J is for Jack

Whew! It's been so long since I've been able to write a blog post. I wanted to share some elf news.

Jack is back.

Jack the Elf is back in my classroom for year 2. (I never got around to posting about him year 1.)

He reappeared two days ago.

My class has been so excited, but not as excited as last year's darlings (now 3rd graders). They have been asking my new darlings if Jack's done this or that. Too cute.

This is how Jack showed up last year. The box was ICE COLD.

We opened him and read the letter from Santa. We named him Jack.

They were excited to find out what Jack had been up to each night.

Here is a slideshow of some of his antics.

Slideshow created with Smilebox

We loved the Elf Kisses that he left, but not as much as the permission to hug him good-bye. There were some tears. His mini letter said he hopes to come back next year.

Well...he did. Or has, I should say.

He showed up on my table with a new letter from Santa.

I love how serious they are about not touching him.

You'll never believe it, but he somehow got out of his box while we were on a field trip Monday and threw books all over the carpet and sat ON MY THRONE! How DARE he! =)

He must have gotten tired today hanging on to our First in Math necklace.

This year, a lot more kids in my class have an elf at home. So far I've heard many stories of their elves' capers. One darling even told me his big brother touched his elf so they had to look up how to fix him. (Apparently you have to put some cinnamon next to him and that gives him enough strength to fly to the North Pole Elf Doctor.)

I'm sorry to my coworker who has a darling in my class...I don't know HOW Santa chooses who gets an elf. =}

I'm thankful that Elfontheshelf.com has added a Teacher Portal to share wonderful ideas and that many sellers on TPT have created some fabulous units. Of course, Pinterest is an awesome resource for finding elfish things.

We are also excited to watch the Elf on the Shelf movie on December 14.

If you have an elf in your class or at home, I hope you're enjoying it as much as we are. Even if your elf doesn't listen and stay on the shelf either.

 Keep sharing ideas and pictures!

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T is for Tricky Dogs

Today, one of my favorite things happened. We had our Quarter 1 AR Celebration and it was the TRICKY DOG SHOW!

I seriously LOVE this show. It includes 7 of the most adorable dogs I have every seen (except for my two crazies) and their funny owner, Rick Martin.

Picture from Trickydogs.com

I love this show so much that I have kept the postcard Rick gave out one year on my fridge so I can look at those precious puppies all the time. Here is proof:

Seriously.

I love that these dogs are from shelters, or "recycled", as Rick likes to say. He tells all of the their stories and teaches the kids about animal safety. My favorite is Chico. He's been with Rick the longest and used to be the star of the show. I've adored Chico ever since the Tricky Dog Show has been coming to our school years ago. I had tears in my eyes today as Rick explained how Chico is getting old so he gets to ride around and watch all the other dogs do the work.

Anyway...sniff...

Today my class got a lucky break. Usually Kinder, First, and Second grade goes to the first show so we end up in the waaaay back. Today, however, a third grade teacher had to switch times so we got to sit in the FRONT ROW! My darlings said we had VIP seats since we were in front of the "big kids".

The best part of this was that Peewee the Poodle fake peed on us AND three of my darlings got to go ON THE STAGE!

I'm not going to lie...I was kind of jealous I didn't get to go on the stage.

Here is the intro of Cricket's death defying trick. Cricket is the newest dog and she's won me over already! She is in training.

You can hear me laugh at the "balancing a leftover hotdog" part in this next one.

And in the last one, Cricket used my little darling on the right as a springboard.

Rick teaches the kids that they can go to the library and check out books on animal training like he did when he was a boy. He also encourages them to choose and read books that they are interested in and to read for fun.

I am so glad we get to have this wonderful show at school. It's great to see people of all ages laughing and enjoying themselves while learning. These are the memories my darlings will keep forever.

Go check out The Tricky Dog Show's website and watch some videos of the dogs in action. It's sure to make you laugh.

Happy Friday Eve!

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C is for Currently (November)

It's November and that only means one thing. I'm going to be busy and stay busy until about, oh, Spring Break.

I'm not complaining though (yet) because I LOVE this time of year.

Except that I live in Florida and I'm SO COLD when it is 61 degrees outside. (My darlings and I discussed how we shouldn't say "I am freezing" unless it is 32 degrees or lower.) I must have really thin blood.

Anyhoo...

It's time for November's Currently from Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade.

I use this CD mostly during Writing time. I have a darling this year who is really connected emotionally to music and he likes everything but Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. It made him really sad. Otherwise, my darlings call it "thinking music" and ask me to play it.

I'm off to see how much flour and butter I have. Count down to Turkey Day with the darlings: 7 days! Then it's break for a whole week! Yay!

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