Day two was better, but just as funny!

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So, today's scavenger hunt went better than yesterday's, but I still laughed just as hard!

First of all, I was running a little later than usual and was trying to hide the tickets getting caught while other people were out and about.  At one point I was walking past some cars parked in one of the back parking lots and one of the teacher's rolled her window down and yelled, "BUSTED!"  On the spot, I had to change things up and hide a ticket in her room.  LOL!

Here are the clues I mailed out...

Clue 1: Yesterday the other Elves and I kept getting asked, "Am I getting warmer?" as people looked around.  Today, you may want to add a little FAKE WARMTH to your life

Clue 2: I hear that the FOURTH Grade team has been put in a time out.  Maybe one of them can still help you out.  I have always LOOKED UP to them!

Clue 3: Have you ever eaten at THE OUTBACK?  I hear it's a nice place to sit and enjoy the TREES.

Clue 4: I hope you've finished all your Christmas SHOPPING!  Even if you haven't, you can still enjoy the lights.

At different places in out office there are two fake fireplaces that are set up as part of the holiday decorations.  I hid one behind the flames on the smaller one for the first clue.  It's right beside the desk of our office intake person.

I just happened to standing right behind her as she read the clues on her computer then announced that she knew where one was and took off out the door.  I laughed so hard because I knew there was one right beside where she had been!  Eventually, she was the one who found that ticket.

For the second clue, I taped a ticket over the closet door in the room of one of the fourth grade teachers.  Of course, she was the only one who knew I was putting it in there and she wasn't at school this morning.  The rest of her grade level was clueless!  They told me that everybody kept coming into their rooms looking and asking questions that they couldn't answer.

The ticket for clue #3 was stuck on a tree by some picnic tables on the back side of campus.  That clue was pretty easy for everyone!

The fourth ticket was one I had to hide in the room of the teacher who caught me.  Last week the Santa shop was hosted in her room so that explains the SHOPPING in the clue and I put the ticket on a little light up tree that she has.

Remember the girl on my grade level that didn't read her clues yesterday?  Well, she read them today, but it didn't help much!  I was standing in her room as she read the clues and the took off to search certain that she knew where they all were.  For some reason, she decided that they were all hidden in the same room off of our office.  She was wrong!

She searched for awhile.  Went back to her room, grabbed money for the soda machine, bought a drink with some caffeine and started searching again.  A few minutes later, she came through the copy room where I was standing with some other teachers and announced that, "I think someone already found them all.  I followed the clues and they aren't there."  After she left to go back to her room, I laughed and told everyone that so far no one had found a ticket and that she had been no where near where I hid one.

One of the sixth grade teachers told me that he's been so busy watching other people search for tickets that he forgets to look himself.  I let him know that I feel the same way.  I send the clues and then walk out of my room to watch the madness and it's awesome!

Now, I'm pretty sure  that I'm safe telling you guys this because I don't think anyone at my new school as discovered this blog yet.  On Wednesday, we're having a big teacher luncheon after the kids leave with an ugly sweater contest too.  We've decided to hide all the day three tickets in the media center, where we'll be and wait until then to say anything about it.  Then while everyone is searching, we move to the front of the food line!  LOL!

Also, one of our fourth grade teachers suggested that we add another twist and have the people who find the ticket hide the tickets for the next day.  Doesn't that sound cool?!?  We're going to see if people are up for that!

I'll let you know how it goes!  



  

I didn't think it could get worse!

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So, remember my story about how bad we were at Secret Santa at my school?   Well, it gets worse.....
You should see us trying to do a scavenger hunt!

It all started after school a couple of weeks ago when several of us were debating how big our lottery winning  jackpot would need to be in order to quit our jobs. (I think you would be surprised at just how low the amount is!  LOL!)  Anyway, an idea for a scratch off ticket scavenger hunt was born!

20 one dollar tickets were bought and it was decided that we would hide four a day to spread the fun out over this last week before vacation.

I got to school extra early and hid the tickets the sent out this email to everyone:

Good morning Everyone,

Santa was here and saw our hard work.
But he could tell that some of us have a Christmas "itch"
So he decided to give us something to "scratch"!
Thanks to some mischievous elves,
You'll have to look for each gift yourselves.
Today the magic number is four
And each day this week there will be four more.
Have fun, be safe and play fair
This shouldn't cause you to pull out your hair!
Please, let us know what you find.
Maybe you'll get lucky and it will be a gold mine!

Here are your clue for today:

1: We seem to have lost an Elf.  He went to a party over the weekend and had quite a few...ummm...well, you can figure that part out.  The last time we saw him, he was hanging with our hostess.  Getting through this week will probably be a real challenge for him!

2:  Hopefully, the wayward Elf will find comfort in the fact that there are only FIVE days left.  Here's to hoping that time FLIES!

3: Maybe, we should tell that wayward Elf to just lounge around today.  Maybe he can get his ZEN on!

4: If that doesn't work, he can just do what we all would like to do.....GO HOME EARLY!

That's all you get for today!  Now get to hunting!

Love from Santa's favorite Elves,
Donna, Ginger and Heather

Now, I know these clues don't mean anything to you, but they should have meant something to the people I work with!  OK, so clue #2 was probably too vague, but one of the Elves teaches fifth grade and the ticket was hidden behind a clock/timer in her room.  They should have been able to figure that out!

Absolutely, no one showed up in her room looking for the ticket!  I had to send out another clue later in the day.

Clue #1 lead people to the room of a teacher that hosted a kick-ass party Friday night.  (Remind me to tell you about that later!)  On one of her shelves, in plain sight, is a trivia challenge game and I hid the ticket under that box.

Our fourth grade teachers were working as a team and they made it to her room, but couldn't figure out what to do once they got there.  They ended up leaving her room and coming to find me for clarification.  They wanted to know if they were supposed to go through her personal things.  LOL!  Of course, I told them to take her wallet and run down the sidewalk yelling, "I found the prize!"

I let them know that they may have to slide something over or pick things up to look underneath, but that was as intrusive as they needed to get.  They headed back to her room in search of that ticket and after only one more phone call to my room they found it.

Clue #3 lead people to the teacher's lounge where I hid the ticket under one of those rock/water Zen garden thingies and clue #4 lead everyone to a clipboard in the front office where we sign out if we're leaving campus early.

Before the last ticket was found, I had three phone calls and four face to face conversations asking for more clues.  The other teachers involved went through the same thing.

The best conversation involved a teacher on my own grade level...

HER:  What's this about a scratch?
ME: (laughing) What?
HER:  You sent the email.  You have an itch?
ME:  (still laughing)  OK, you have to use the clues and go find something.
HER:  Our clue is that you have an itch and need to scratch something!
ME: (hysterically laughing)  You didn't read the whole email!  You have to read the whole email!
HER: Oh, I didn't think about that.

Anyway, before the day was over all the tickets found.  Sadly, everyone is still poor because none of them were winners.

I'll let you know how day two goes.  LOL!

The week before...

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The week before Christmas break begins and I can't wait.

I can't wait to sleep late in the mornings and nap in the afternoons.

It's going to be epic!

12-13-15

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12-12-15

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Having my Christmas spirit renewed...

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So, today I had a sixth grader that needed a "time out" spend the day in my room.  I told my class that he was an Elf sent by Santa to make sure they were being good.  They stared at him in disbelief and told me that he was too tall to be an Elf.

We went on with our morning and I kept catching my students staring at the "Elf" sitting in the back of the room as they tried to figure out who he was and why he was in our room.

I was working with a group of kids when I heard a voice on the other side of the room ask, "Do you make toys?"  I looked up to see that one of my students had finally gotten brave enough to walk over to where our "Elf" was sitting and was standing there waiting for an answer to his question.

I can't even begin to tell you how happy it made me when this kid just went with it!  I couldn't hear his answer, but he was smiling and shaking head as he answered.

My student stood there listening and then asked, "So, you've met Santa Claus?"

These are the moments that I love the most!

12-10-15

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