Image from here.
Every year, I show my students the movie The Polar Express. It is one of my FAVORITE holiday movies!
About two weeks ago, I had one of those LIGHTBULB ideas! I texted my-amazing co-teacher in the evening and said, "I have a wild and crazy idea! Let's do a Polar Express room transformation and we will tie in the movie and book with fun academic activities!" She went right along with my idea and were texting ideas back and forth the rest of the night! We met the next day and planned out some awesome activities!
Two different kinds of math "snowball fights" with these snowballs from Amazon. On the snowballs, I wrote two sets of the numbers 1-10. For one of the math activities, the students caught the snowballs (thrown by me and Mrs. Racosky," and then had to write the doubles fact for that number. You can find that activity here.
The second math activity, they caught two snowballs and had to write one number in the tens spot one in the ones spot. Then they illustrated that number with base ten blocks. You can find that activity here.
Another activity was learning how to make snowflakes (which are hung up in my room as you'll see further on in this post.) After making them, the students wrote out the process of creating them using the words first, next, then, and last. They did the same thing with evergreen trees.
Then we read both The Snowy Day AND The Polar Express. After reading the books, the students completed a venn diagram to compare the stories. The students also wrote their own version of the The Polar Express.
We even made edible Polar Express trains!
For those of you wondering what we used: graham crackers, chocolate chips, M&M'S, skittles, peppermints, sour patch kids (conductors,) and whipped cream! They were SO yummy!
The whole time this was going on, Mrs. Racosky and I were busy creating scenes for our walls. I can't truly explain the magic that went into this so I will let you see for yourselves!
This is what the students walked into this morning...
First, a video tour.
Next, the pictures:
The door to my classroom.
To the right of my door.
To the left of my door.
The entrance into my room - complete with train tracks and the "seats" on the train...
As I turned my book corner into the Polar Express train.
The scene with the wolves. The ever so talented Mrs. Racosky made the wolves, I did the rest.
These are the snowflakes the students made!
Our hot cocoa corner!
Door to my closet covered with "snow."
The Northern Lights
This is my favorite part so I wanted a second picture of it.
One side of the bridge.
The other side of the bridge!
Festive decoration.
My stage - covered with snowballs, tinsel, tea lights, and Mr. Snowman.
The trees made by the students.
The beautiful mountains (complete with train in the top right,) made by the talented Mrs. Racosky.
The kids were AMAZED when they walked in my room this morning! They couldn't get over it! We didn't watch the movie until this afternoon. While they were at lunch, I decorated some more...
I got the floor set up with blankets and pillows!
The snack table is ready! (Pirate's booty, powdered doughnuts, M&M'S, and graham crackers.
Finally, the students were able to watch the movie, eat their yummy snacks, and drink hot cocoa!
What a truly magical, wonderful, amazing day! The students loved every minute of it! Special thanks to Mrs. Racosky for all of her help and hard work!
I hope everyone enjoys their holiday - no matter what you celebrate!
Happy (almost) New Year!
~Mrs. Lynch~
