spirit

ah yes, so here we are at christmas eve day...best damn day of the year of you ask me. (coming in second to the first day of summer vacation, naturally.) the anticipation of santa clause, seeing family you haven't seen for a while, the overall joy and kindness of people around you. it's just excellent. anyways, i thought it would also be a good day to share the last of my classroom elf on the shelf's adventures. doodle had a good run, but i am not crying in my cheerios that he won't be back in january. this little magical elf should've been coupled with a large bottle of excedrin. (and served with a side of extra patience.) although these elves are supposed to make kids want to behave in the weeks leading up to christmas, the excitement he created kinda caused the whole idea to backfire. anyways, here is what happened last week when the stuffed elf went rampant in the room.

monday.

everyday, i write the date and three sentences on the chalkboard. we read these together and talk about different words, letters, punctuation, and the children also come up to the board to read them. i rigged doodle up with a magnet and he had a special message for the kids. i was hoping to drive home the "santa is watching" part of the elf's magic. (ie/ let's not act crazy today.) however, as they came into the classroom and looked around for him the normal excitement ensued when they spotted him. one kid yelled, "LOOKKKKK!! he can WRITE! he's so smart!!" when i picked my lucky winners to read the sentences, each came up to the board, eyeballed doodle, and then read proudly to the class. doodle seemed to be a confidence booster, because i picked one of my shiest students and she came up and read louder and prouder than i have heard her read all year. (i need an elf costume. seriously.)

tuesday.

the kids in my class are super excited about puzzles. so i went to the dollar store last week and stocked up on some new ones for playtime. when they came in tuesday and saw this set up...they surrounded the table and the conversations about him began. "so do you think he'll SHARE at playtime??" was the general question. then they all turned to me and one child asked, "mrs. s, do you think that doodle will share his puzzles at playtime? you always say we have to share." i assured them that if doodle chose not to share, i would ask him about his choices. they all nodded. when the first student stood up to start playtime, she walked over to the table and said, "excuse me, doodle, would you mind if i did your doc mcstuffin's puzzle?" (good manners!) she slowly pulled it away from him and got busy. what ended up happening that day at playtime was this...the entire class pulled up chairs and was surrounded around the red table playing with the new puzzles. doodle was laying in the middle of it "watching" them. they were having conversations with him and i was cracking up from my desk. at least they were calm. (whew.)

wednesday.

i remember i was running late to school this day. getting a 1 and 3 year old out the door by 6:20am is quite a feat in the morning. when i got to school, i totally forgot about doodle. therefore, 5 minutes before the kids came in...i plopped him in the castle with his minions and hoped for the best. sure enough, they filed in and found him. they started calling him "king" doodle. however, i remember this day quite vividly, because the kids were absolutely bonkers. there was a full moon, the weather was changing, and combined with the holiday...it was a recipe for disaster. everyone was off the wall. i mentioned to my principal at my planning time how crazy the kids were...i told her it was like they were hitting up the christmas crack. she laughed hysterically and told me that she was pretty sure some of the teachers were also hitting the same pipe. anyone that doesn't believe that lunar and barometric changes effect people should visit a school or a hospital during these times. usually i can tell when it's a full moon without even looking at the calendar. as i wrapped up my day, i had little patience and energy left...but knew i had to suck it up for my own two sally's at home. i also knew i had to prepare some noodles for doodle's adventures the next day.  

thursday.

if you follow my stories, you may recall one that i wrote about a lesson that i did using the help of noodles. (see noodles) this was a huge hit and my students still talk about that day like it was the best day of their lives. we made noodle necklaces the day after this lesson, and they loved it. many of the kids asked me if we would ever make noodle necklaces again i told them probably not. so when they walked in the room on thursday and found this...there were high fives, cheers, claps, and major excitement. (over noodles and a magic elf. yes.) i asked the kids if they thought doodle wanted us to make noodle necklaces and there was a loud consensus of "YESSSSS!!!" (ok then.) i challenged them to create a pattern with the colors when they were making them, and most accepted the challenge and did an awesome job. they wore their chrismassy necklaces to lunch and there were ooohhs and ahhhhs from the other kindergartners, first, and second graders they came in contact with in the cafeteria. (they were pumped.) one child told me that he was going to be sure to keep this necklace in a safe place at home...because his dog ate the last one. (haha!)

friday.

for doodle's grand finale...i wanted to go big. with the help of dunkin donuts, doodle rolled some snowballs to share with my students. sidebar: i tried to make snowmen out of the munchkins using toothpicks, but i failed miserably. it looked like doodle when to a snowman shooting range, because they all had fallen over. (whoops.) anyway, i got some fake "snow" spray at the dollar store (that place is a teacher's best friend) and got to work. i knew damn well that upon eating the donuts, there would be an extra sugar rush in the room, so i had an extra cup of coffee that morning and pulled up my big girl panties...hoping to survive. as the children skipped, hopped, jogged, and jigged into the room...they surrounded the table and there were smiles a plenty. (including on my face.) as they finally settled into their seats, i walked around and shared doodle's donuts as they worked on their morning work. powdered sugar covered their faces and the christmas spirit had fully taken over my classroom. (well done, doodle.)

in closing, there are some days that i really don't think i can do my job. it's emotionally and mentally draining. i get attached to the children i teach...i share their joy, but i also share their pain. a lot of them have a lot more going on at home than i even know about and many of them have been through a lot more difficulties in 5 years than i have been in my whole life. however, what it boils down to is this...the kids i spend my days with always end up teaching me so much more than i teach them. their tolerance, kindness, joy, enthusiasm, love, laughter, and lightheartedness is something i carry with me all the time. so on christmas eve, i hope that you welcome some of this in your own life. i hope that you can embrace what really matters, like family and friends...and let go of all the other nonsense that bogs you down. (it's not worth it.) moreover, be kind to one another. you never know what other people are going through or who they may be missing this holiday season. as santa clause makes his way into my house tonight and our classroom elf on the shelf makes his way back to the north pole...i hope that my own kids and each of my students have a very merry christmas. (or whatever happy holiday they may celebrate!) i wish the same to all of you. i encourage each of you to channel your inner five year old this holiday season and always. if not...you are truly the one that is missing out.