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Do you have a silly classroom elf? Having a class elf is one of my favorite traditions for the month of December. Students love it and can’t wait to see what new silly things the elf is up to each day, and let’s be honest, I enjoy it too! Read on for some silly elf ideas for the classroom along with some elf free printables to use before the holiday break!
If your classroom is anything like mine right now, the December chaos has kicked into high gear and you are doing everything you can just to get through the next few days until Christmas break.
Our classroom elf always makes his grand appearance at the beginning of December and does all he can to help keep my students on track and on task.
Without further ado, meet Chris, our silly elf friend who updates Santa on our classroom behavior all month long.
Not only is it fun to have a classroom elf (and to have another little incentive to make positive choices), but there are a ton of educational elf ideas for the classroom that you can have fun with, too! Read on to learn some of my favorites and to grab some elf free printables to go along with them!
The first day that our elf, Chris, appears, I have my students draw their own picture of him in their journals. Then, they write adjectives to describe him. This was a total spur of the moment lesson I came up with years ago that turned into a classroom hit that I use year after year.
Another fun thing that Chris does each year is bring us December and Christmas themed math centers straight from the North Pole!
The package is always ice cold and everything. My students like to inform me that Chris needs to work on his handwriting skills!
One time, Chris got into our magnetic letters and left my students a message that said, “You need to listen.”
My students all said, “Uh oh! We’re in trouble with Santa!”
Sometimes, Chris plays ornery tricks on us. He got into my sticker basket, and this time, the roles were reversed. The kids all said that he was going to be the one in trouble with Santa!
Have you ever seen those “What’s Your Elf Name?” ideas? I’ve always seen them, but then it dawned on me… my kids would LOVE this!
My creative wheels started turning one day and I made this little Elf Name Writing FREEBIE to share with you!
We made our own elves to go along with it. I used this great FREE template from Surfin into Second.
I took their picture and printed them on the color printer at the school in 4×6 photo size. They cut out their heads (this was almost the funniest part, just to see their reaction) and attached them to their elf bodies! Look at how CUTE they turned out!
Once we had our elves made, then came the fun part… learning what their elf name was. This was hysterical! They took the first letter of their name and the month they were born to discover what their elf name was!
Here are a few of our elf names:
I’d love to know… what is YOUR elf name? Leave your name in a comment below! I’ll go first, I’m Jolly Cupcake!
Chris the Elf has been such a fun tradition for my kiddos every year. Despite all of the craziness, they are OBSESSED with him. They talk about him constantly and whisper their secrets to him. It makes my heart so happy. He definitely helps out with some behavior issues too. I hope that you can use some of these elf ideas in your classroom, too!
If you’re looking for more elf activities, check out this blog post!
Math should be fun, not stressful. Ditch the timed math fact tests and replace them with math games that will help your students learn and retain information more effectively.
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