Rudolph's Crazy Cousin, Math, and Dear Santa

So we are back into the swing of things after being off a week for Thanksgiving break. My kids were pretty mellow on Monday. So mellow that I wasn't sure if they were very excited about the little elf that paid a visit to our room or maybe the teacher just needed another cup of coffee!! LOL!! 

But…on Tuesday the walked in eagerly looking for her. They voted on a name for her and our elf is now called Rockstar! They are so into our Rockstar theme classroom that our magic elf had to be named after it. I thought I took a picture today, but apparently that was just a figment of my imagination. I promise I will share photos of Rockstar at a later date!

I wanted to share a super cute art activity and quick writing that we did on Monday. Thanks to Stacy over at Funky Fresh Firsties I know have Ruldolph's Crazy Cousins all over my room!! Here are 2 samples from my firsties!! They loved making these. I had them add the cute light bulb clipart!!

We have been practicing our math and language rotations. Since I am new to first grade this year it took me a little bit longer to get things rolling just how I wanted. I am quite pleased with how well my students are engaged and on task. They sure have made leaps and bounds since the first day of school. I can't imagine what they will be like after 2 years!! (I am looping with them to second next year.)

Here they are working on a super engaging subtraction task from Susan at 

Thank God Its First Grade. Her unit What's the Difference? is full of fabulous activities!!

The girls were building a number that was given to them. Then they were told to remove a certain amount. Finally they recorded the difference. For an added challenge, I had them write the equation to go along with the problem. They loved it! I loved how engaged they were and I could go around and help anyone who needed help.

Tomorrow during our language stations students will be working on working on writing a letter to Santa. I decided to make it a little more inviting by creating this:

I will let you know how it turned out!

It's time for me to go to bed. Five o'clock will be here shortly! Happy Hump Day!!!