doodle

meet doodle. he joined our classroom this past monday. if you know nothing about this elf on a shelf nonsense...let me fill you in. basically it's a ploy to get your kids to behave in the weeks leading up to christmas. it is also a way to bring the magic of chirstmas into your house...or in my case, my classroom. there is a corresponding book that you read to the audience you are going to be entertaining with this little guy. it states that the elf goes back to santa each night and reports everything he saw during the day. here's the thing...the kids really believe this. truth be told, they believe almost anything you tell them. that's why the words of adults to children are so powerful. if you tell a kid they are worthy, they believe you. if you tell a child they are worthless, they believe you. your words are very (very) weighty to a child...so choose wisely. anyway, i read the book on monday to my class and the fun began. only one child stated, "that's just a dumb toy, he's not really magic!" (the other children gasped.) i ignored him, because i knew i could sway his opinion in the next couple of days. our first task was to name this fella and i did this by allowing each child to come up with one name and we made a master list. then, i pulled three names from the list out of a hat and each child voted on one of the three. doodle won. however, it was second to the name...michael jackson. (no joke.) i'd be lying if i said i wasn't totally pulling for the the king of pop. that name choice would've been awesome. (MJ the elf? yes.)

tuesday.

on tuesday morning, the kids blew into the room like they were fired out of a cannon. they were exceedingly excited to see what doodle would be doing. they found him in the reading center, on a pillow...telling a story to a group of stuffed animals. after they are finished their morning work, they are typically allowed to go to the reading center and pick a book to sit quietly until we start our 'morning meeting.' a funny thing happened on this day though, when they went over to the carpet, most sat facing the elf with their books, like they were reading with him. it was so stinking cute i couldn't get over it. the elf of the shelf story states that if a child touches him, his magic will be lost..so they were all really careful not to lay a finger on him. remember the kid that said it was a dumb toy? when he came to the carpet to read his book, one of my rowdy knuckleheads got a little too close to doodle...and then it was the little nonbeliever who yelped, "STOP! DON'T TOUCH HIM! HE'LL LOSE HIS POWERS!" (hook, line, and sinker.) and onto day three.

wednesday.

as the kids were lined up in the hallway to come into the classroom on wednesday, one of my favorite little girls smiled a big smile and i saw that she had lost one of her front teeth the night before. (it was wiggly the whole day on tuesday.) i said, "oooooo! it came out! did the tooth fairy come!?" she said, "yep! and she brought me 2 whole dollars!" i told her that her tooth fairy must have gotten a side job, because when i was a kid...she only brought me a dollar. anyways, they all hustled into the classroom like their pants were on fire and started searching for their friend. they found him playing a game of jenga. (giggles galore.) one of the kids asked, "how did he BUILD that!?" i just shrugged my shoulders and told him that i'm guessing he got back from talking to santa early and had some time to kill...so he decided to play a game. at playtime, they were super careful not to knock down his tower or touch him. the little girl who lost her tooth skipped over to my desk and said, "so he only moves when it's dark right?" i said yes. she exclaimed, "i wonder if he was hanging out with the tooth fairy last night?!" i smiled and thought that this was an excellent assumption. onto day four.

thursday.

so doodle got into my paint stash on wednesday night and this is what the kids found on thursday morning. they were jacked up about it and one of them exclaimed, "ohhhh mannnn, he got into your paint mrs. s! we aren't allowed in the paint closet...and then turned to the elf and said, "WAS THAT A VERY GOOD CHOICE, DOODLE?!" it took everything in my being not to laugh. when i discipline children, i always ask them if they, "have made a good choice or bad choice" and here was this little girl asking this stuffed elf about his choices. (awesome.) i had one of my students pull a magazine out of her bookbag first thing after she walked into the room. (i could see it was a bed, bath, & beyond ad) she walked toward me, her hands were shaking and said, "i found this last night...doodle is FAMOUS! HE'S FAMOUS!" sure enough, in the magazine there was an ad to buy an elf on the shelf for $29.99. however, she didn't know about the prices and/or advertising...she just saw a picture of "our" elf in a magazine and thought he was famous. (that's just hilarious.) i gasped and showed the rest of the class. all their mouths went agape and they were in awe. (i laughed on the inside.) good god i love kids.

friday.

friday morning when my students skipped into the classroom....doodle was not in plain view. they had to search for him. they walked around calling, "doooodllleee, doooodlllee, dooodllee!" (it was funny.) they finally found him on the "road rug" (in the play center) doing this. (they were all hysterical.) laughter filled the room and they surrounded the stuffed elf and were making car and train noises at him, as if their sound effects would make him move. a little boy turned around to me and said, "gees! i just wish we could PLAY with him!...can i just stay here overnight so i can see when he moves?" (i don't think your mother would like that.) after they all got settled in their seats, they kept looking over at him to make sure he wasn't going to make any movements on the rug. (like drive away.) i caught one kid really eyeballing him and wondered what was going on in that little brain of his. i'm sure it was something awesome...like doodle was going to hijack the car to the cafeteria and snag some snacks. (a child's imagination is insane.)

so at the end of week one of doodle's appearances, i know my kindergartners all believe that he was watching them throughout their school day and reporting back to santa at night. i also know they believe that i had nothing to do with the way he ended up in the morning. (score!) quite honestly, i don't know who had more fun with this...me, or them. there is something so innocent and pure about a child's belief in santa claus, or an elf on the shelf. (or the tooth fairy for that matter.) they honestly looked forward to it each morning, and i looked forward to their reactions. it was awesome to see how excited they were and if i could bottle their enthusiasm...i would be one very rich woman. in closing, i will say this...i'm pretty sure that if that makers of "elf on the shelf" choose to make a "teacher edition" they should include a complimentary ritalin salt lick to place at the classroom door for each child to take a little taste of before they enter. (you heard me right.) the commotion that this little stuffed creature caused was uncanny. despite the ruckus that he created quite early in the morning (i prepared with lotsa coffee), it was totally worth it. i look forward to 10 more days of his presence and hopefully 10 more magnificent reactions out of the 5 year olds i spend my days with. whether you participate yourself in the elf on the shelf sorcery or you think it's stupid...i hope that my class helped you to become a believer. i know they really helped to put me in the christmas spirit...and at the end of the day, that's so much better than being a scrooge.