Polar Express Day 2014

Hi there! I wanted to share with you about our annual Polar Express Day. We had so much fun and great memories were made! It's always a ton of work, but oh so worth it to see all the smiles and hear responses like "this is the BEST day EVER!!" 

Kindergarten and First grade team up for this fun filled day. Each teacher has a different activity planned for their little visitors. Students wear their pajamas to school and come prepared for a full day of fun! Each group boards the train with their ticket and makes a stop at each classroom. When they arrive they are greeted by the teacher at that classroom and they get their ticket punched. It's then time for the fun! 

My stop along The Polar Express is the toy shop where the kids get to "elf around" and have lots of fun and laughs with some sort of game or relay. This year we did a decorate the Christmas tree relay. When students arrived they picked an ornament to color and we used these to later decorate the trees. The ornaments student colored are the color me holiday cut-outs from my favorite Creative Teaching Press. We also used some bulletin board cut-outs that I had on hand as well. Students worked in teams to decorate one of their classmates and turn them into a Christmas tree. I had judges come around and pick a winner in each group. The winning groups got a Christmas pencil and some chocolates. :)

In the past I have done pin the nose on the reindeer, pin the carrot on the snowman, and a snowman relay race. :)

Another stop on the Polar Express was the ornament shop. Students made a Christmas ornament.

This is the ornament my class made during their stop on the Polar Express.

Another stop on The Polar Express was the sweet shop. Students made a super tasty snack to enjoy when they came back to their home room.

Another stop on The Polar Express was the book store. Students listened to the teacher read The Polar Express and then made magic reindeer food. I forgot to snap a pic of the magic reindeer food. Darn! :(

Jodi at Fun in First has a cute freebie label for magic reindeer food. Click the pic below to go to her blog for her awesome freebie! :)

Once everyone had visited all of the Polar Express stops, students returned to their home rooms and watched the movie and enjoyed some sweet treats while they sipped on hot chocolate. 

During the movie we had a special delivery straight from Santa himself at The North Pole!!!! Our package was still cold!! When we opened our package we found bells! :)

Below are a few pics I shared on my Instagram of our special day and Christmas in our classroom.

Top Left- Our classroom tree

Top Middle- a couple of the ornaments we made in December for parent gifts. 

Top Right- feeling the cold package from The North Pole!

Bottom Left- some sweet treats 

Bottom Middle- my Polar Express door

Bottom Right-another Christmas tree cutie! :)

The days leading up to our Polar Express Day I read the book and we do some activities in addition to our fun we do on our Polar Express Day. This year I used my sweet friend Cheryl's amazing Polar Express book companion pack. I can't say enough good things about this pack! It is jam packed of awesome! Sooo many great resources and activities to do with the book! I'm sad I didn't snap any pics of the things we did from her pack. But trust me when I say it is a wonderful resource. If you don't have it you need to add it to your Polar Express collection. You won't be disappointed! :)

Well that's my little run down of our 2014 Polar Express Day. It was SOOO much fun! I look forward to this day every year and can't wait for the next! :)