Holiday Activities to Make Every Classroom Sparkle

Inside: Think about those sacred, precious, and chaotic weeks before Winter Break! They can give even an experienced educator a run for their money. However, the more engaging your lessons, the less likely you’ll spend time redirecting. Keep reading for holiday activities to jazz up your classroom. 

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Merry and Fright 

Tis’ the season,,, for students to bounce off the walls! Am I right? We all know that the weeks leading up to winter break can be a special sort of challenging.

The only real solution? (Besides Winter Break?) Engaging lessons! Hands on, interactive lessons that allow students to interact with the learning. 

Whether you are looking for a festive brain break, or an entire unit, you’ll find ideas in the following glittery holiday activities. Don’t worry, the sparkle is just a metaphor, no glitter required.

Thoughtfulness Disclaimer: I don’t know the culture and climate of your students and school. There are countless policies about holiday celebration. As you read through, adjust the activities to fit your campus and individual student needs. I provide alternative assignments for students who do not participate in celebrations, and this is after reaching out to their parents. Celebrate responsively.

Classroom Decor With a Purpose

Getting students involved in decorating the classroom is a special way to help everyone feel included. While they’re creating fun trinkets to hang up, you can sneak in tons of writing and grammar concepts. Shhhh… I won’t tell if you wont tell.  

1. Tree with helping hands: Each student traces their hand, cuts it out, and writes one idea for how to help others. Assemble them together in a triangle evergreen tree, star, or snowflake. 
2. Colorful chain of gratitude: Thankfulness is not just for Thanksgiving! Give each student a paper strip that they write what they are grateful for. Staple them together into loops and hang a safe distance away from the ceiling. 
3. Snowflakes – Use snowflake templates for journal writing and hang them all around the classroom. This is especially pretty if you are allowed to hang white lights!
4. I am thankful Sentence Strips – Use sentence strips for students to write a note to someone they are thankful for. It’s a simple gift that will make someone smile. On my campus, we had students practice the interrupter/appositive rule and write the sentences about teachers they were thankful for.(Ex: I am thankful for Mrs. Garcia, my ELAR teacher, because she taught me how to summarize.) Next, teachers hung the sentence strips around their room to promote campus wide literacy. 

Here’s where it gets good! Use all of these activities to teach or reinforce comma and grammar rules! They can be adapted to a variety of grade levels. Even something as simple as capitalization and punctuation – When students know that their work will be displayed, they are more likely to revise and edit.

I use this comma rules foldable to introduce my middle schoolers to four important comma rules. When it comes time for the holidays, we practice writing them and hang our practice around the room!  

Holiday Literature

Multicultural Holiday Picture Book Titles: 

Holiday literature allows students to learn about a different cultures, traditions, and celebrations in addition to their own. This is good social emotional learning for them to be aware what others cherish and believe. 

1. Seven Spools Of Thread – A Kwanzaa Story by Albert Whitman
2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss 
3. Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto
4. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats 
5. Light the Lights: A Story Celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas Story by Margaret Moorland
6. The Legend of Old Befana – By Tommie DePaola 
7. Celebrations Around The World – By Katy Halford
8. The All-I’ll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll by Patricia C. McKissack
9. Yoon and the Christmas Mitten by Helen Recorvits
10. Mama Bear by Chyng Feng Sun

Looking for more multicultural texts? Check out my previous post on differentiated texts for all ages. 

Holiday Picture Book Activities 

1. Compare/contrast holidays in different cultures. For older students, they could choose two picture books, create a visual comparing/contrasting, and then present to the class.
2. Bring in guest readers – Students can write thank you cards/letters to give to the reader. (Even more fun if you make it a surprise guest!)
3. Use books for social emotional learning to discuss: growth mindset, perseverance, working together, handling conflict. Etc… These topics will make a great restorative circle, but also could be a writing topic.
4. Inferring the theme, or life lesson, of the story. Here is my go-to strategy for teaching theme, in case you need specifics. 
5. Compare/contrast the picture book to the short film version. (Several of the titles have an animated version) 
6. Have students and/or parents bring in books representing traditions and celebrations.  
7. Sneak in literacy practice! You’ve been teaching their sweet minds to summarize, infer, use context clues etc… have students practice big idea objectives using holiday themed books.

If you’re looking for a way specific way to incorporate this into your routine, check out my Holiday Grinch Bundle.

Holiday Literature 

Poems: 

1. New Year’s Resolutions  by Francis B. Watts
2. Stopping by Snowy Woods – By Robert Frost
3. Burning the Old Year – Naomi Shihab Nye
4. Hanukkah Lights – Philip M. Raskin
5. Chanukah Dreams – Judith Ish-Kashor 

Short Stories

1. The Gift of the Magi – By O Henry
2. A Christmas Carol – By Charles Dickens
3. Scene 1 from “A Christmas Story”
4. Scene 2 from “A Christmas Story”  

Activities: 

1. Reader’s Theater – several of the links above are to free scripts. You can find all sorts at Dr. Chase Young’s website. Advanced/GT students, can create a reader’s theater or spoken word poetry performance based on a poem or short story. Their final product can be a live or digital presentation. (Use tools like: Animoto, Imovie, Flipgrid, etc…) 
2. Spoken word poetry – Have students work in small groups to practice an engaging and dramatic performance of a poem.
3. Poetry analysis – Use these poetry analysis activities to guide students through deeper thinking about the text. 

Remember

Hands-on and novelty lessons work well at keeping students engaged, which is our goal for those weeks leading up to Winter Break. While we’re attempting to survive, keep in mind: Students act out for a variety of reasons. 

For some students, school is their stability. They know that they get fed everyday and will see their favorite caring adults. Holiday break brings uncertainty. Others are experiencing change or loss throughout the holiday season and don’t know what to do with all of those big emotions. Be understanding. They are humans too.

Make memories with them and smile. Add a little sparkle to your time together!

As Always, Happy Reading,

Mrs. Price