Polar Express Day in Kindergarten

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Learning About Self-Control

Instead of our traditional North Pole Christmas party, we had a Polar Express Day this year.  It was full of magic and wonder and helped us learn about self-control. Here’s how it all went down!

On Monday, a “mystery package” arrived in our classroom with a note that asked us not to open it until December 20th.

Not by chance, our Positivity Project character strength for the week was self-control.  We talked about what this looked and sounded like and watched videos, such as The Marshmallow Test, where children’s self control was tested.

I asked the children if we should open the present now or wait until the 20th.

And they let me know – most of them wanted to open it NOW! (Uh-oh, now what!)

So, we spent some time talking about the kindness of the gift and how there must be a good reason why the gift giver wanted us to wait.

I asked them about presents that might be under their tree, that they are waiting to open. We talked about how waiting is hard, but shows great self-control.  I told them that if they wanted to change their mind and move their star,  they had to the end of the day to do so.

It was a close one, but by the end of the day, the numbers revealed that we would wait.  We continued to be curious about the box and made predictions about what we thought was inside.

Many heard a “jingle jangle” when we moved it and predicted it was bells. Other guesses were school supplies, a race track, and a chicken (Yes, a chicken!).

Unwrapping Our Polar Express Day

Finally, the day came to open it!  A child was randomly chosen to be the one to tear off the paper.

Inside was everything we might need for a Polar Express Day (and not one chicken!):

And lastly, souvenir bell necklaces to wear home.

Taking a Ride on the Polar Express

We watched the movie while enjoying refreshments.

When we got to the North Pole, we opened the “first gift of Christmas” (new crayons for our tool boxes) and…

had a rousing snowball fight using large white pom poms and shower puffs!

We ended the day with a group photo and the children went home wearing bells as a souvenir of our trip!

Testing My Self-Control

While we still have a lot to learn about self control, the children are beginning to understand what it means and now we can build on that by introducing strategies.

Yesterday, I had a good chuckle when I received this gift from a child who wanted to test MY self-control by telling me I was not to open it until Christmas.

If it had been a plate of cookies, not sure how well I would have done?!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday and break!

Thanks for stopping by!

UPDATE:

This year our Polar Express Day may not be possible, so instead, we will be taking a virtual field trip to the North Pole, where we will help Santa find his lost reindeer.  As we look for him in places like the reindeer barn, toy shop, post office, cookie kitchen, and candy cane factory, we will do many fun activities such as playing reindeer games, finding out our reindeer name, learning how toys are made, taking a virtual sleigh ride, making a gift bag, writing a letter to Santa, doing a candy cane challenge, eating Christmas cookies together and more! In the end, we find Rudolph in the bottom of Santa’s sack and his red nose guides our way home.

This can be done during a virtual meeting, but it works equally well in the classroom!