out our writers workshop with a mini lesson. This week we were learning about writing letters and the parts of letters in preparation for writing letters to Santa next week. I was taking my time putting my lunch bag away, getting a drink of Diet Coke and checking email quick (basically stalling ;) ). One of my students had asked "Are we reading a story?" I said, "No, it's writing time". He said "But there's a book on your chair!" I asked what he was talking about - by this time a few other students had joined him on the carpet and were curious about this book also. One of my girls even noticed and exclaimed "There's a note! It says 'Read me from question mark" Of course I played dumb and said "Who put that book there?! Did someone put it there? Did someone leave a note?" of course they all said that none of them had done it and that they were all at lunch. Then they asked if I had put the note there and I said no, and that I had run to the post office, the grocery store, and McDonald's during lunch and that I hadn't even had a chance to eat my lunch yet... cue the well placed McDonald's bag on my desk (the not eating lunch part was true... cold fries are no good when you get to eat them an hour later during your prep :-/). I asked the kids "Well should we do what the note says? Should we read the book?" They all shouted yes and so we read the book and found out that tomorrow there will be a surprise. They all predicted that it must have been an elf that left the book because it talked about Santa sending a helper to watch the students and report if they had been good or bad each day, they also said that it must have been an Elf because the note was written on green paper with a red marker and those were Christmas colors. Of course for the rest of the day there were "elf" sightings and "things moved" inside desks. Here's a picture of what our mystery visitor left us.
So today after lunch recess my students and I walked back up to my classroom. I had them get their usual 1, 2, 3, drink and told them to put away their jackets and have a seat on the floor. Our writing block is right after lunch and I like to start out our writers workshop with a mini lesson. This week we were learning about writing letters and the parts of letters in preparation for writing letters to Santa next week. I was taking my time putting my lunch bag away, getting a drink of Diet Coke and checking email quick (basically stalling ;) ). One of my students had asked "Are we reading a story?" I said, "No, it's writing time". He said "But there's a book on your chair!" I asked what he was talking about - by this time a few other students had joined him on the carpet and were curious about this book also. One of my girls even noticed and exclaimed "There's a note! It says 'Read me from question mark" Of course I played dumb and said "Who put that book there?! Did someone put it there? Did someone leave a note?" of course they all said that none of them had done it and that they were all at lunch. Then they asked if I had put the note there and I said no, and that I had run to the post office, the grocery store, and McDonald's during lunch and that I hadn't even had a chance to eat my lunch yet... cue the well placed McDonald's bag on my desk (the not eating lunch part was true... cold fries are no good when you get to eat them an hour later during your prep :-/). I asked the kids "Well should we do what the note says? Should we read the book?" They all shouted yes and so we read the book and found out that tomorrow there will be a surprise. They all predicted that it must have been an elf that left the book because it talked about Santa sending a helper to watch the students and report if they had been good or bad each day, they also said that it must have been an Elf because the note was written on green paper with a red marker and those were Christmas colors. Of course for the rest of the day there were "elf" sightings and "things moved" inside desks. Here's a picture of what our mystery visitor left us.
My poor neglected blog....
Alright I really need to be better about this kind of thing (not that I know if anyone else reads this...) I have a lot to say so I'll just post it in a few individual posts (as it should have been done in the first place) instead of posting one long huge massive novel on this blog :) A lot of things have happened since the last time I posted. First I got married this past summer so no more Miss Zenner as the blog address says.... It's now Mrs. Wood. :) I also changed classrooms. After 6 years in the same room with a 4th "wall" I now have 4 actual walls - and a little more cupboard space too! It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate after 6 years of teaching. To look back at a few pictures of my classroom my first year of teaching part of me longs for a room that is so "bare" and with much less stuff in it, but when I look around my current classroom I don't know how I did it the first few years without some of the things I have now... Like my student computers and my student mailboxes. I am in the middle of teaching my 7th year in 1st grade and I couldn't be happier! Here are a few pictures of my new classroom from the first week of school.
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