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.
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!
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