Wandering Wise Men, Part 3

Happy Feast of the Epiphany!

In honor of the Three Kings finding their way to Bethlehem, here are pictures from another week of the Wandering Wise Men in my classroom.  You can get ten more ideas (and hear the beginning of the story) in this post and this post.

Day Eleven:
This was the only time during our Wander Wise Men that I was a bit "deceptive" with the kids, and only because they were way more enthusiastic about this days' Wise Men hijinks then the others.  I took face shots of the three figurines and created profiles for them on our classroom social media website.  We use a site called Edmodo in our school, but you could do this in pretty much any other social media platform or even create fake screen shots to just pull up on the Smartboard using a site like this. 

 The kids walked in to find the Wise Men lined up at their own classroom computer...

 But over the weekend, I had been adding posts and comments like these to our classroom site:
(fyi, these screen shots are posted in backwards order, with the earliest posts at the bottom, and the more recent posts on top, just like facebook)

I insisted that I had not been in the school to post these, and my students were on a hunt to figure out who was doing it all week.  They even had me lock the classroom and come with them to PE one day to see what would happen...and while we were gone the Wise Men posted this!  (I had another teacher log in and add it).  The kids had commented that the Wise Men's conversation was very serious, so we gave them this:

I eventually confessed to organizing all of the posts, but it sure was fun while it lasted!


Day Twelve:
The guys hid in an owl basket in our classroom, and Caspar had to stand on the shoulders of Balthasar and Melchior to peek out.  They made a sign asking "Whoooooo has seen the Baby King?"
They also continued to post on Edmodo, much to the delight of the kids.

Day Thirteen:
The Wise Men were found hanging out with our classroom patron Saint St. Maximilian Kolbe.

St. Max gave us a little reminder of how loving Mary should be a part of Advent with this quote, "Never be a afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin Mary too much.  You can never love her more than Jesus did."

 Sitting near St. Max was this basket of Christmas pencils with a note that the Wise Men planned to bring the students three gifts, just like they took to Jesus.  I think the pencils were more practical than gold, frankincense and myrrh, at least in the eyes of a 5th grader!

Day Fourteen:
The Wise Men were found hiding in and among our classroom supplies, and had filled one of the empty bins with special owl candy canes.  Gift number two!

 Day Fifteen:
The Wise Men were found just about a foot short of the Nativity (it is sitting on top of this book shelf).  When the students come back to school in January, they will be gathered with Mary and Joseph around Jesus.  On this day, they brought the kids' third gift, which was actually my real Christmas gift to them.  (I'll save that for another post :)).

 I look forward to trying this tradition out next year with my next group of 5th graders.  I'd be excited to hear how you make it work in your classroom or home!

Click here for more Wandering Wise Men ideas:

Visit Catholic Inspired's link up for even more ideas!

Wandering Wise Men, Part 2

In this post I explained the origin of the Wandering Wise Men in my classroom.  Visit that link for more ideas on starting this tradition in your home or school!

Day Six:
The Wise Men brought us a special basket of Christmas books.  They were doing a little research of their own by reading the Birds of Bethlehem by Tomie de Paola.

Day Seven:
Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar brought the kids some fresh coloring pages to do in their spare time during the Advent season.  Here they are trying to color a picture of themselves to match accordingly.

Day Eight:
A school tradition during this week of Advent is to decorate the windows and playground fence with snowflakes.  The Wise Men brought us some starter snowflakes and asked if we wanted to help build a snowstorm :).

The guys hung one snowflake on the window and hid behind the curtains, making them a little more challenging to find!

Day Nine:
On our all school Christmas shirt/ugly sweater day, the Wise Men wanted to join in on the fun with their own ugly Christmas sweater!

Day Ten:
On the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Wise Men were found honoring Mary and reenacting the story of St. Juan Diego in our faith corner.  Juan Diego was our Saint of the Month (poster in background) and the Wise Men also pulled out some classroom books about Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Caspar even dressed up in a tilma with the miraculous image of Our Lady, just like Juan Diego!  He and Melchior and Balthasar brought their own roses to honor Mary on her feast day.

The kids loved this one, and we learned quite a bit about this Marian apparition and Juan Diego's story.

The Wise Men pulled out several of our classroom books on OLG for the kids to explore:

OLG Books included in this picture are (from left to right):
Our Lady of Guadalupe for Children by Lupita Vital (in Spanish and English)
Our Lady of Guadalupe- Our Lady of the Americas by  Rev. L. Lovasik, S.V.D and Rev. J. Winkler, OFM Conv.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Story Coloring Book by Mary Fabyan Windeatt
St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe by Josephine Nobisso (chapter book)
Our Lady of Guadalupe by Francisco Serrano (beautiful pop-up book) 


Click here for five more Wandering Wise Men ideas:

Catholic Inspired is hosting a Wise Men Adventures Link Up!  Head on over there for more ideas, and I'll be back with the rest of our classroom Wise Men hijinks!

Wandering Wise Men, Part 1

Advent as a time of waiting can be hard for kids to understand.  They are surrounded by Christmas everywhere they look during December.  At the Catholic school where I work, we try to keep Advent as its own season, but I have to admit that can also be a little hard, especially because we don't have school during the end of Advent and most of the actual Christmas season.  As a result, things like our Christmas music program, Christmas parties, Christmas decorations, etc. are all a part of the first three weeks of December, and are over when we come back to school in the first week of January.

One tradition I have missed experiencing with the kids is moving the figures of our Nativity around during the Christmas season.  In our classroom, Baby Jesus is not with the Nativity- he sits in the center of the Advent wreath as a reminder of what we are waiting for.  This year I decided to be adventurous and moved our Wise Men around the room every day.  A bit inspired by the Elf-on-the-Shelf-craze, but with a very different motive, I wanted to add some fun and whimsy to the season and also some real feeling of anticipation. We were also able to incorporate a deeper meaning to an all school tradition as well.  During our morning prayer, the school teaches about the Jesse Tree throughout each day in December.  The symbols on the Jesse Tree remind us of the people in Christ's bloodline and the prophecies of the coming Messiah.  The real Wise Men came to see that very Messiah, and knew of what the prophets had said of Him.

Each morning when my students came in to the classroom, they found our Wise Men somewhere doing something new, sometimes just for fun, and sometimes with a deeper message.  They also brought our piece for the classroom Jesse Tree each day, and we discussed the addition of that piece and how it pointed to Christ.  When we go back to school on the day after Epiphany, the kids will find the Wise Men gathered with Mary and Joseph where we left them, adoring the Baby Jesus.

I think that this could be a great tradition for you to start, whether you move the Wise Men just in the days between Christmas and Epiphany for your own children at home, do it weekdays in a classroom during Advent, or use the idea for a once a week CCD or Sunday School class.  It could be lots of fun, and I would love to share some ideas with you!  Some of these will be very specific to my classroom culture, but they might inspire you.  Here are five ideas to get us started:



Day One:
The Wise Men were found googling directions to Bethlehem, zeroing in on the Church of the Nativity.  They left the map up on the Smart Board, and we explored pictures of the area where Christ was born.  Tucked under the Wise Men was a piece for our Jesse Tree for Adam and Eve.

Day Two:
The Wise Men were caught playing one of our Beatitudes Card Games with Fr. Juan Pablo and Sr. Mary Clara.  This game was a great way to remind us of the virtues Christ calls us to emulate, which are great to practice during Advent.  The winner of the game brought us our Jesse Tree Card.

Day Three:
The Wise Men were "caught" up trying to make their own KidKnits hat, maybe to use as a gift for the new baby Jesus.  They were having a little trouble though, because the yarn wound all the way around our classroom, leading us to the Jesse Tree Card.

Day Four:
Owls continue to over run the theme of my classroom, so on this day, the Wise Men decided to masquerade as owls bringing gifts.  They had these owl and present stickers stuck to their backs...

...and then hid in among Miss Bogner's owl collection shelf!

This was one of the hardest spots for the kids to find, but they were still pretty quick!

Day Five:
The Wise Men parachuted in on our classroom clothesline with a reminder of who we are really waiting for!

Check out these posts for more Wandering Wise Men ideas:

I didn't know about it beforehand, but now that I have this post finished, Catholic Inspired is hosting a Wise Men Adventures Link Up!  Head on over there for more ideas, and I'll be back with the rest of our classroom Wise Men hijinks!

Seven Quick Takes: December in Review

Hello, friends. 

This dear neglected blog has been all but forgotten for most of the month... and a while before.  I have lots of stories and projects and draft posts in the works, so let's hope that 2015 sees me back a little more often in this corner of the internet.  I'll start off right with some stories from last month!

~1~

Chronological order might make this more readable, but really, lets just go in order of importance.    Meet my niece, Violet Irene!

Proud mama and papa Stephanie and Steven welcomed this little beauty into the world on December 18th.  Watching them become parents has been so fun, inspiring, and awesome.

We are so in love with her!  Fortunately, Christmas break from school (and my generous sister and brother-in-law) have allowed me to spend most of the past two weeks with her, helping and soaking up her adorableness.  Seriously, she is the cutest.

~2~

In other news, my mom made me this manger earlier in December.  The nativity figures had been my Grandma's and I have used them for years.  I really like it because of its gold and ivory simplicity.  My mom took it upon herself to design and build this awesome manger to give the Holy Family a bit more of a home for the season. 

It has two separate rooms, a fence, a hay loft, a ladder... and the best part is that the whole thing easily comes apart and stores flat, without using any nails or screws.  St. Joseph would be proud of my brilliant mom.

~3~

My other Nativity (not nearly as beautiful) is in my classroom.  I have always regretted that because the kids are not in school during the last days leading to Christmas and the days between Christmas and Epiphany, we have never been able to move the Nativity figures around representing the events of the Christmas story.  This year I changed that a bit and had to get creative to remind the kids that Advent is about looking for Jesus.  Hence "The Wandering Wise Men" moved about our classroom every day, making mischief and teaching my students about the things around them that point to the coming of Christ.  More about these guys coming this weekend as we prepare to celebrate Epiphany.

~4~

Another memorable event at school this December was me making a complete fool of myself for a good cause.  My dear cousin/friend/former-co-worker/NCIS buddy issued me a challenge.  It started as a request to do the following hairstyle for my students.  I said no, she issued a bet involving a donation to charity, and Facebook escalated it from there.  Anyone who donated could add something to my lovely Christmas outfit.  I ended up raising $357 plus a box of canned good for the Food Pantry at the parish where I teach.

It was for a good cause, and I looked (and thanks to all of the bells, also sounded) ridiculous.  My students enjoyed the spectacle I made of myself and laughed all day.  However, one Kindergartener saw me and genuinely said, "Ooooh, you look beautiful!" :)

~5~

Back to family-

I was able to go and help S&S with Violet at their house for part of my break, and then Emily & Luke came home from Colorado and we all piled into my parents' house for one-big-family-of-eight week of joy.

It involved lots of pots of coffee, and lots and lots of cooking. 

And lots and lots and lots of adorable baby snuggling.

We have one picture of her from the week laying in her bassinet.   Steven saw it and said, "When was someone not holding her?"  It was a valid question.

~6~

Being away from my apartment for two weeks has its pro and cons, but one fun thing is stopping to get the mail and having a pile of Christmas cards waiting for me.  I have them all hung up now across the big window in my living room/kitchen.  This is the only possible perk of having vertical blinds.

~7~

And speaking of Christmas cards, I just finished and mailed mine today.  I am not sure when I am going to stop myself from making my cards each year, because I keep thinking that it is crazy, and then I do it again.  I only made 60 cards this year, because I had already given/sent/written about 60 store bought cards earlier in the season.  I do really like how this year's turned out, and if the mail works fast, many people might get them this weekend just in time for Epiphany!

I'm out of quick takes, but lets just have more more look at sweet Miss Vi.  Goodness gracious, isn't she the cutest!

Thanks, Kelly, for hosting!