Christmas Shenanigans

Hi, everyone!  We are knee-deep in Christmas festivities!  I thought I'd share what we've been doing in case you need a few ideas for the upcoming week.  There are also a few freebies in this post so read carefully.

We've been having fun with our Christmas centers!  Below are a few photos of them in action.

To help with behavior/classroom management this time of year, I use Rachelle's {from What the Teacher Wants} Santa and beard.  I just printed/laminated the Santa head.  Then, I hot glued some magnets to it.  I also hot glued some magnets to the bottom of large, white pom poms.  Each time I catch the kids working quietly, transitioning quietly, etc...they earn a piece of the beard.  So far they have earned extra recess and a pj party!

Speaking of classroom management, the elf came to visit!  He's been another nice little behavior tool. Upon arrival, he left a note with some voting ballots.  We decided on 3 names and then voted from there.  His official name is "Jolly."  Later in the week, Jolly brought us some "Elf Diaries."  The kids LOVED receiving them!  For a few minutes each day, we've written about Jolly and his shenanigans!

We spent a week reading various versions of gingerbread books.  We made a large organizer comparing them.  We also did a few graphic organizers to review various reading skills like beginning-middle-end.  We made these cute gingerbread men from Laura Bensley {Crafty Bee Creations}.  Grab Laura's gingerbread craft for FREE below!  Grab a gingerbread freebie from me HERE.

On Monday, we are reading Santa's Stuck, doing a written response about how we would get Santa out, and completing another craft by Laura Bensley {Crafty Bee Creations}.  I love her crafts! Excellent fine motor skill practice!  Grab the free writing prompt page HERE.

I've been prepping for our holiday party/the day before winter break.  If you haven't checked out my "Twas the Day Before Christmas Break" pack, I highly recommend it!!!  It contains a craft, a BINGO game, a sight word game, a Math game, a poem/reindeer food activity, icing a cookie and writing about it, and writing holiday friendship notes.

xo
Megan