Last Friday one of my co-workers told me about a project that the 7th and 8th graders at my school used to do, the "Elf Project." It sounded like such a wonderful idea that although it hadn't been done in four years and we had very limited time to complete it, I decided we should go for it.
The Elf Project (or "Project Whitewash" as we are calling it at school) consists of adopting pre-k -4th graders for Christmas and acting as their Elf. We came up with three days worth of treats for them (since there are three days of school next week). On Monday, the kids will receive a bag of candy from their Elf. This will introduce them to the idea. On Tuesday, they will receive an acrostic poem from their Elf; in it, my kids are adding information that only Santa would know! (We get this information by asking brothers or sisters or cousins or their teacher.) For the grand finale on Wednesday, each student will receive a decorated ornament from their Elf.
Today we took the afternoon to work on the project. I was surprised at just how hard my 7th and 8th graders worked to make their gifts for the adopted little ones. We are all so very excited to see the reaction next week when the students discover that they have their own personal Elf!
It was a great afternoon - - - but I am seriously exhausted and can't wait to get home and get in bed. Besides, it was -5 degrees this morning and I can't imagine it has warmed up any by the looks of it outside my window!
(Pictures are bad as they were taken with my cell!)
That's a great idea. I'm sure it was a lot of work for you to get this underway. At our school, the 8th graders are doing candygrams to raise money for their trip. Cole was worried no one would send him a candygram, so I ordered one for him. (and one for Wayne)
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds like fun. I'm always amazed at how much kids enjoy "giving." I mean, as adults, we glean so much joy from the act of giving-- just making someone else happy. It's awesome to see it happening so early for your kids. See? They's not soooo bad:-)
ReplyDeleteThey's? I of course meant "they're"- although "they's" sounds pretty cute!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteMy teammate did a project with the Readiness students each Christmas. The sixth graders helped the Readiness students to write a letter to Santa. Then later (in secret) the sixth grader pretended to be Santa and wrote a reply back.
It took a lot of time, but a nice relationship was forged between the sixth grader and Readiness student.
Aunt Lisa
I like the idea of candygrams and Santa letters... ideas for next year?!
ReplyDelete