Channeling Christmas Chaos into Fun

‘Twas the month before break and all through the school.

The children were acting crazy and forgetting the rules.’ 

Can you relate to this feeling? I’m sure you can! Students can become absolutely wild after returning from Thanksgiving break. Instead of getting frustrated over this, putting yourself in students’ shoes is important. Chances are you were once this excited. So, it helps to focus on channeling Christmas chaos into fun! Thankfully, these activities below all combine learning with Christmas excitement. 

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Reader’s Theater

This is the perfect way for students to work on reading with expression! 

There is an editable script that allows you to insert your students’ names. Additionally, there is a spot to add your school name. Students will each read their character lines as they put together a script. Students have so much fun finding out what happens in the story that they are excited to work on their reading skills. The entire script is only 3 pages, so it is perfect for your blossoming readers. 

After practicing a few times, students can perform for other classrooms and parents. This is a fun activity during the week of Christmas break! It is a fantastic way to help students focus on channeling Christmas chaos into fun. 

Measurement Trees

One of the most festive symbols of Christmas is trees. Students are so excited to talk about decorating them and seeing how beautiful they are. Thankfully, Mrs. Lee’s Kindergarten has a fantastic way to bring this activity to the classroom. 

Students will create their tree out of pre-cut strips of paper. So, the teacher cuts out 8 x  1 inch strips from scrapbook paper. After, students each receive 5 strips. 

To gear the lesson towards 1st graders, they measure out paper strips. The first 8-inch strip goes on the bottom. Students will need to make a few cuts after this. They will cut the second strip into two pieces. One is 7 inches, and the other is 1 inch. Then, they will cut their third strip into two pieces. One is 6 inches, and the other is 2 inches. Students will continue this until they cut all strips. 

Once their strips are ready, they will organize them until they look like a tree. After gluing everything down, they can use white paint and Q-tips to make snow. This makes an adorable bulletin board display! 

Reading on the Move Christmas Edition

Students love channeling Christmas chaos into fun with this activity! It is the perfect way to combine fluency with physical exercise. 

Specifically, there are 10 themed sentence pages, 10 beginner reading stories, and 10 more advanced stories. This aspect makes differentiation easy! 

Students will get up and move as they read or after reading their line. Honestly, they have so much fun building their fluency while moving! 

It is so important to remind students of the importance of being kind at Christmas. So, they can create their own ornaments to showcase what they can do. This makes an adorable craft that is amazing to send home. 

Christmas Comprehension 

Comprehension is a skill students will always work on! So, these holiday passages are a great way to add in practice. There are 5 Read and Answer comprehension pages. Students will work on reading and essential skills, such as sequencing and story elements. Additionally, they will work on cause and effect, compare and contrast, and making inferences. 

Christmas is such an exciting time of the year! Thankfully, these activities are fantastic ways for channeling Christmas chaos into fun! 

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