Elf on the Shelf: Adventures in the Classroom

Last year a parent let me borrow an Elf on the Shelf for the holiday season. I had never heard of this before, so I had to do a little research. Unfortunately for my class last year our elf was a little bit of a slacker... This year I vowed to find a better elf!

 It is my honor to introduce Sparkles our class elf! 

Sparkles was a few days late to our classroom...but to keep us from worrying she sent us LOTS of fun surprises! The first day we walked into the classroom to find a brand new Christmas tree, a Nativity, a postcard from Texas and a LOT of glitter! Sparkles was in Texas on top secret Santa business.

The second day we got a postcard from Atlanta, Sparkles was on her way to visit our classroom, but she made a stop at the World of Coca Cola! She brought each student a special jingle bell from Santa's sleigh (and promised to bring Miss P her favorite book "The Polar Express") 

When Sparkles finally arrived the kids were very excited...and boy did Sparkles have some fun plans up her sleeves! Most days she left us a detailed note telling the kids how they were the day before, explaining her newest hiding spot, or telling us about Santa. I think the kids favorite day was when Sparkles built her own Zip Line! The kids each wrote Sparkles an individual letter for her to read.

One day the kids had not been on their best behavior, so Sparkles was not very pleased. She had to BEG Santa to let her stay in the classroom. Lucky for the kids Santa was in a forgiving mood, but Sparkles did not have time to reply to the letters right away...and she caught a little cold!

Do not worry! Sparkles recovered from a quiet day in the classroom and was able to write EACH student back! One of my favorite letters to a student from Sparkles...

Sparkles really bonded with our Jungle friends during her stay! The students had a hard time finding Sparkles this morning! She did a great job hiding! 

Sparkles did not just watch the students, but she brought them projects! Mrs. Claus accidentally shrunk Santa's suit and Sparkles needed the classes help in designing a new suit! Sparkles brought us the story of what happened, as well as a letter from Mrs. Claus HERSELF! The students had to design a new suit and then write a SEVEN sentence paragraph explaining their choices. (These second graders BLEW me out of the water with their writing!) 

During the last few days of school Sparkles got extra silly! One morning we came in to find her drinking a concoction of Sprite and Glitter! (Sparkles favorite color is GLITTER) 

The last day of school was the most fun. Sparkles found my wrapping paper and had a little too much fun with it. To the kids surprise she brought us BRAND new markers and crayons (she had heard some arguing students and wanted to solve that problem!) 

Overall, I think Sparkles had a GREAT stay in the jungle and I do not think my wild things scared her off! I had so much fun having this little visitor for the month of December! 

Let the Wild Rumpus Start: Classroom Tour

And the new school year has started! Well, classes officially start tomorrow, but I got to meet my fabulous group of "Wild Things" this morning!

The classroom was definitely set up to welcome my "Wild Things" to the Jungle where they would be learning for the year. I spent a lot of time and effort getting my classroom to look perfect! It definitely helped that I had an expert teaching me her ways! Seriously, everyone take a second to check out Miss Amanda's blog Let's Get Fancy in First! She is AMAZING!All of her wonderful ideas helped me put my room all together. It also helps having a group of dedicated/inspired teachers working to get their rooms looking amazing! My good friends Katie (4th) and Laura (5th) spent many hours in my room helping me out! :)

 My "new" reading corner was definitely a hit at Meet the Teacher today! All of my kiddos from last year were bummed they didn't get to enjoy it! So where did this marvelous reading corner come from?? The beautiful bookshelf was courtesy of Miss Amanda, and Laura, 5th Grade, took my WORD WALL CHART and turned it into a rug...I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

Reading is something I enjoy doing in my free time, and I think (or I hope) my love of reading rubs off on my "Wild Things:! If it doesn't, I am hoping I can capture their competitive sides with this A.R. Board! Each "Wild Thing" has a monkey that will swing from vine to vine as they take A.R. Quizzes!  

 I can't wait to start moving their little monkey clips across the vines! I had several ask me what happened if they went over the 100+ limit! I definitely love that enthusiasm!

 My little welcome board! I really loved this kit because it went with my Jungle theme, but it also incorporated lots of bright colors, allowing me to tie in the lime and teal colors!

 Everyone says you learn from your mistakes, and I definitely learned that I needed to display a Daily Schedule last year! At least once a day I had a student asking "What are we doing next?" or "When is Lunch?"  I am hoping the Daily Schedule will help solve this problem!

 My re-decorated filing cabinet was made with scrapbook paper (blue), duct tape (green) and washi tape (zebra!) It was one of the EASIEST projects to complete, and it made the filing cabinet really pop. I also added some paper to my cabinets for a little extra color. This is where I have my clip-chart and rules. I am using the Whole Brain Teaching rules, and I found so many wonderful options on Pinterest!

A close up of my clip chart...made by the fabulous Miss Amanda (seriously can you imagine what my classroom would look like without her help??) You can find this clip chart in her Teachers Pay Teachers store! (she has lots of other awesome things too)

 

Labeling EVERYTHING in my room was extra easy with FREE editable zebra labels from TPT! Find them here  I actually used these to make the name tags for my desks, because I was tired of the GIANT name tags taking up so much space!!

 Another awesome TPT addition to the classroom, my writing center! I really like this because I was able to put it up by my writing center, and it has everything my "Wild Things" will need when writing! A Checklist, Lists of Words, Topics to write about, plus examples of different types of writing! Oh and did I mention it comes with writing paper for each style of writing?

 Yet again, another piece of my room inspired by Miss Amanda! She did this border with tissue paper in her room and I was obsessed! It looks super difficult, but I found it very easy. You have to go into it knowing it will not be perfect! This board is where I am going to write the homework and display our Common Core I CAN Statements!

Well I hope you enjoyed getting a little peak into my Jungle! Get ready for lots of posts on all the fun things my "Wild Things" and I do this year!!