When you have a group of 50 suuuuuper excited preschoolers on the last week of school before Winter break, what better topic, other than candy, (like the day after Halloween), than Santa and his reindeer!? This week, we celebrated Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa, and Christmas with your adorable children. We put the finishing touches on your holiday gifts and sent them home and wrapped up our first semester portfolios and sent those home as well.

We hope you enjoy this holiday Mousehole. We talked to each class at opening circle, and asked them to close their eyes and imagine: It is Christmas Eve, and Santa is getting ready to go on his big trip around the world. Mrs. Claus brings out his warm red coat, and the elves load the sleigh with all of the bags of toys and gifts. Everything is ready to go, and when they go to harness up the reindeer, the elves go to the barn and stables and find that the reindeer are gone! The reindeer got the dates mixed up and scheduled their holiday party for the same night! Oh! My goodness! If you were Santa, what animal would you ask to pull your sleigh?

We hope you enjoy reading their ideas and imaginations at work below, to problem solve Santa’s predicament.

We had a few students who were absent this past week, due to travel or illness. We hope you have fun discussing Santa’s possible dilemma around your dinner table over the next few days. We’d love to hear what your family members came up with! 

Ladybugs

Caleb – Santa gets around on his sleigh. He uses magic dust to make it fly. It HAS to be reindeer that pull the sleigh. No one else can! Not dogs, not horses…REINDEER! That’s it!

Canyon – Deers pull the sleigh. If there were no deers, they went to get the tree. There is a red deer. But maybe a Gobble. It flies through the air with wings.

Charlie – Reindeers pull Santa’s sleigh. Maybe Belleamie could pull the sleigh. I don’t know how she could do that. I think it should be reindeers.

Hazel – Rudolph is a reindeer and he helps Santa. Maybe a flying squirrel could pull the sleigh if there were no reindeer!

Isla – Reindeer pull Santa’s sleigh. But an unicorn could pull the sleigh. Unicorns are magic. He would only need one unicorn. She would go really fast.

Kai – A shiny horse could pull Santa’s sleigh.

Lily – If reindeers couldn’t pull the sleigh, a eyeball should pull it! Ha Ha! Maybe a mouse could pull the sleigh. Like 5 mice!

Lukas – Santa pulls the sleigh. I think dogs pull the sleigh. Dogs say “Wolf! Wolf!”

Riley – If all the reindeers got sick, maybe unicorns could pull the sleigh. That’s weird!

Robin – It would be funny if elephants pull the sleigh.

Crickets

Cambrie- The reindeer jump on the houses and they go flying to other people house and then my house. I think if Rudolf couldn’t do it, I think a mouse could pull the sleigh because it goes under all of the wall and it comes from an apple and so it could pull a sleigh. The mice would wake up all the people while they were sleeping.

Camden – If Santa couldn’t pull Santa’s sleigh I think Spider Man could pull the sleigh. He shoots the webs. He doesn’t fly – only he can reach the clouds – not the moon. His webs could reach the clouds.

Coco – I think a little cow should pull the sleigh for Santa. They would be good because they could go to all the farms. I would leave out a salad for a snack for the little cows.

Eleanor – If Rudolf couldn’t pull Santa’s sleigh, a zebra could probably do it. It is fast. But a cheetah is faster and could pull the sleigh really fast. Snakes are slow. Only fast animals can pul the sleigh. Cheetahs are really the fastest.

Elli – I think it would be funny if Santa used crocodiles. They would snap snap snap their mouths and fly through the air. Santa might be afraid that they would bite him, but they are really smiling with their sharp teeth!

Hudson- If Rudolf couldn’t pull Santa’s sleigh I think a doggy and a mouse could pull. A dog could pull it because it can run fast and a mouse could do it because mice are good.

Koa – Absent

Lillian – I think cats should pull the sleigh. I like animal cats. I would leave cat food out for the cats and some real fish. Not goldfish, but real cat fish.  

Lily – If Rudolf couldn’t pull Santa’s sleigh, I think an owl could do it. I would leave a treat for an owl, I would leave a candy cane. Owls can see in the dark. They are quiet when they fly.

Madison – Absent

Max – If Rudolf couldn’t pull Santa’s sleigh, I think an alligator could pull it for him because I like alligators.

Noble – If Rudolf couldn’t pull his sleigh, I think a Monster Truck could pull his sleigh because we could make a ramp and he could jump to the houses

Oliver- How about a tyrannosaurus rex because it can see in the dark. It would be a good Trex. He wouldn’t be too scary for Santa – but an Ankylosaurus is not scary for Santa too because they don’t have big sharp teeth. It could pull Santa’s sleigh to everyone’s house.

Orion – If Rudolph couldn’t pull Santa’s sleigh I think a bird could pull it because maybe it just could fly. It would be a big bird like a crow.

Presley- I know that Rodulph has a red nose. He can walk. If Rudolph couldn’t pull Satan’s sleigh, how about a dog can pull the sleigh because he is not scared of the dark. He could have gel on his nose and he will stay warm.

Quentin- I think a horse could pull Santa’s sleigh if the reindeer are sick because horses are fast and strong.

Sana- If Santa didn’t have reindeer, I think unicorns could pull his sleigh because they have wings. They actually are not real – but that’s ok.

Sloane – If Rudolph couldn’t pull Santa’s sleigh I think a tiger could pull the sleigh. A small tiger because he can see in the dark. I saw a real tiger once. I was at the zoo with Hudson yesterday. I got to meet the Grinch. He was at my Dad’s fire station. I am scared of the Grinch. This Grinch was nice.

Wells- I think a tyrannosaurus rex could fly Santa’s sleigh because they run so fast and then Santa could move really fast.

Honeybees

Ainsley- A unicorn. Unicorns can fly and have magic. A million unicorns. Santa could find them in the desert far away from here. Unicorns eat grass and we have lots and lots of grass. I would just cut some outside and bring it inside on a plate for the unicorns as a snack.

Audrey- A carrot. It is because they are silly. Ten hundred carrots could pull Santa’s sleigh. I would give the carrots carrots to eat. Just like the reindeer. Then if the reindeer came back at night why would eat the carrots and the carrots would eat the carrots and the carrots would eat the reindeer and the reindeer would eat the carrots.

Bella- An elephant. Just one. They are very strong and could pull Santa the whole way. I don’t think the North Pole has elephants so Santa would go to the beach to find them. I know that elephants like to eat nuts so I could go to the store with mommy to get the peanuts.

Claire- I do not know. Nothing ideas. Maybe butterflies because they can already fly. 100 butterflies could probably pull Santa. I don’t really know what they eat. Flowers? I could maybe get them roses.

Dominic- I think a turtle. It can swim so Santa could swim in the ocean and go everywhere. The turtle shell is really strong which is good. I think that turtles like to eat bones. We don’t have bones at my home but you can buy them at the store.

Ellie- A Kitty. I think it would take about 500 kitties to pull Santa’s sleigh. I like kitties because they are so cute. They could eat milk. They would all come from my house. I don’t have 500 kitties yet – but I want to have 500 kitties. I don’t have a single one right now. All 500 of them would sleep downstairs and some of them on my bed.

Jeffrey- Absent

Julius- I would pick infinity lions because they’re super duper strong. They would go one thousand hundred infinity miles. I would leave out chicken meat and bacon for the lions. I would need infinity meat for them to eat. I think one grocery store probably has infinity meat.

Karen- A pig! Nooooo. No pigs. A bird! They can fly. Red and green birds for Christmas. And white. I don’t know where Santa could find them. He could make the birds the colors. They could eat peanuts! I don’t know where I would get them.

Kennedi- An eagle because it can fly. 100 eagles. Santa could find them in the sky. I would give them a *this* huge turkey for all of them to eat. I could get it at the farm for turkeys.

Korzen- A seahorse! Actually a regular horse. They can gallop really fast. They pull stuff sometimes. Santa already has horses at the North Pole. I would give the horses some hay. I don’t have any hay so I would have to go to the store. The pet store.

Lowen- A skunk. If Santa didn’t have a reindeer he should use skunks because he likes stinky stuff. I kind of like stinky stuff but actually I kind of don’t like stinky stuff. My Dad doesn’t like stinky stuff too.

Maddy- A hippo because it has really big jaws. Not one hippos but a hundred hippos. Santa could go to a zoo to get the hippos. Maybe like a lot of zoos. Hippos eat hay but I don’t have any. I think grocery stores probably have hay for you to buy.

Mason- Ummm a rocket. Santa would make it super fast in the North Pole. Rockets can go like *this* fast, ike super duper fast. Santa could give all the presents in the whole world. I’d give the rocket chips to eat. Good chips.

Maya- Santa would choose a turtle and put pixie dust on them so they could fly. They love to play in the ocean so they could jump up on the roofs and fly around. The pixie dust could make them fast instead of turtle slow. I could give them seaweed. No, I don’t have seaweed. Actually, I could ask my mom and dad to get seaweed at the store.

Oliver- Maybe a bear. Actually a fox because they are super fast and can run super fast and they could pull the sleigh and stuff. North Pole probably has some orange and some brown foxes. Probably I would leave them some treats like a gingerbread man because a fox ate the gingerbread in the book and he liked it so they would also like it.

Rumi- Every animal. He could have one of each animal, but no elephants because they would literally break a roof. Santa might have some babies helping drive the sleigh too. Maybe their crying could help them boost into the air. They’ll fly with their cry power.

Rylie- Well I would basically think fifty owls. Because they can fly and they can see in the dark. Santa would have to go somewhere to find the owls. We have owls at night so Santa could come here. Well basically owls like to eat what birds eat so I would give them bird food. I’d put it in a bird feeder outside.

Tatum- A bird. A blue bird. My daddy saw some blue birds having a party outside today. I think he would need 20. I think he could find them at my home like daddy saw today. I would give them syrup. Not any pancakes, just the syrup. We have it at our house so it would be easy.