The End of 2014!

I had good intentions on getting this post out earlier, but you all know the cliche'...better late than never! 

It's hard to believe, but 2014 is out and 2015 is here! As I get older, the years seem to pass more quickly.  December was quite busy with our visitor from the north pole, Jingle, a visit from Santa, making gifts, and learning a little about Hanukkah.

The Elf on the Shelf was delivered to our classroom straight from the North Pole as the package was covered in frost! The room was spiraling with excitement as we unwrapped the package. We quickly learned we had a boy elf and he needed a name. This is how we found our unnamed elf when we returned to school.

The kids took an online survey with some boy elf names and the majority vote was for Jingle...so Jingle it was!

Each day, the kids would practically run me down at the door, sometimes even forgetting our morning "greeting routine" just to get in the classroom to see what Jingle had done or what notes he left us from the day before.

 We quickly learned that he was not really mischievous, but more like a friendly elf. He left us kind messages and treats, decorated our whiteboard with lights and even shared a couple of jokes. He brought excitement and happiness to our room.

While Jingle was making his PRESENCE in our room, we were making PRESENTS for our parents. The kids were busy like little elves working on their gifts. They made a beautiful cards, decorated wrapping paper and wrapped their gifts!

Two Star Academy parents came to teach us a little about Hanukkah. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much the 2nd graders already knew. After the menorahs were lit, the kids enjoyed playing a traditional game of dreidel. This was an absolute hit!

On the last day of school for 2014, we did a gift exchange where everyone brought a gift wrapped book. I loved this idea because it meant everyone was leaving with a new book for the break. To make things more interesting, we did the book exchange "White Elephant" style. Can you guess the most popular books? If you said Minecraft, you were correct!  

One of my favorite parts of the day was watching a movie with the kids while eating popcorn, mini-cookies, and drinking hot chocolate, all of which was donated from our Star parents!

To top off this fun-filled day, we had another visitor from the North Pole...SANTA! He delivered "snowballs" (white glittery playdough) to each student, took a few photos with class and quickly grabbed Jingle before heading back to the North Pole.