My Heart Is Full

I've never really done anything out of the ordinary the day before holiday break. I've never really felt like I had the time. I feel like there was always something that just needed to be done. I know I have had to give assessments or finished projects before. I have always admired some of my primary teacher friends that took the time to make the day magical for their students. It was always a great sight to see faces light up with joy and hearts filled with love. I secretly longed for that magic in my classroom, but never really thought I could pull it off. 

Today that changed.... 

A little background: The week of Thanksgiving I had my students share something they were thankful for that didn't cost any money. They had a lot of difficulty with this and that made me really sad for them. I wanted to find a way to teach them to be thankful for EVERYTHING no matter the price. How could I teach this lesson? How could I instill this inner emotion into their "I need more" mentalities? How could I show them that it's just as fun to give? My brain pondered this for a few days and I finally made the executive decision that the day before holiday break would be one to remember!

They flipped when they saw all of the gifts!

I decided that I would wrap all necessary items that would be needed for the day. EVERYTHING would be wrapped to add an element of surprise. I also wanted them to see that we should be thankful for everything we are given (They were happy about opening a present of salt and pepper...to be explained later.) I had a mix of games, crafting, movie time, and reflection. Everyone went with the flow and was genuinely happy. 

Our day...

We decided to wear our fun pajamas so it would feel like Christmas morning all day. We began with a short morning meeting where we drew our Secret Santa names. They brought this up earlier in the week because teachers have been participating in this fun holiday tradition all week. Everyday after lunch they would say, "Whad ya get?!?!" 

It was time to open our first gifts. I explained that everyone would have one and that everything that was opened was for all. The anticipation was killing them.  Lillie unwrapped napkins, Londis the plates, and Cameron, Tatyana, Kira, and Maccayah all opened doughnuts.I made all of the gifts a huge deal by thanking them for sharing such amazing things with their classmates and they all passed their item out. I thought for sure someone was going to laugh or complain, but they just went with the flow. Michael opened a holiday cartoon. Sheila was kind enough to say grace. She recited a simplistic, but beautiful saying. "God is great, God is good, Let us thank him for our food. By his hand we are fed. Thank you for our daily bread." We didn't get to watch our cartoon because of a school wide morning meeting, but we had breakfast and good company together. 

William opened our felt ornaments that we made. 

We put our desks together for the day!

We went to our school-wide morning meeting where all grade levels sang Christmas for all to hear. It was nice to see a class actually get into the singing. My class last year mumbled their way through the songs.

I blend in so well. 

When we came back into the room it was time for more gifts. Jorge opened a box of holiday fun activities, Skyler opened supplies to make cards for a local  nursing home and their secret Santa. For the nursing home cards, I had written a card explaining to them that the cards would be delivered to the place my aunt stayed at before she went to heaven and would help make the hearts of the people at the nursing home shine.  William opened supplies to make felt ornaments for our secret Santas. James, Austin, Kori, Mason, and Alex all opened supplies to make our melted snowman ornaments to give to our secret Santa as well. (See a theme here...everything we made was to be given to someone else.) Seeing kids unwrap these simplistic gifts and smile about it is pretty cool. Listening to James shake his peppercorn shouting, "I got pepper!" was super awesome. The holiday fun activities were in case all crafts were finished. They loved making the ornaments. We used a clear glass ornament, put in 6 scoops of kosher salt, 8 peppercorns, a small orange foam nose, a small ribbon scarf, and tied on a ribbon to hang it from. They turned out super cute!

I pulled small groups of students to my table to make super adorable melted snowman ornaments. It was so cute to have them pick out the colors they thought their secret Santa would like. Everyone worked with such precision and care. On cards to the local nursing home students had to write one thing about themselves, one wish for the person receiving the card, and one wish they would like to share about themselves. On the card to their secret Santa they had to write 5 nice things about them. A few had difficulty with this, but I was impressed with the finished products.

Some cards for the nursing home on the left. On the right are my gifts from my secret Santa. He knew my favorite color was green! 

After crafting it was time for lunch. Sydney opened "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" DVD and Kerwin opened the book. We brought our lunch back to the classroom and hung out for about 45 minutes. I needed a couple of minutes to make my gifts for my secret Santa.

We paused the movie and played some fun games! Ella opened a box with 4 Christmas stories that were created for the pass the bag to the left or right game. They thought it was hilarious. I had 3 gift bags that we passed. I just placed some crayons in the bag to make them think they were actual gifts. I had gone to

Wal-Mart and bought party favors. I got 25 favors for $6!! When a student won they had to pick a gift to GIVE to their secret Santa! This caught the first winners off guard, but they picked out something they thought their friend would like.

Pin the heart on the Grinch!

             

          Minute to win it

Win bag. 

                                                      

Next we played "Pin the heart on the Grinch." I made a poster sized Grinch and cut out small hearts to pin. Eyes were covered and I spun students 5 times. This was a sight to see. I was impressed with the patience that was shown during this game. Only one student could go at a time meaning all others had to sit and wait. There were of course some super funny dizzy paths taken. Skyler won! She was almost right on the spot. Her prize was a gift for her secret Santa. 

My kiddos have a fascination with cup stacking. Our next game was to build a "tree" and take it down with 20 Styrofoam cups under a minute. All of the winners chose a prize for their secret Santa.

(Random FYI: We decided to skip our special area time to be together.)

The next part is my FAVORITE!!! 

Everyone sat in a big circle on the carpet. We set out ours stockings and laid out our items to share. So, students thus far had created a card with 5 nice things written in it, a felt ornament, a melted snowman ornament, and chosen a small toy all to give their secret Santa. We went around the circle said our secret persons name, shared one nice thing about them, walked over to them to give them their gifts, and said, Merry Christmas! It was the absolute cutest thing to witness. They were sweet, genuine, nervous, reserved, kind, thoughtful, and thankful. Some of them were caught off guard when people they are not usually friends with had chosen their name and shared such nice things. When the student chose me spoke out, my eyes filled with tears, because what I was witnessing was truly amazing. One may think that receiving the same gift as everyone else and the same gift you gave would be weird or pointless. It was the total opposite. It was working...they were giving...and they were thankful. 

LOVE! 

When we went to back to our desks I asked a simple question....Did you learn anything today? Here are a few responses. They were coming at me so fast, I couldn't write them all down. 

Darius: "I believe you should always share and give to others."

Maccayah: "Giving is the right thing to do."

Jorge: "You feel better when you give than when you get."

Clarissa: "Thinking about others is more important than always thinking of yourself."

Sheila: "Be grateful."

Alex and Ella: "You should always be kind to others."

David: "Caring for others is more important than yourself."

Virgil: "If you give maybe you will receive too."(Oh Virgil!)

Sydney: "Spending time with others is important."

I think those responses are pretty great!

To bring the day to a close everyone passed out their goodies they brought in and we finished up the Grinch.

Their next surprise will be put in the mail tomorrow! A Christmas card with a homework pass! 

The $60 I spent to pull this off is nothing compared to the priceless memories that were made today. I hope they keep this lesson alive in their hearts forever. 

xoxo-Kim