Polar Express Day

We LOVE Polar Express Day in our classroom. We love reading the book, doing all sorts of activities, and watching the movie! I love to make this day as fun as possible. It is a memorable day for all my kiddos and I like to set the stage to engage!

First, I set up a train in my classroom. All I did was put my tables in a long row and line my table with black paper. 

Then, I cut out a red and yellow circle and a black steam/smoker (not really sure exactly what they call this and google is giving me a lot of answers! :)) 

Then, you have to tape it to a ruler unless you use thick construction paper. We used hot glue to make it stick to the paper on the table!

With every train you need a conductor!! How cute are these hats that my bestie teacher made?! I mean seriously!

We put train tracks all throughout the hallway. This was the BEST part! I was laughing so hard because every kid that walked through the hallway stayed inside the tracks. Every kid no matter the grade level enjoyed walking down our hallway that day and it sparked excitement for my kiddos. 

It wasn't as glamorous setting them up as it looks like! :) Luckily, I have a great teaching bestie who helped me pull down the train tracks! We just got  3 rolls of electrical tape from Walmart and pushed it down on the floor. If you have help it only took us about 20 minutes to get them finished! It pulls up super easy too!

Of course you need a railroad crossing sign coming into your classroom! ;)

Then, it was PJ day! I LOVE LOVE LOVE PJ day, except whenever I wear PJs to work I get nothing done! But, who cares it is Christmas time! I got this super cute believe shirt at Target and got ready for the day!

We had a hot chocolate bar for the kiddos. I just bought two gallons of milk and heated in my crockpot all day. Our elf brought us marshmallows and candy canes to add to our hot chocolate! 

We did many educational activities throughout the day! You can find those here! 

The students earned tickets to come to the north pole by completing the north pole word problem race. The students had 8 word problems that had to deal with Santa. They had to get through the entire race in order to gain their ticket! This was super fun and engaging for my students.

So, for the secret santa exchange today I am going to give you the one step version for FREE!! Put these around your room and your kids will be so engaged working on word problems!

Grab the one step version for free here! 

Have a wonderful Polar Express Day!!!