Polar Express PJ Popcorn Party!

Our Polar Express Party was P-riffic! :)
All the kiddos came in their pajamas!
We started off the morning by handing out Magic Polar Express Tickets.  Now of course the tickets had to be earned so each child was given a letter.  They then had to tell me the sound and name of the letter!  They did great and were so excited to hold their magical ticket that I got as a FREEBIE on TPT from Mrs Jones' Creation Station.

Next we turned our tables and chairs into a train and set the mood by turning off all the lights except our class Christmas Tree.

The children sat mesmerized while I read the Polar Express Story!  They were so excited and so quiet at the same time!  Definitely some Christmas Magic in the air!

Each child then made their own jingle bell necklace that only those who truly believe can hear!

Here are some pics of the centers we did:

I found this cut plastic Christmas Tree box at Walmart.

The students traced a pattern and cut out their own tree to place inside.

Then we used glitter glue and jingle bells to SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE!

Finally we finished off our Christmas Trees with Christmas Stickers!

 We also decorated our class tree!  Remember it is the PROCESS not the PRODUCT! :)
I Love how the garland hangs straight down to the floor!  Will I change it once they go home?  NO WAY!
They worked so hard to make it this beautiful and I am way proud of them!

We reviewed the letter P.  They loved telling me all the things we did that started with the letter P.  (PJ’s, Pillows, Polar Express)

Then it was time to do some fun popcorn math graphing.  You can get a freebie by clicking HERE of my recording sheet using Scrappindoodles clipart.

I started by asking the kids which kind of popcorn they liked best…I held up some un-popped microwave popcorn and some regular popcorn kernels.  I showed them the microwave and the hot air popper.  We then had them vote on which kind they liked best.  We recorded it on our graph.  I also put a colored mark on their hand so they could remember which one they voted for J! Most of the each class voted for microwave popcorn at first!  Except the class that I actually opened up the microwave popcorn bag first to show what was inside! (Yuck!  They did not think in would be good with all the yellow stuff with it.)

We decided we better have a popcorn taste test for snack.  Soooo…. We popped and popped and popped!  The giggles and squeals as the popcorn burst in the air was contagious!

After our taste test they then got to vote on which one they like the best now that they had tried it!  Guess what?  Teacher Andrea’s OLD FASHIONED HOT AIR POPPER won!  YAY!

We finished up our day with a fun Stop and Go Pillow Fight (non violent of course and only on legs! ;))  We had a quick demonstration on how to swing your pillow back and forth onto legs instead of up and down onto heads.  The key to a fun pillow fight is to play music (we used Jingle Bells) and stop the music about every 45 seconds.  They have to freeze and it gives them time to regroup and remember the rules!  Most of these kids have older siblings that came to ABC school and they look forward to our PJ/Pillow fight all year!

We then settled down by reading/listening  to Pete the Cat Saves Christmas! We discussed was we could "GIVE IT YOUR ALL"  for our Moms this Christmas!  They came up with fabulous service ideas!  YAY!