Sorry I have been kind of MIA. Life can get crazy!
December is coming up. With that comes crazy Christmas fever and behavior. The elf on the shelf is wildly used to influence positive behaviors in and out of the classroom. Here is how I incorporate and use the elf in my classroom!
This begins with Santa leaving a note on the whiteboard asking if he should bring us an Elf this year. The kids are instantly excited and begging to answer. We write him letters asking him to bring us an elf! They get sent to The North Pole and we anxiously wait for a response.
Our elf arrives after Thanksgiving Break. I know it is early but, it saves my sanity. A Christmas tree will magically be set up in our classroom when the kiddos arrive Monday morning as well.
Around 9:30 Santa, my dad with his name changed in my phone, will call and let them know that he just delivered a gift to the school. He will tell the kids where he left it and who needs to go get it. (I provide him with a script) The gift will be stored in the freezer because, it came straight from The North Pole! The Cold package adds to the Christmas magic. The package has a hole in it that looks like someone escaped!!
We will open it together and inside will be 3 letters. The first letter will introduce the Santa Cam. I had the Santa Cam made by someone local. You can find them on Etsy for 6-10 dollars. The Santa cam is wrapped at the bottom of the package. I use the letter from Cooties and Cuties. Check it out!! Santa Cam
That letters mentions that there won’t be an elf coming to their class this year. I will edit the second letter when I read it aloud to say that an elf was sent last minute because Santa changed his mind.
Their is also a letter included for me! This letter tells us how Santa knows we use a scoreboard in our classroom. On the last 12 days before Christmas break, our elf will be bringing a present. If we win the scoreboard, they get to open and keep the present. If they lose, they can open the present but they don’t get to keep it. These presents are little random acts of kindness. The letter and presents are from Teaching Maddeness. Guess what? They’re free! Check out her blog post with the download link here.
Our elf will also bring some new fun management tricks! The kiddos will each receive a naughty and nice present sheet. Every time they are caught being nice, they will get to color in a present. When it is full, they get to pick a ticket reward. These are all free or cheap choices like picking the brain break or getting a candy cane off the tree. Their full present sheet will hang up on Santa’s Hall of Fame! He will also bring us a jar labeled elf kisses to fill up with Hershey’s kisses (he brings those too). The class will decide what reward they will get for filling up the jar. Knowing my class this year, they will pick pajama day! These are all found in Cooties and Cuties Santa Cam pack.
Each afternoon, before we go home, the littles will write in their elf journal about where the elf was and draw a picture of it. These journals will also be in our special package!
Our elf will bring us little gifts during the month, like elf on the shelf pencils and erasers from Target. I will blog again to show you some of the fun things our elf has done and brought! Stay Tuned!
Do you use an elf in your classroom? Let me know in the comments below!
Confessions of a Real Teacher 