The holidays are coming, and that means that students are going to start getting excited about a break! They are also excited for the Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah holidays. This is the time of year that we need some extra activities to help keep our students engaged. I love finding fun things for students to do so they can be excited about learning as it gets closer to the holidays. Today I am going to share some great ideas that I use in my classroom with my students as it gets closer to this time of the year!
Incorporating writing into our day is important. I use holiday writing prompts as much as I can. My students get so excited to see fun topics that focus on the holidays. Adding in some fun writing activities will help your students stay engaged before the holidays. I usually add some fun writing topics that are in addition to our normal writer's workshop block.
Holiday themed crafts are another great way to help keep your students engaged. When you add in a craft for your students to show their learning, it always helps to keep your students invested. You can use crafts with content for reading, writing and math. Crafts are a great way to display the content your students are learning around your classroom. This helps to decorate for the holidays and your students will love getting to do crafts so much, they won’t even realize they are showing what they have learned. They will also enjoy seeing their work around the classroom.
Another activity that I like to do before the winter holiday break is a Holidays Around the World Unit. I tie this in with our reading unit as well as our social studies unit. My students always enjoy researching about the winter holidays in different countries and then presenting what they learned to the class. My students really like creating crafts for the different countries and holidays as well as trying some of the different holiday treats that come from the different countries. This is always a highlight of our holiday celebrations in the classroom.
The final idea that I always bring into the classroom to help keep my students engaged before the holidays is picture books. I love to read to my class and introduce them to new books. The holidays are the perfect time to share new stories that your students have not heard before. There are so many wonderful books about the different fall and winter holidays that can be shared. My students get so excited when I have a new book to share with them. I usually tie new books into our reading time. But I will also share fun books at different times throughout the day. I really like to read to my class after lunch to help calm them down and this is a great time to share new, fun holiday books with them.
There are so many wonderful activities that you can share with your class to help them stay engaged before the holidays. Today I shared some of my favorites. What are some of your must do holiday activities to help keep your class engaged before the break? Share your ideas in the comments. I can’t wait to try them out!
