Now You See Them; Now You Don’t!  1 2 3 Come Do Some Elf On A Shelf Activities With Me

The Elf on A Shelf is a children’s picture book written by an American mother and daughter Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell, and illustrated by Coë Steinwart.

The book was self-published in 2005 and  comes with a small elf. It's written in rhyme with watercolor illustrations.

The gist of the story is that Santa knows who is naughty and nice by what his elves report back to him as they fly back and forth each night.

Upon returning, they pick a new place to hide. By choosing a new hiding spot, the members of the family play an on-going game of Hide and Seek.  Children are encouraged to name their elf.

Once the elf is named, the "scout" elf receives its special Christmas magic. Now they can fly! However, the magic might go if touched, so the rule for The Elf on the Shelf states: "There's only one rule that you have to follow, so I will come back and be here tomorrow: Please do not touch me. My magic might go, and Santa won't hear all I've seen or I know."

In the hope that students will settle down, stay on task, and be better behaved during the hectic month of December, teachers have now gotten on board and purchased an elf for their classrooms. 

To launch Elf on a Shelf read the story and let the good behavior modification begin!  After all, Santa now has a spy in the room, and the teacher has a helper that is watching.

If you're looking for a costume to wear on the day you introduce your elf activities, or perhaps dress up in for story time, I found one at Oriental Trading.  It's just $16.  They also have an apron, or simply don the hat for $3. Children's sizes are also available, and would be a real hit in your dress up box, 

I spent over an hour sourcing pictures of elf antics, 'til my head was actually spinning!  There are virtually 100's of ideas Online, so I decided to start a PIN board with my favorites.  Click on the link to catch the Elf Excitement.

If your budget is tight and you'd like to make an elf, instead of buying one, I designed "Twinkle."  He's made out of a decorative lunch bag.

I bought my bags at  Hobby Lobby. Click on the link to view/download Twinkle, the Elf on a Classroom Shelf "craftivity."

This is also a very easy thing for your kiddo's to make, and can act as a great behavior modification technique, as I've included "Tally Tags." 

Children choose one and glue it to the front of their own elf.   Whenever you catch a child being good, or when they have completed a task, they may add a tally mark to their card.

Have them use a red marker for tally marks 1-4 and then cross the 5th tally with a green marker. 

To ensure honesty, remind students that the elves and Santa are watching, so no cheating. You could also let them know that you have a student tally total that you keep track of, so if you find a discrepancy they will lose their card.  You really don't have to keep up with this, just show the paper and it will hopefully do the trick.

Feel free to walk over and add tally marks to children’s bags without saying a word.  Believe me, they will be aware of what you are doing and get right down to business.   After school, add tally marks to whom ever had a good day. This tally mark can be from the Elf on a Shelf.  So children can readily see a difference, make the elf’s tally mark in another color like blue or purple.

Because of the book’s popularity, elf activities were being requested, so I decided to design some.  I also had a few "oldies but goodies" which you can find below.

Click on the link to view/download The Christmas Elf, which is a spatial direction booklet, that also has several “craftivities” included, like the stocking with a photo of a real elf tucked inside.

Simply take a picture of each of your students wearing an elf/Santa hat.  Students trim and glue to the back of their stocking.  A graphing extension is also included.

 The booklet Little Elf What Do You See? is a rhyming booklet that incorporates the 5 senses. 

If you have lots of kiddo's and want to conserve paper, you'll want to use my up-dated mini version.  Click on the link to grab this FREEBIE.

Lots of Common Core is covered, as students read, circle capital letters; add end punctuation; underline adjectives; trace and write the "senses" words and then color, cut and glue the matching pictures.

 If you're looking for an elf-related writing prompt have students respond to Santa's wanted poster. 

He's looking for seasonal elf help.  Children write why they feel they'd make a good elf. 

After students share their page, collect and collate into a class book.  A "You're Hired!" certificate and "Official Santa's Helper Button" are also included.   Click on the link to view/download the Wanted: Elf Help packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  I design and try to blog daily, so I hope you can pop by tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES hot off this elf's computer.   Feel free to PIN away.

"I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel." -Buddy, from the movie Elf

Cylinder Santa Windsock: A Great Keepsake for Christmas!

The cylinder is one of the tricky 3-D shapes for my Y5’s to grasp, so I try to do things with cans and toilet paper rolls.

We also make at least one windsock a month and December is the perfect time to make one that will become a treasured keepsake.

Cylinder Santa is not that difficult, and reviews a variety of flat shapes as well as brings home the vocabulary word cylinder!

Here’s How:

• Depending on the ethnicity of your students, choose a facial color construction paper for Santa’s face.
• This will be the cylinder.
• I use the smaller sheets of construction paper and glued them together so that my paper is 21 inches long.

• Run off my templates on a duplo.
• Click on the link to view/print the Cylinder Santa Handprint Windsock patterns OR...
• Click on this link to print the Cylinder Santa handprint windsock patterns, pictures and this article's directions.  Cylinder Santa Handprint Windsock "Stuff"
• Cut Santa’s brim strips on a paper cutter.
• To cut down on time, and because my students are younger (this is a lot of cutting) I have the holly leaves, nose, mouth, and eyes pre-cut.

• A room helper has also traced and cut their hands the day before.  She traces once, and then cuts 4 hands at a time, then paperclips them together.
• Students cut out their hat and circle pom pom.
• They fold the hat down and glue their circle pom pom to the point.

• Teachers always want to know why my cotton fur always looks so real and my students don’t glue the whole cotton ball on their artwork, even when they are told not to.
• It’s because I have them pre-rip the balls apart ahead of time, making it a contest to see who can make the nicest pile of ripped up cotton FLUFF!
• Since I’ve been doing that, their piles no longer resemble a cotton ball, their fingers get a wonderful fine motor work out, and their artwork from Santa’s cap to adorable sheep, look very realistic!

• Put a dollop of tacky glue on a small paper plate. Students use their index finger or a Q-tip to rub glue over their circle pom pom and then pinch pieces of fluff and stick the cotton pieces to the sticky surface.
• Have them repeat the process for Santa’s brim.
• I have the pre-cut pieces lying out at a table.  Once children have completed the fur step, they pick up the appropriate pieces and return to their workspace and glue Santa’s face on.

• Remember to model how to do this before your students make their own Santa windsock.  You will then have a sample to hang up in front of the class for them to refer to.
• When children are gluing on santa’s mustache remind them not to glue down the ends so that they can fold them forward giving a 3-D effect.
• Younger students may need help fanning out their handprints as they glue on Santa’s beard under his smiling lips.

Special Extra's:

• Students come up to the "Trimmings" center to work one-on-one with me.
• At this time, I let them rub their pointer finger in dry pink rouge powder so they can give their Santa some cheeks. Copper and bronze also look nice.
• I’ve experimented with other things, and like this even better than chalk. My students think this is “way cool” especially the girls.

• I use double-sided green pin-dot scrapbook paper for the holly leaves.  One side is darker than the other and gives their Santa just a bit more pizzazz than plain construction paper.
• Children choose two red sequins and a ruby flat-backed rhinestone for the 3^rd berry. They adhere them in a cluster in the center of the leaves with glue dots.
• I make veins on the leaves with Elmer’s glue and they sprinkle green glitter over the top.

• Set aside to dry and then using a glue stick, rub a stripe of glue down one side of their paper and roll their Santa into a cylinder.
• Staple top and bottom for durability.
• Punch a hole on either side, suspend with yarn, and hang from the ceiling.

• The Santa Cylinder Windsocks look darling running along the top of a wall in the hallway.
• A black Ellison die-cut caption can read:  “Here’s Ho Ho Hoping you have a very Merry Christmas!  Better behave; our Santa’s are watching!”

Do you have a tip you can share of how you teach the cylinder shape or a fun Christmas craft?  I'd enjoy hearing from you! diane@teachwithme.com

Be sure to pop back tomorrow and I'll share a fun reindeer puppet that you can make out of a lunch bag!

Get Ready; Get Set; Let's Go Around The World For Christmas!

Happy TBT (Throw Back Thursday).  Since I'm buried in over 12 inches of snow, as schools and activities continue to be cancelled for the last two days, I decided it was time to do some Christmas activities. 

I realize there's still 10 days left in November, but with winter beating on my window, I can no longer cling to fall.  It's time to move on. 

I'm throwing things way back today, with one of the first big units I ever designed.  I'm reposting it, because my Christmas Around The World packet, continues to be one of my most downloaded items. 

I hope you enjoy this blast from the past.  Keep in mind that it was designed before I had all the cute fonts, clip art and design programs that I now use, but it's never the less filled with lots of goodies that I think you'll enjoy. My personal favorite, is the cereal box suitcase that you store everything in.

So hop on board the Global Holiday Express and enjoy a reindeer ride to Mexico, Canada, England and other parts of the globe.The internet has brought our world closer and put it virtually at our fingertips. 

We are truly just a click away from the Far East where we can grab some spices for our gingerbread creations. So if you're ready for a little adventure, then come celebrate Christmas Around The World  by clicking on the link for 124 pages of fun.  Pick and choose whatever you feel is age appropriate for your kiddos.

Because of special requests from upper elementary teachers, I've up-dated this packet to include some templates for older students, including an interesting writing prompt: If you REALLY could go to any country in the world for Christmas break, where would you go; who would you go with; how would you get there? etc. 

First stop, we need to make a cereal box suitcase. It comes complete with travel stickers and a luggage tag, which helps students practice writing their first and last name as well as their address. 

Two file folders become a briefcase that holds a passport that children help create.  I used real passports to help me design one.

This activity reinforces name and address writing and is a math extension where students measure each other to determine their height and weight.

 The Christmas Around The World suitcase is the perfect place to put souvenirs that represent the countries they visit! (Completed art projects, maps and papers.)  

There’s also a pocket that holds airline tickets. 

Children have a ticket for the country that they’re researching, one for the USA and one for their favorite country, to be determined after the unit.

 Besides traveling to foreign countries, students also learn about their own state.

Children write a page about their family’s Christmas traditions or winter festivities if they don’t celebrate Christmas.

Their “State” pages and these two personal pages become part of their suitcase; and copies are made into a class book.

There are many graphing opportunities in this study: Do you hang a stocking? Do you have a fireplace? Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

 Each student chooses a country and armed with a list of websites to check out, must find 4-5 facts about how Christmas is celebrated there. 

They are given a map and flag of their country; this is cut and glued on their Christmas Around the World page, along with how people say “Merry Christmas” in that country.  

When students finish their research/writing assignment, they share it with their classmates; and a copy is made for another class book.

 All students keep a Christmas Around The World travel journal, of all the countries visited.  For some super-interesting background information, click on the Christmas Around the World link.This site lists 32 countries.  Click on the country you want to learn about, and you'll find out super-interesting details of how they celbrate Christmas.

As students share their country, everyone's passport is stamped and they put a sticker dot on their world map, locating that country.

The Christmas Around The World crafts I’ve chosen to share, are ones that you could plug in for quite a few countries.

Putting up a tree and lighting candles seem to be universal practices for many.

The poinsettia is perfect to represent Mexico, but also the USA.  Did you know that an average of 65 million are sold nationwide, grown commercially in every state, and that California is the leading producer? 

Besides America, gingerbread also fits several countries, especially Germany where Nuremberg is known as the gingerbread capital of the world.  However, England and France are famous for their gingerbread “fairs”, and several places in Canada have Christmas cookie exchange parties.

 December wouldn’t be complete without climbing aboard The Polar Express, and  reading stories like Mem Fox’s Australian animal tale Wombat Divine, Australia) and Robert Barry’s tale from England, Mr. Willoby’s Christmas Tree, as well as several different gingerbread stories that can be compared and contrasted; they all make great additions to your Christmas Around The World traveling adventures.

 While celebrating Christmas Around The World we also sang songs like, We’ve Got The Whole World In Our Hands, adapted for this unit. (Students trace and cut out their hands and wrap them around the world for an awesome 3D craftivity.) 

Come embark on a most extraordinary adventure, discovering unique cultures and traditions, that although different,  bring you a little bit closer, as your students celebrate Christmas Around the World.

Whatever you’re doing this season as you study geography, I hope you hear the jingling of those sleigh bells, that help transport you on a magical journey.  Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away!

"God bless us everyone!" -Tiny Tim