Hi, friends! Just under two weeks left for us until Christmas break! I thought I'd share some ideas of holiday things I've done in the past! Maybe you will find something new to add to your idea bank! *At the end of the post, I've linked all the FREE items for Christmas that I have in my store. Enjoy!
First up are my Christmas centers. These are always a hit and super fun for the kids! Adding a little festivity is never a bad idea! Some of my favorite centers are the consonant blends clip cards as well as the Christmas sentence scrambles.
Speaking of centers, I love adding my Christmas Stamping booklets as a center! These make fantastic centers for kids. The kids are 100% independent with any stamping activity that we do for centers. Stamping holiday-themed words is also great for vocabulary development!!
It wouldn't be December without the return of our beloved classroom elf! Although it's stressful to keep track of him, it's worth it to see the excitement in my students! In the past, we have voted on an elf name. This year, we named our elf Jingle. Although I don't go crazy with elf activities, we have done elf journals in the past. I still do occasionally leave notes from Santa to go along with the elf.
Here is Jingle busy practicing his letter formation during Fundations time. Hahaha!
No matter what, I always have a Grinch day! This includes reading the Grinch, watching the movie, making a Grinch craft, and having a green treat of some sort. This year, I saw these amazing Grinch cupcakes and brownies at Kroger! I'll for sure be picking them up for the class next week! *Note: the Grinch craft was from Mrs. Jump's Class many years ago and her patterns have since been removed from her blog/tpt store. You could always whip up your own pattern for your students. The poems you see below are from my blog many years ago and have since been removed.
Next up we have crafts!!! I love a good tracing craft. These reindeer were whipped up by my student teacher. The Christmas bell/countdown chain was from Reagan Tunstall many years ago. The gingerbread man and "Santa's Stuck" crafts are from Crafty Bee. Creations.
Every year, my kids make an ornament to take home for their Christmas present to their families. I don't always do the same thing each year; I like to switch it up! Below are two of my favorites. First is the craft stick Christmas tree. It would be super cute to add a piece of green construction paper behind it and place the child's picture inside. Next up is the hand print reindeer. These would be great laminated for durability, although I've never done that! Finally, we have the traditional craft stick reindeer. I think those are my favorite! I have my kids "wrap" the ornaments by giving them a piece of holiday tissue. We place the wrapped ornament into a brown paper lunch sack and add a holiday gift tag.
Here's a fun idea that I used to do with my students but haven't done in years. I gift-wrapped all of my holiday books and each day in December, we picked a "present" to read. The anticipation was always so fun! I really wish I would have kept this up over the years. I guess there's always next year!!!
I made these fun holiday crayons a few years ago as one of my gifts to my students for Christmas. The job was tedious, but thanks to my husband, it went much faster than it could have.
Directions:
-Purchase silicone baking pans with holiday shapes (I got mine at Target).
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Sort crayons by color and remove the paper using an exacto knife or razor blade.
-Break the crayons into small pieces and place into ungreased molds (silicone pan). You can put as many or as few as you want. I put a ton and so I have huge crayons! LOL! Next time, I won't put as many...
-I recommend placing the silicone on a baking sheet, because for some reason my candy canes leaked through the bottom and onto my oven floor. Maybe because they are narrow? Who knows.
-Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Keep a close watch on them.
-Let cool in pan for 1 hour or longer.
-Crayons will pop right out when cool.
Now it's time for the Christmas Freebies! These are all things I've made and used over the last few years. Enjoy!!
Well, that's about it! I hope you found some new ideas! Merry Christmas!
xo
Megan
First up are my Christmas centers. These are always a hit and super fun for the kids! Adding a little festivity is never a bad idea! Some of my favorite centers are the consonant blends clip cards as well as the Christmas sentence scrambles.
Here is Jingle busy practicing his letter formation during Fundations time. Hahaha!
No matter what, I always have a Grinch day! This includes reading the Grinch, watching the movie, making a Grinch craft, and having a green treat of some sort. This year, I saw these amazing Grinch cupcakes and brownies at Kroger! I'll for sure be picking them up for the class next week! *Note: the Grinch craft was from Mrs. Jump's Class many years ago and her patterns have since been removed from her blog/tpt store. You could always whip up your own pattern for your students. The poems you see below are from my blog many years ago and have since been removed.
Next up we have crafts!!! I love a good tracing craft. These reindeer were whipped up by my student teacher. The Christmas bell/countdown chain was from Reagan Tunstall many years ago. The gingerbread man and "Santa's Stuck" crafts are from Crafty Bee. Creations.
Every year, my kids make an ornament to take home for their Christmas present to their families. I don't always do the same thing each year; I like to switch it up! Below are two of my favorites. First is the craft stick Christmas tree. It would be super cute to add a piece of green construction paper behind it and place the child's picture inside. Next up is the hand print reindeer. These would be great laminated for durability, although I've never done that! Finally, we have the traditional craft stick reindeer. I think those are my favorite! I have my kids "wrap" the ornaments by giving them a piece of holiday tissue. We place the wrapped ornament into a brown paper lunch sack and add a holiday gift tag.
My students and I love playing "I Have, Who Has!!!' It's a fast-paced game that helps build vocabulary. We play during Morning Meeting during December.
Next up are student gift ideas. This year, I'll be giving my kids these dry erase boards, an eraser (a square of felt), and a marker (click here to get cheap dry erase markers). I am sure they will love these. I've done all sorts of things in years past (treat bags, books, crayons/activity pads, etc...). One gift I gave many years ago were fun-shaped crayons. Check out the directions below on how to make those...so fun!!!!
I made these fun holiday crayons a few years ago as one of my gifts to my students for Christmas. The job was tedious, but thanks to my husband, it went much faster than it could have.
Directions:
-Purchase silicone baking pans with holiday shapes (I got mine at Target).
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Sort crayons by color and remove the paper using an exacto knife or razor blade.
-Break the crayons into small pieces and place into ungreased molds (silicone pan). You can put as many or as few as you want. I put a ton and so I have huge crayons! LOL! Next time, I won't put as many...
-I recommend placing the silicone on a baking sheet, because for some reason my candy canes leaked through the bottom and onto my oven floor. Maybe because they are narrow? Who knows.
-Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Keep a close watch on them.
-Let cool in pan for 1 hour or longer.
-Crayons will pop right out when cool.
Now it's time for the Christmas Freebies! These are all things I've made and used over the last few years. Enjoy!!
xo
Megan
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