There's an Elf on my Shelf!

Growing up, we had these elves in our house around Christmastime. To tell you the truth, I always thought they were a little creepy! So a couple of years ago when I saw them in the stores packaged with a book, I was intrigued. The story is that the elf is a scout sent by Santa to keep an eye on you and report back to the big guy whether you should be on the naughty or nice list. Still a little creepy to me, but I can see how parents must dig this! I know if I had kids of my own, I'd probably be putting up shelves in every room around this time of year!

Not actually having children, I figured this was a tradition I wouldn't take part in. That is until I stumbled upon the coolest teachers in the universe who brought this tradition into their classrooms! Why hadn't I thought of that? So this year I am ready. My little elf is hiding in the closet now, but he's ready to come out and zipline from the projector to the whiteboard, play cards with Barbie and Ken and make snow-angels in the pencil shavings (this is Florida after all). Check out my Elf Pinterest board for some more ideas.

I have quite a large Jewish population in my school and specifically my class, but to be honest, most of them actually partake in some form of Christmas festivities. I will explain of course, that this is just for fun and if you believe that the elf goes to Santa, then he absolutely does. If you don't believe, that's your choice, but it doesn't mean we can't have some fun together!

I also created some resources to use to make this more of a learning experience. I made two journals, one for primary kids and one for intermediate to draw a picture of how the elf was found that day and what they think he did the night before. The one for the older kids is set up like an investigation into the elf's mischief. I think I'm going to go with that one myself.

Edited on 11/23/13: The unit listed below is back in my shop with a new name and a new look!
See it here!

There are also some skill pages and writing response activities as well:

Take a peek at them in my TpT store if you'll have an elf on your shelf this year by clicking on the picture below:

I woke up this morning at 5:00 with so many ideas swirling around in my brain for a fun way to celebrate the holidays with you guys and I think I finally figured it out. I had to quickly write some things down with my eyes half open so I didn't forget them as my husband observed, "That little brain of yours never stops!" Nope, sure doesn't. And for that I'm forever grateful!