Polar Express Day

I got my inspiration from Mrs. Newingham's: A Ride on the Polar Express and the Polar Express Website.

I assembled the room like a train using silver tablecloth to border the desks and reading table. I used black cart paper and made the front of the train. The font used on the signs is Beautiful.

The back of the train was blocked off with caution tape (Thanks, Raul!). The students could not board the train until it came to pick up the boy in the story.

In the front of my room by the door, I created two desks where one of my aides handed out a silver bell and a ticket.

Using our school's ticket die-cut, we made yellow (as close to golden as I could get) tickets and I printed clear labels to go on both side. I also made a sign that told when the train departed (since we could not start our adventure until after Fine Arts). Fonts used: Beautiful, Toy Train, Minya Nouvelle and PC Dangle Star.

When the students returned from Fine Arts, they changed into their pajamas because the Polar Express comes to pick up children during the night. On the ride, the students enjoyed hot chocolate and candy- just like the kids on the train did.

As we rode on the train, I shined some scenes on the screen courtesy of The Polar Express: Shadowbook (provided by one of my aides).

While on our train ride, the students completed their Polar Express Packets which included writing and reading activities and much more! After we read the book, we watched the movie, The Polar Express while comparing and contrasting the book and the movie. What an exciting day!

Polar Express Printables and Resources

The Complete Polar Express Activity Packet Collaborations of my own plans and other resources and ideas listed below. Here is the complete packet. I cut and paste the bell stationery onto the inference pages to complete the packet.
Polar Express Activity Packet Collaborations of my own plans and other resources and ideas listed below. Fonts used are Beautiful and Blueprint.
Polar Express Holiday Party Packet (from The Polar Express Website) The Polar Express Stationery should be added after the Connection Activity. Letter to Santa stationery should be placed after the Letter to Santa Activity. Other activity pages, such as the word search, coloring pages and more, should be placed at the end of the packet.
Polar Express Ticket Labels- Front
Polar Express Ticket Labels- Back

Website Resources for The Polar Express

Graphics from www.thistlegirldesigns.com