Whew!  That's a tongue twister!  

Hi there!

With December quickly approaching, I thought I'd finally try to plan ahead and put into action an Elf on the Shelf in my school library (grades 3-6).  This is strictly a fun program I want to run, not a classroom management technique, and I thought I'd tie it in and make it more secular and inclusive by claiming our elf is the Shelf Elf from the Jackie Mims Hopkins books.  I also wanted to tie the elf's presence into literacy promotion, so here's my plan:

Each school day in December before winter break, I am going to post a rhyming clue in my students' library Google classrooms, along with a Google form.  The clue will be about a book the elf read in our library the previous night.  Students will use the form to guess which book is described in the clue.  The next day I'll post a picture of the elf enjoying the book (and revealing yesterday's answer), the next clue, and form.  Each correct guess will earn students an entry into a raffle, and on the 17th school day (December 23rd), a winner will be announced (I'll probably have them claim their prize, and take a picture with it and our elf to post).

Has anyone done this before?  If so, were there any obstacles I haven't anticipated?  Does anyone want to help me write clues (I'm not all that good at the rhyming clue thing)?  I've chosen 16 books, 12 of which are top circulate-rs in my library, 4 are Christmas classics (they'll be the last four). If you help, I'll share all the written clues with you for your use!! (Alright, I will anyway, if anyone is interested, help or not. ;) I could just use said help, as I mentioned before. :D ).  

Thanks for any and all feedback, experience sharing, concerns, and clue writing! 

Katie Clancy

Library Media Specialist

Hebron Elementary School