Justin Bieber, Chicken, and Thank You!

How was your first day back?

Mine was terrific, but a bit scattered (as you can see by the post title). We had many s-l-e-e-p-y children who needed to get back on the scheduled eating and "being awake" expectations we follow at school :)

I introduced our classroom elf today! If you are on the fence about it (as I was until this year), DO IT! I was actually nervous about it...are my firsties too cool and the rigor too low? Answer: NO!

He arrived special delivery to my Power Hour group and we first made predictions of what we might be receiving from S. Claus at the North Pole (a cat, flashcards, a scooter?). Next we met the-one-without-a-name and read Santa's letter. Then we got down to the business of naming him. Here are the finalists:

Just so you know, I'm terribly jealous of all the cute elf names I've seen out there on your blogs. I'm dealing with Justin Bieber! 2nd runner-up was Santa Claus's friend (no!) and yes, my own name made the list (???)

Anyway, it was a blast and even my "toughie" first graders were full of questions. Adorable! One student was having a rough afternoon and I whispered to him that I checked on JB earlier and he wasn't there! So he must be somewhere in the school watching and taking notes for Santa. Was that wrong of me? One of my super sweeties added that she saw him in the hallway 

(bless her  ♥!). 

To up the rigor just a bit, my students will be completing a writing journal of J-Beeb's activities. Today we filled out the first page:

 Sorry for the photo quality of my old iphone! 

And we did proofread to correct the capitalization!

If you would like to download my entire Elf Antics packet, 

please click here. It's free!

The above freebie is also linked up at one of my very favorite blogs:


I'm also linking up with a teacher who seems to have an absolute blast in her classroom! Mel D from Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations is hosting a linky party to share all our elf mayhem fun:

At my own house, I'm putting my own spin on the elf 

and dug out this gem:

It may be difficult to see with the glare (this was before the sun came up!), but it's a chicken counting down to our beach vacation!!! He's sporting sunglasses, sun block, and my fave picture of our beach spot! I'm not sure what he's going to be doing tomorrow...

I woke up to something wonderful today!

I don't even know what to say! I remember being so excited two years ago when I reached 100! It's a honor and I am so thankful :)

Have a wonderful evening & happy Cyber shopping!