Playing Catch Up

I'm so relieved for Christmas break!!! I had every intention of keeping up daily elf blogging, but that last week of school just about did me in. Even with all of the chaos, I witnessed some great moments in the classroom. I watched one sweetie gladly give her candy cane to a classmate who had lost hers. The entire class cheered on the last student who had to reach his AR goal. They all knew we were having a Polar Express party Friday, and tickets had to be earned by reading for AR. 

The good news is all my shopping is FINALLY done, and I found some great sales. I don't want to see another parking garage or mall until March. (Yeah right, I'll be at one of my favorite malls next week putting some gift cards to good use.) 

I was all in a panic yesterday because I knew the final week of Seusstastic's  Elf Linky would start yesterday. I haven't seen it go live yet, but I'm gonna go ahead and give a quick run down of Clara Cupcake's final week of antics. 

I was all in a panic while writing this post because I couldn't find all the pictures. It took about 10 minutes before I realized I'd already blogged about Monday's elf antics, ugh. I was having a not so bright moment.

Clara Cupcake somehow changed all the backgrounds on our classroom computers Tuesday. The minis found this highly funny. 

Wednesday she was caught trying to eat goodies from the estimation jar!

Later in the day at student wrote Clara Cupcake a note. She was concerned about the elf in her sister's class. Apparently Snowflake had been touched and lost all his magic. I had a teacher buddy place the note in her hand while we were out of the room.

The following morning this note was left with an update on Snowflake. Thanks again teacher buddy for stepping in!

The class Christmas party was the next day, and Clara Cupcake was making some mysterious preparations.

Finally Thursday arrived and we finally knew why the paper chain was on the window. Clara C. decided to give bungee jumping a try!

I must admit I felt bittersweet about Clara C. spending one final day with us on Friday. At last the day of our Polar Express class party had arrived.

This copy of The Polar Express has been read and loved by lots of students in four years.

As I mentioned before, students had to earn their Polar Express ticket by reaching their AR goal. I always love the last day before break because it's pajama day and goes along perfectly with what we were doing. 

This year I decided to set up a hot chocolate bar for us to enjoy while we watched the movie. My awesome principal let me borrow the water urn. Preparing a cup of hot chocolate for each student seemed like it took forever, but it was worth it to me. I was expecting all sorts of craziness Friday. Instead we had a fairly peaceful day filled with some great memories and yummy treats. 

We've come to the point where I get nostalgic. There'll be no more carols on the radio. The trees will be taken down and wrapping paper put away. Another Christmas is almost passed. I always get a little sad after Christmas is gone but I'm looking forward to all the possibilities of the new year. Have a wonderful and very Merry Christmas teacher friends!