Olive, the Other Reindeer Fun and a Freebie

It's been a fun week and it's only half way done! With our Elf on the Shelf making his appearance and the Christmas art projects starting to take shape, we are in full holiday mode. 

We're spending this week using reindeer as an inspiration for learning and we started off by reading the book, Olive the Other Reindeer.

Olive is a cute little story about a dog who thinks she's supposed to be a reindeer because she thinks she keeps hearing her name in the lyrics to, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (All of the other reindeer...). The story describes how this dog ends up being a great help to Santa and the reindeer on Christmas Eve. 

After we read the story, we did a fun writing activity in class where the students had to choose an animal that they thought would also be a great addition to Santa's sleigh. 

They planned out their writing

with four reasons their animal would be helpful and then completed their writing on this cute reindeer stationery. 

We talked briefly about great transition words to include in our persuasive writing and then they were ready to get started on their final drafts! 

We had elephants and sharks flying alongside Santa in our writing. They were all very creative and had some great reasons why their animals would be helpful! 

If you'd like to snag a free copy of the writing pages I used, click on the picture below. 

Later this week we're creating some reindeer art from this Pinterest find: 

Source

I can't wait! Love the scarf! 

Enjoy the rest of your week! 

There Was an Old Lady

It's the last day of 2012! I am looking forward to the new year and a new fresh start. 

Yesterday while strolling through Target I saw a book that's perfect for Valentine's Day- 

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose!

I pretty much jumped up and down with excitement. My students love these books! 
And apparently so do I. 

Last Spring I had my students write their own Old Lady (or Man) story after we read, "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell." I wanted them to have the basic outline and rhythm of the story and just need to fill in the things they wanted their character to swallow and what would happen at the end. They had so much fun with this! A great blogger would have examples to show you, but this was way before I became a part of the blog world.

Instead of an example I have a freebie for you! 

These are the pages I used to have my students create their own stories. 

If you're interested in having your students do an Old Lady story, pick up your freebie here.

Enjoy the last day of 2012!