For the winter holidays there is so much fun classroom stuff to choose from that sometimes finding just what you are looking for can be a daunting task. Like many teachers, I changed some of my holiday activities each year, but also over the years, certain activities and resources became my favorites.
I’ve written about a number of these favorites in winter holiday blog posts, and so this year, I thought I would post them as a collection to make them easy to find. I hope that you will find some things that you would like to use in your own class here – a story, a Christmas treat, or an idea for celebrating a winter holiday that your class hasn’t celebrated before. Or maybe you’d just like to pick up one of the holiday word lists for your own games and activities.
Forgotten Christmas Stories
As a language arts teacher, I loved teaching The Christmas Carol, but sometimes I wanted even more in terms of great Christmas Stories. The post “Forgotten Christmas Stories” has ideas for teaching with additional favorites, such as “The Gift of the Magi” or “The Elves and the Shoemaker,” as well as some stories that you may not be familiar with including “Piccola” and “Christmas at Red Butte.” (One nice thing about these stories, among others, is that they are old enough to be in the public domain and so available for free).
Christmas Story Studies and a Holiday Freebie
This post is about two of my holiday resources – a set of activities for Christmas story studies, for stories including some of those mentioned above, and a free set of three winter holiday activity sheets which is still available in my TPT store.
The More the Merrier
If Christmas is your usual winter holiday, but you’re trying to incorporate more of a variety of winter holidays into your classroom activities, take a look at this post. It includes helpful information about a number of holidays, plus some handy charts. Check out the ideas for incorporating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Diwali, Winter Solstice, Epiphany, Chinese New Years, and New Years Day celebrations.
Fun Classroom Stuff for the Winter Holidays
Think about all those holiday extras like crafts and treats! And then, check out these ideas for holiday-themed yummy treats and fun-to-do crafts that are easy to prepare for those special holiday times like classroom parties or the days before holiday breaks!
Winter Holiday Word Lists
I have two nice long lists – one is a general list for the winter holidays, and the other is a list of Christmas characters and their authors. I’ve updated both posts to include a PDF so that you can just download the lists.
I hope you enjoy browsing through my holiday posts as much as I enjoyed putting them together! Happy holidays, from Classroom in the Middle
