Christmas Cheer

Seeing as how it’s almost New Years, I figured I should get crackin’ and post my entry about Christmas. It truly is the busiest time of the year (aside from report cards).

We really enjoyed our time with our Elf on the Shelf, Jackie. I made sure I took pictures of all her funny hiding spots and I ended up putting them into a collage and giving each student a copy. Now they can look back and think about their beloved elf whenever they miss her.

 Can you believe she went onto my phone and took a selfie?!

 I guess elves have a hard time on Mondays too.

 It turns out Jackie is good friends with Twinkle (an elf that belongs to a girl in my class) and they had a sleepover at her house!

Jackie’s last day was spent relaxing in a marshmallow snow bank

Jackie left after school on the last day before the break. The kids were devastated, but maybe they’ll see her again next year…

I didn’t get around to making any ornaments this year but it was because I was so busy with our Christmas project. As you might remember, last year my Grade One class learned about the Goshen School in Uganda. The kids wrote letters to students at this school and raised money to help them have a nice Christmas. The project was so meaningful and taught so much about empathy that I knew I had to do something like this again.

I didn’t want to do the exact same thing though.  After Remembrance Day, my class was really interested in learning about the war. This got me thinking about current soldiers who are away from home, involved in the war overseas. With some help from the Canadian government website, and suggestions on teacher groups on Facebook, I was able to figure out a plan.

Each student wrote a letter addressed to Any Canadian Soldier. They each wrote a very thoughtful letter introducing themselves, asking questions to their recipients, and letting them know that even though they are far away from home over the holidays, many people are thinking about them and feeling grateful for all that they do.

I wish I had pictures of some of their letters. Sadly, I didn’t take any. I then took all these enveloped letters, put them into a larger envelope (to save on 26 stamps) and mailed them all off at once to a base in Belleville. From there, our letters will be sent to the soldiers. Maybe we’ll have some mail once we get back!

To go along with this theme, we sang So This Is Christmas by John Lennon in the holiday concert. My hope is that after discussing the meaning of these song lyrics and talking about those who aren’t with their families at Christmas time, I have taught my students that material gifts are not the most important things to have at Christmas time. I also hope they have gained empathy for those with different situations.

When we weren’t engaged in our Christmas project, we were having some good old fashioned fun with Christmas books and elves. I repeated a fun craft I did last year with my Grade Ones and had my Threes and Fours Elf Themselves! Click HERE for the link.

I leave you now with some of the books I read to them over the last few weeks. These are great Christmas stories to add to your holiday collection.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and has a Happy 2015!

Area Math Game

We started a unit on area and played some fun math games. Two colleagues of mine drew my attention to this game and I put a Medieval Times spin on it. Each rectangle is a castle!

What You Need:

-1 grid (in page protector)

-2 dice

-1 white board marker

How To Play:

-Each player rolls the dice (example: a 4 and 6)

-That player draws a rectangle 4 units down, 6 units across

-Player writes his/her initial in the box

-Player uses multiplication to calculate the area of the rectangle

-The next player does the same thing

-If you cannot fit a castle on the grid, you skip your turn

-The game ends when no one can go

Differentiation

-Students can roll two dice and build the castle however they’d like as long as the area matches the product of the dice

-For beginning multipliers, use one dice and always multiply by 2

Now, let’s see what Jackie the elf got up to this week.

We have a rule in our classroom that Base Ten blocks are not for building structures. The kids just couldn’t believe that Jackie was getting away with breaking a rule!

 She could see everyone from up here…

On Friday, we usually have a Free Write. Can you believe Jackie snuck onto the photocopier and sabotaged my morning writing activity?! I caved and let the kids respond to her instead. Besides, look at the hilarious answer she got!

I wonder what she'll get up to in the week ahead...

Currently December

Listening: The Apple TV Radio App has a Christmas station called A Christmas Special. You can find it under the Adult Contemporary list. We’ve been playing it non-stop.

Loving: It goes without saying that I love Christmas time and the whole holiday season. The music, the lights, the tree, the decorations, the overall cheery atmosphere everywhere you go…what’s not to love? Maybe the mall on a Saturday afternoon.

Thinking: I need to be productive this weekend. I have a TON of marking and feedback to get through and I need to start wrapping gifts. This weekend is going to fly by.

Wanting: Here’s a confession: I’m a present snoop. That’s right. A few years ago I confessed to my parents that I had been snooping for my presents from the ripe age of 6 (at least that’s my earliest snooping memory). They were horrified. I’ll admit it has backfired on me a few times. Like that time I was convinced that the Pirates of the Caribbean DVD I found was for me and it ended up being for my brother. Talk about disappointment. Anyways, Rob is well aware of my ways and knows better than to hide my gifts in the house. Now I can’t snoop and I have absolutely no idea what he got me. It’s killing me.

Needing: A few weeks ago, one of my best friends had a beautiful baby boy named Jackson. We’re finally going to her place tomorrow to meet him. I can’t wait!!!

Giving: Last year I set the bar really high with my Grade Ones when we did a big Christmas project by helping a school in Uganda. The kids also sang Do They Know It’s Christmas Time in the holiday concert. Read all about it HERE. I wanted to do something meaningful again so we are getting into the giving mood by giving a friendly Christmas letter to Canadian soldiers who are currently stationed overseas. More on that to come in a later blog post.

Thanks Oh Boy Fourth Grade for the Currently!