Elf on the Shelf Ideas for any grade

When I moved to 3rd grade last year from 1st ( by choice ) I had a few reservations.  Although I was more than ready for the big move up, there were a few things I knew I was going to miss.  Like the growth in reading, teaching phonics, 100th day of school, etc.  One of the things I was worried about was the Elf on the Shelf.  

Well ~ of course I couldn’t have these new guys miss out on all the fun.  So…Snowflake visited us in third grade.  In the BIG KID WING!!!  How did she even find us?!?

Well I had to get creative since my kids were now { kinda BIG }, no little kid sissy elf ideas would work in Room 8 that’s for sure!  So having teenagers I knew I would be well equipped!  My daughter played along and we changed her name in my phone to Snowflake the Elf of course.  She made sure to text me throughout the day on her breaks at high school.  Oh man can you imagine the chaos that ensued!  I would get the DING – DONG text loud enough of course for them to hear and I would put the phone under the doc camera to see what was going on.  It clearly read from Snowflake the Elf – so there were no questions! I even took a picture of her as the contact picture. ( see below )  Snowflake was texting us before her arrival letting us know she was on her way!

 Here is a picture from the first time she texted us:

Look at those faces, sheer delight and shock!  Oh did I have fun with this one!

Snowflake had to do more grown up things of course – she was cool right?  So instead of flying high on our decorations, she was texting a friend on her fake phone, or looking at the date on a calendar of her next concert.  She took a selfie one day and aced a spelling test another day.  

Here are a few more ideas:

Changing up the schedule is a good one, they got a kick out of that.  Wrap up small chocolate chip morsels with aluminum foil and create miniature ‘kisses’.  When the kids were engaged, I witnessed a kind act or someone was helpful I would give them one of the elf’s ‘kisses.’  

Adding a learning target for the ELF is great!  Of course the day I did that the DO curriculum cops were coming around and the assistant superintendent literally laughed out loud.  It was so fun!

So the lesson learned today ~ have fun, be creative.  The students no matter what the age will look forward to this.  It brightens up their day, sends them into laughter and creates a memory that they will never forget.  After all ~ they will always remember how you made them feel right?!!?  Happy Elfing! 

xo,