Celebrating Holidays in the Classroom
Introduce Your Students to December Festivities From Around the World
Holidays is a topic occupying the thoughts of children — and teachers — during much of the year, but especially during November and December. This theme can provide a wonderful opportunity to introduce students to customs and cultures that may be unfamiliar to them and to help them recognize festivals as communal celebrations of culture. In these activities, students express themselves creatively by making crafts and gifts and increase their awareness of the ways in which different cultures celebrate the holidays through the use of the Internet and teacher-recommended book lists.
Find and discuss teacher-created holiday festivities on our Winning Ideas message board: What are your best ideas for celebrating a holiday? Then, submit your own!
Your students can do the same through our new Celebrate Winter Holidays interactive unit where students can learn about holidays around the world, share their favorite holiday memories on the moderated message board, and send holiday eCards.
Articles
Internet Field Trip: Holidays ’Round the World Wide Web
These Web sites provide information on the origins, symbols, music, and food of different holidays, including Chanukah, Christmas, Diwali, and Kwanzaa. Students can also exchange their traditions with classrooms from faraway places.
Light Up the Season with Storytelling
Share these holiday read-alouds and storytelling techniques to pull your reluctant readers into a tale.
Winter Holidays
by Jacqueline Clarke
Instructor Magazine |
November ,2002
Bring families together with these easy projects that they can do together. Construct a dinner plate bar graph marking favorite holiday foods and decorate your classroom with a star-studded holiday global wish list.
Time to Celebrate!
Instructor Magazine |
Second-grade teacher Jackie Howes and her students always host a multicultural celebration in December. Here are some of her favorite activities.
Do-it-Yourself Patchwork Gifts
by Lucia Kemp Henry
Instructor Magazine |
November ,2002
Apply students' geometry skills with do-it-yourself patchwork gifts that incorporate tessellations, symmetry, and pattern-forming.
Fun Holiday Crafts
Create these easy-to-make holiday decorations and crafts, including a Hanukkah mobile, Kwanzaa cards, a tissue paper wreath, and many delightful recipes.
December Celebrations
Build a classroom library for the December holidays beginning with this list of titles. Compare the December holidays of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa with these exercises in Social Studies, Language Arts, and Art.
Lesson Plans
Giving
by Bryna Watkins and Valeta Pafford
This unit lesson plan shows kids that they don't have to spend money to give a thoughtful gift for the winter holidays.
Let's Celebrate!
by Gayle Berthiaume
Students organize ideas in a chart to compare and contrast five cultural holidays. After reading books on each holiday, students make projects, including their own Christmas lights and a Ramadan penny jar.
Everybody Celebrates!
by Steven Hicks
Connect world geography with celebrations by exposing your students to the seven principals of Kwanzaa and La Posada as it's celebrated in Mexico and Central America.
Different Ways We Celebrate
by Tracey Roudez
Students explore the concept of tradition by using graphic organizers and responding to writing prompts about holiday customs. Also, students learn the components of a calendar.
