Celebrate Winter Holidays!

The holidays are coming fast!

As teachers, we want to have fun with our students during this very special time of year, yet we want to respect their individual beliefs and, of course, continue the important learning!

There are a whole lot of holidays celebrated in the winter! Here are ten of them:

Diwali

Hanukkah

St. Lucia Day

Las Posadas

Winter Solstice

Christmas

Boxing Day

Kwanzaa

New Year's Eve

Chinese New Year

I like to discuss each holiday and its meaning. Better yet, they can read about these holidays!

This resource provides a kid-friendly explanation of each of the above 10 holidays. It is available in color or black and white for easier printing.

Plus, after they learn about the holidays, they can perform the included readers' theater! What a great way to practice important reading and speaking skills, learn about winter holidays, and have some fun!

Plus, there's a song that can be used as a "grand finale!"

All these can be found in this one resource: Christmas and Holidays Around the World: Non-fiction Text AND Reader's Theater.

You can also grab this Winter Holidays Readers Theater for FREE by signing up for my weekly newsletter HERE!

Want a digital resource that covers these same holidays? Grab this resource that's available on the Boom Learning platform:

How do you celebrate the winter holidays with your students?

December Freebies

It has come to my attention how many freebies I have for the month of December. 

Here are some of my favorites:

Hanukkah is super early this year. In fact, it's happening now! Be sure to download this Hanukkah Game Board. It can be used with skill that needs practicing: math facts, sight words, task cards. Just do a card, check, and roll your way around the game board.  

Holiday Fluency Sample is a fun way to practice reading phrases. With holiday words, of course!

This is my favorite holiday activity. It focuses on classic holiday music and the storyline that goes along with it. Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker includes suggestions on which music to play with each part of the storyline. It's a great exercise in visualization, and the kids absolutely love it! Yes, even the boys! How can you miss it when the setting is a place called The Kingdom of Sweets? (I've done this every year for at least 15 years!)

 

 

This is what my students are working on tomorrow: Acts of Kindness Countdown gives the kids a chance to count down the days until Christmas and enjoy the joy of giving at the same time.  Plus, everything they are giving is free!

The two resources below are NOT free, but are totally worth it!

I had to throw in my newest resources, although this one is not free. December Holidays True or False Boom Digital Task Cards This digital resource allows students to practice reading skills while learning about holidays around the world. Boom Learning digital task cards are easy to use, perfect for remote or distance learning, and fun for the students!

And here's one more new one, that's very popular with the children! Boom Learning December General Knowledge Trivia Questions and Enrichment

 

The December holidays are great fun for the students and an excuse for fun learning!

Hanukkah Game Board

Looking for a little something to help your kids celebrate Hanukkah?

 

This game can be used in many ways in the classroom!

Brain research tells us that frequent repetition helps transfer information from short-term memory to long-term memory. (I prefer "Practice Makes Permanent" to "Practice Makes Perfect"!)  

I use board games like this to practice sight words, math facts, sentence fluency, task cards, or any skill that needs practice! The children just roll one die, but before they can move their place marker that many spaces, they have to perform a task. I sometimes have a selection of cards the children can choose from, and sometimes, I have a specific skill for them to practice. Here are some ideas for practice cards: Practice Card Bundle, Word Work Bundle, or Reading Celebration Game.

Just click this link to download your Hanukkah Game Board

You might want to try this related resource: Hanukkah Two Syllable Nonsense Word Game to practice the important skill of reading nonsense words.

Want a little more on Hanukkah and other seasonal holidays? Try this collection of informational texts and Winter Holidays Reader's Theater

or looking for something digital?

Try this Boom Learning 

December Holidays Around the World

 How do you bring Hanukkah into your classroom?