Elf on the Shelf, Day 1

The innocence of third grade means I can do Elf on the Shelf and they still believe in the magic of the season.  The elf is not tied to any specific religion and I clearly stated that she is the winter elf.  As a public school teacher, I can't endorse any religion and there's a very fine line between the separation of church and state.  

Our elf will teach about Hanukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa.  Our elf will teach about holidays around the world.  

But first, meet our elf:

I purposefully selected the larger, plush elf from Target just in case the elf gets thrown because it won't hurt if it hits someone.  Again, I hope this doesn't happen but it's good to be prepared.

As a class, they named her Snowflake.  This was a natural opportunity to embed some civics skills.  I took student suggestions and wrote them all down:

Students picked their top three favorites and then voted a second time, settling on Snowflake.  

We talked about expressing our opinions, respecting others, and respectfully disagreeing while still being friends. (If only government officials could sit on these lessons.)

My student teacher Ms. P created this amazing sign for our door:

We wrote a letter to the class:

We set up our first day set up:

We discussed the most important rule: No touching the elf or she loses her magic. 

Ms. P and I planned out the rest of the days for the elf, so stay tuned!