Christmas is my SECOND favorite holiday. (Thanksgiving girl all the way right here, y'all!) And I love learning and celebrating Christmas in the classroom, too! Here are 3 of my favorite ways to learn and celebrate Christmas in the classroom.
Christmas Around the World
I remember when I was an elementary school kid and we learned about Christmas traditions around the world. It's one of my fondest memories as a student and one of my favorite things to teach as a teacher!
My favorite way to teach this is with my team. We each take on a country and then rotate our kids through our classrooms. Some years, we did a "Christmas around the world" rotation every afternoon until we rotated through all of them. Other years, we took 2 days and all we did was rotate through Christmas tradition classrooms.
The kids LOVE learning about how different people celebrate similar holidays differently. And I love helping them see how the United States is really just a melting pot of so many older traditions!
The best part about Christmas around the world is that it's not fluff. At least in Arkansas, these lessons tie in nicely with our state social studies standards in learning about traditions, holidays, and customs around the world! #winning
You can read more about how we do Christmas around the world in this blog post!
Pancakes, Pajamas, & Polar Express
It's not Christmas in the classroom without a Christmas (or Winter) party! Our first grade winter party was my favorite all year. And it alliterates which makes it even better!! :) Pancakes, PJs, and Polar Express!
If you haven't tried a breakfast party at Christmas, you are missing out. Truth bomb: Kids come to school on party day jacked up and ready for the party at the end of the day. Reigning them in until the party is a next-to-impossible feat.
That's why a Christmas breakfast party is so genius. Kids came to school in their pajamas and got to "party" right away. I (and some parent volunteers) made pancakes for our Christmas breakfast party with all the fun toppings. My favorite is building Rudolph pancakes together!
And while we called this a "breakfast party," we also ended the day with hot chocolate and the Polar Express movie. You can read all the details for this party in this blog post.
The Christmas Story
As a Christian teacher, nothing beats being able to teach my kids the REAL meaning of Christmas. Of course, this is a no-no in public schools where I taught for 10 years.
But it is an absolute HIGHLIGHT in my preschool Sunday School class. Preschoolers are one of my favorite ages because they are so literal, hilarious, and help remind you that play is the key to learning.
Each Christmas, we bring out the kids play nativity set to play and "rehearse" the birth of Jesus Christ.
We play games. We make Christmas sensory bins. We make ornaments. But most importantly, we talk about Jesus' birth and what it means to us all during our play and exploration. You can find all these activities here and read more about the lessons in this blog post.
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