Questioning

We learned that good readers ask questions to help them understand what they read!

They ask questions BEFORE they read!

They ask questions DURING the story!

They ask questions AFTER they read!

We learned that there are two types of questions.  One type is thin or skinny questions.    

These questions don't make you think as much and they have a quick answer.

Questions like who, what, when, where, and how are thin or skinny questions.

There are also thick or fat questions.   

 These questions make you think and do not have a quick answer.

Questions like what if, how come, and I wonder why are thick or fat questions.  We try to ask thick or fat questions the most!

Elf on the Shelf

The "Elf on the Shelf" came to visit our classroom for three weeks in December!

 On his first day, we found him reading his own book.  We decided to read it too!

 He told us that we couldn't touch him or he would lose his magic.  He also told us we had to name him.  We voted and named him Mr. Squigglepants!

 The next day we found him in a book bucket!  He must love to read!  He had a Top Secret envelope for us!

 There was a letter from Santa inside the envelope.  Santa told us that he spilled hot cocoa on his laptop while working on his Christmas duties for children around the world!  He offered a challenge to the children.  He wanted them to learn lots of facts about Christmas around the world and send the files to him.  My class was up to this challenge!

 Our first job was to make file folders with a checklist of all the countries we would learn about.

The next day Mr. Squigglepants was found playing a math game! 

 He wrote us a letter from Sweden!

We made special hats that children in Sweden wear at Christmas.

Girls wear crowns with real candles!


Boys wear cone shaped star hats!

 That silly elf got into the band-aids one day!

The next morning we caught him stuck in a bag of M&Ms!

 He also left us a special message written in M&Ms!

He wrote us a letter from his adventures in Germany!

 We wrote facts about Christmas in Germany.

We made tannenbaums or Christmas trees in German.

 Mr. Squigglepants got into a bag of marshmallows and made snowmen!

 He left a note saying that we could eat the rest of the marshmallows!

He wrote a letter from Italy!

We learned that La Befana brings gifts at Christmas to good girls and boys in Italy!

 We also learned some Italian words.

 We found him on top of a pom-pom!

 Mr. Squigglepants wrote a letter from England!

 We learned about the yule log.

We made our own yule logs!

 He was SO tired from traveling around the world.  He decided to catch up on his sleep one day!

 One day the elf made snow angels!

 He wrote a letter from Holland.  We learned that St. Nicholas leaves toys and a shiny penny in the shoes of good girls and boys in Holland!

 Here's our letter from Mexico!

 We learned that the poinsettia is a special Christmas plant in Mexico.

 We made poinsettias!

 Oh my goodness!  That is one silly elf just hangin' out, literally!

 

Mr. Squigglepants wrote us a letter from our very own United States of America!

 
We wrote facts about Christmas in the USA.

 We made Christmas lights!  People in the United States love to decorate their homes with Christmas lights.

We wrote about our own family Christmas traditions. 

 Viniya puts up a Christmas tree.

 Josiah L. makes Christmas cookies with his mom.

 This child leaves cookies for Santa.

 This child also leaves cookies and milk.

 Dennis' family likes to give presents.

 This child likes to put the star on the Christmas tree.

 Christmas lights and tannenbaums!

 He decided he needed to shave!  He also left us a special note thanking us for helping him help Santa.  Mr. Squigglepants left a treat to thank us.  He asked that we send our file folders to Santa to help him.  So, we did!

 Devin and Terrell were so surprised!

After school, I sent these to the North Pole!

The next day, each child found his/her file folder, a thank you note from Santa, and a treat from Santa!

 This was my favorite holiday unit in my 12 years of teaching!  The looks on the kids' faces each morning for three weeks was priceless!