Holiday Fun and Learning

The holiday season is officially upon us. Thanksgiving is this Thursday and after that we have three short weeks until Christmas break. Below are some ideas to bring the holiday spirit into your classroom over those few weeks. Please feel free to share any other holiday ideas in the comments below.

Great Holiday Read Alouds - Check out this list of read alouds worth checking out during the holiday season. This link is in the form of a letter to parents and would be great to share with families for ideas for home reading!

47 Elf On The Shelf Classroom Escapades and Resources - Brighten up your December with these funny ideas. Elf On The Shelf can be employed as a fun and engaging management tool. This post provides ideas about how to set the elf up in the classroom, how to name it, and even what to do if a student touches the elf. If you're hesitant to use the elf, there are also alternatives ideas provided.

Persuasive Writing: Holiday vs. Holiday - This post is more appropriate for intermediate grades. It lays out a plan to write a persuasive essay about a holiday from the perspective of the mascot from another holiday. For example, Santa Clause writes his opinion on Thanksgiving, or the Easter Bunny writes about the 4th of July, etc. You could have a lot of fun with this.

Go Deep with Christmas Trees - Here is another neat idea. In this post, ideas for researching and exploring the history of the Christmas Tree are presented. Students can learn about topics such as the origin of the Christmas Tree, the evolution of holiday decor, famous trees throughout history, artificial vs. real trees, etc. A curious class could really run with this project!