Oh You Better Watch Out....

Something I've learned to do much better than last year?  Roll with the punches.  Or better yet go with the flow.  Not only is this week the last week of school before Christmas break... but we've had a death of an elder recently, many absences, and changes to the school day schedule.

My kids giggled at me because I had a bit of flour on my nose when we were rolling out our cookies.

Our Christmas plans were as follows...

Wednesday:  Gift Exchange and Cookies
On Wednesday a half hour before school ended Miss Wilson hustled back to her house (which happens to be less than 30 yards away) and brought over gingerbread cookie mix, cookie cutters, and boxes of presents.  When my class began to realize we were doing something out of the ordinary their eyes lit up.  We cut out gingerbread men, stars, hearts, and even reindeer.  After that we read How the Grinch Stole Christmas and they played Grinchical Chairs, an idea I got from Pinterest.  They then got open presents that were donated to my classroom by amazing family friends.


Thursday:  Polar Express Day
Thursday was supposed to be a crazy day anyway, because our school was putting on a Christmas program.  Unfortunately there was an elder who passed away recently, causing our school to get out early for the funeral which changed my Friday plans of having an all day Polar Express party.  So, Miss Wilson pulled on her big girl pants and got over the frustration of changing plans.  My class got to watch the Polar Express, drink hot cocoa, and eat the gingerbread cookies we made from the day before.

Friday:  Christmas Program

Today, was a crazy and fun day that reaffirms why I am a teacher.  I stopped all the students in the hallway and told them I'd gotten tickets in the mail for the Polar Express.  They had to write their names and dates, and then MOST IMPORTANTLY put the ticket in their right hand pocket of their coats.  Then the day went by with the finishing up our Polar Express movie, learning about new holidays such as Kwanza, Hannakuh, and New Years thanks to Brainpop Jr.  Between all of this we put on our Christmas play, which was a readers' theater of the Snowmen at Christmas  We went to lunch and Santa came in and traded out our tickets for bells for "those who truly believe".  I am not sure who created the tickets and tags, but I'm sure I found them on Pinterest somewhere.

Home FREE
 It's officially the end of the semester and the year for me.  See you all sometime over break with an update on how my Indiana Christmas goes.