Elf on the Shelf, Part 2

So, yesterday morning our usual elf, Bernard, was gone!  The kids just have NOT been listening or following directions, and they needed a little something to shake them up and get them back on track.  In Bernard's place was a girl elf, Bernice, with a letter for the class posted on the SMART board.  (I'm shocked no one asked how the letter got there, or worse, asked me how the letter got on my iPad which was connected to the SMART board.)

{You can see a copy of the letter I wrote for the class in my previous post.}

When I was finished reading the letter to the class, they were SILENT.  I've never seen them so fixated and quiet.  You could have heard a pin drop in that classroom.

I was initially planning on having Bernard show up in music class later that morning, but the class still had a rough morning (behavior-wise) after the initial shock of the elf's letter wore off.  (That only took about four minutes.)  Instead, when the class returned from music (where Bernard did not make an appearance), Bernice was gone too!  I told the class she must have only come to deliver the letter, and then had to go back to the North Pole.  That was what the class needed to start paying attention to directions and focus on their work.   Realizing they now had NO elf, not even a new messenger elf, they were doing everything they could to make their elf come back!

So, this morning I gave them back their elf, Bernard, plus, Bernice came back too!

The students were SO relieved to see both of them back, together!  One of the kiddos asked me if they were boyfriend and girlfriend.  I told them that elves didn't have boyfriends and girlfriends - they're just friends.  :)  (In hindsight I wonder if I should have made them brother and sister?)

It was a bit more work moving all these elves around (boy do I like to exaggerate - "all these elves"! Ha!), but I think I've finally got my class (mostly) under control and back to a place where we can try to get at least some work done this last week and a half!

Next week is going to be a DOOZY of a wild schedule: it's supposed to rain several days next week in southern California (which means indoor recess, which means crazy, cooped up kids), we have a special music schedule to rehearse for the Christmas program in the church, we've having a birthday celebration for all the kids with December birthdays, and we're decorating gingerbread houses (just to name a few!)

We teachers need to pray for each other these last few days before Christmas break!