Hi Friends!

Is there anything better than seeing the joy on your students’ faces when you bring out the first Christmas activity? Today I am going to share with you some of my absolute favorite Christmas activities for the classroom.

Christmas Read Alouds

I have a horrible time turning away a good holiday read aloud. A Christmas activitiy that I love to do with my students is to wrap up my favorite 10 Christmas stories and put them in a basket. I add a 1-10 number to each book. We start at 10 and countdown to 1. Each day we unwrap a book, read the book, and complete a variety of fun literacy activities to go along. My students are so excited to unwrap each book! You can grab the Christmas activities HERE.

You might be wondering what books I include? Take a look below to see all the books and a few of the Christmas activities included!

1. The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever

2. How Santa Got His Job

3. How to Catch an Elf

4. Snowmen at Christmas

5. Mooseltoe

6. Santa’s Stuck

7. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

8. If You Take a Mouse to the Movies

9. Santa’s Book of Names

10. The Polar Express

Polar Express Day

The next Christmas activity that I always look forward to is Polar Express Day! One year I wanted to do something extra special with my class other than the typical movie and pajama day. That’s when I came up with doing a whole day filled with fun and engaging literacy and math stations all centered around The Polar Express. My class and I had so much fun having a Polar Express Day. We read the book, dressed in our pajamas, drank hot chocolate, and had a ton of fun with these Polar Express stations! This is something I will definitely be doing year after year! You can grab the Polar Express Day Stations HERE.

If you want to read more about our Polar Express Day, you can on the blog HERE.

Stations Include:

All Aboard the Polar Express -Students write and draw about their experience on the Polar Express. Word list included! (1 craftivity and 2 writing options)
The Polar Express Round Trip Ticket - Students write and draw about what word would be on their ticket. 2 differentiated options included!
The First Gift of Christmas -Students use their schema and clues given to make an inference on what the Christmas gift is.
Snow Spelling- Students write high frequency or spelling words (not included) in shaving cream.
A Cup of Hot Cocoa -Students read and solve math word problems. Students will glue a marshmallow on each cup when problem is solved. 2 differentiated options included!
The Polar Express Train- Students order numbered train cars from least to greatest. 3 differentiated options included! – 6 games in all!
The Missing Bell- Students select addition and/or subtraction problems to solve. If they select a bell, they keep it. Student with most bells wins!
Graphing with the Polar Express- Students will spin and graph pictures from the Polar Express. Then they will answer questions about their graph.
Hot Chocolate
Cookie Decorating/Eating

Gift Bag Idea

Every year my students create a gift for their parents or other loved ones at home. My students always love doing this Christmas activity. The thought and time that the students put into their gift is priceless.

Materials Needed:

brown paper bags
green construction paper
yellow construction paper
white paint
Q tips
scissors
hole punch
ribbon or string

Directions:

cut green construction paper into 1 inch strips
cut the green strips of paper into different lengths (my second graders did this with no problem; you may need to cut the strips for younger students)
glue the green strips on the paper bag to create a tree by gluing the biggest strip on the bottom
add a yellow star to the top of the tree (I printed out stars on yellow construction paper and then my students cut out the star)
add snow and snowflakes using white paint and a Q tip - let dry
fold the brown bag over at the top and make two holes with a hole puncher
place your gift inside the bag
tie the bag closed with a holiday ribbon or string

**I suggest creating a sample bag first. Having a visual really helped my students! :)

I usually have my students make coasters with their picture on it. This is a super easy and low cost gift. I buy the coasters at a hardware store (usually 30 cents per coaster) and the sticky felt backing at a craft store. I use my students’ school picture and some sharpies to decorate. I apply modge podge over the entire coaster and let dry. That’s it!

Dear Santa - A Friendly Letter

There is nothing sweeter than seeing students plan and write their letters to Santa..except maybe reading them! This is the perfect Christmas activity to teach or review how to write a friendly letter. We learn about the parts of a friendly letter and then the students write their letter and add a Santa topper to the top of their writing. You can grab the Dear Santa activity HERE.

Elf Application

I will continue to do elf applications year after year! Elf Applications are just the cutest thing!

My students take this Christmas activity very seriously. I bring in a fun Christmas envelope with a letter from Santa stating that he needs help at the North Pole. We read the letter and then my students begin the elf application process! They had so much fun deciding if they wanted to work in gift wrap, the bakery, toy making. After they’ve decided what they would like to do, they fill out an application and write why they think they would make a good elf. . You can grab the Elf Application HERE.

Christmas Bookmarks - A Student Gift Idea

This isn’t necessarily a Christmas activity, but it will surely put a smile on your students’ faces during the holiday season! I like to get my students a little gift during the holiday season to show how much I love them. I usually purchase $1 books from Scholastic Books. One year I added personalized student bookmarks to the front of their wrapped book. This was a HUGE HIT! My students used these bookmarks the rest of the year and if a bookmark fell on the floor, we knew exactly who it belonged to. You can grab the personalized student bookmarks HERE.