Polar Express Celebration

This has got to be my favorite day of the whole year!  I love the beautiful message the story The Polar Express leaves the reader.  Believing in the true spirit of Christmas - the beauty of the season - not the gifts - but the giving.  Of course, being a Kindergarten teacher I like to tie it into the magic Christmas brings through the eyes of a five and six year old.

After lunch the boys and girls put on the PJ's and come to the classroom.  The lights are off and their chairs are arranged in rows as they board our train.  I provide each child with a ticket and then punch each one as we settle in and read them the story.  We discuss the meaning of the story and what I love is that the boys and girls always get it.  After that the fun begins.....

                                   ALL ABOARD!

The Ticket......

We graphed ....

...and recorded the information.

We made a train glyph.  Each piece was a different color.  The color the boys and girls used depended on how they answered questions such as Do you like to play with train?  Have you ever ridden in the car in your pajamas?  Did you like the book?  Have you ever seen the movie The Polar Express?

Just then a very special package arrived!  It was very cold and it was from SANTA!!!!!!!!!!

Inside was our very own silver bell!!!!!  Also a bag of Magic Reindeer Food!

We enjoyed some special homemade Polar Express hot chocolate, cookies and birthday cupcakes from the birthday boy, Mace!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!!



Gingerbread Houses

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this day --- our room always smells soooooooo good! I actually heard one of the second graders ask their teacher why it smells like Walmart where they sell the donuts when you walk in the hallway!!!!  :o) 

 Thank you to all the parents for supplying the frosting and the fixings to decorate our scrumptious looking houses.  However, I am not so sure how much went on their houses and how much went in their tummies!!!!!

The evidence is right there on their faces --- I think most of it went in their tummies!!!!!  :o)

Grinch Day

Your a mean one Mr. Grinch...but boy did we have fun with all activities Grinch!  It was a short day with a 1:30 dismissal but we squeezed in all the fun we could.  Take a look.....

We started off our morning by reading the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  We made our Grinch faces WITH A SMILE!  The boys and girls wrote in each of their Grinchy smiles what they would do to make the Grinch smile. 

Our Grinch's heart grew THIRTEEN sizes that day!!!!

The next activity was a trivia punching game.  The kids were very excited about this one --- I wonder why!  Each bowl was covered with tissue paper in the Grinch's favorite color.  Inside the bowl was a question about the story How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  It was the kiddos against me.  Each student got a turn to come up a punch through the bowl (by the way, it didn't work as I had planned but they had fun fun fun trying to punch through the paper!!) and answer the question.  If they didn't know the answer, they could ask their friends for help.  Needless to say, I have a class full of Grinch experts!!!!

We finished off our day with a coloring sheet and watching the classic version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  What a fun day!!!!