The holiday season is in full swing, so we’re sharing some of our favorite lesson ideas for this time of year. Whether you want to incorporate winter weather or global celebrations into your classroom, we’ve got you covered.
Snow: A Great Tool for Learning
For many students, winter brings about something truly magical: snow days! Science teachers can take advantage of winter weather both inside and outside the classroom with an array of cool lessons and experiments. From discussing how, why, and where snow occurs to studying snowflakes under a microscope, snow offers a wonderful teaching opportunity. But learning about snow doesn’t just end in the science classroom—geography courses can cover regions across the globe that experience snowfall, poetry and books with winter themes can be taught in English courses, and even art teachers can bring snow into their lessons. You can find a variety of lesson plans, activities, and other fun resources to help you teach your students about snow on Teacher Planet and TeacherVision®.
Teaching Holiday Traditions
This time of year wouldn't be complete without mentioning the holidays. You can easily combine learning and fun during the holiday season by teaching students about traditions in other cultures around the world. Perhaps have students find and make traditional holiday recipes from other countries, learn holiday songs and phrases in other languages, or create holiday cards representing different cultures. Education World offers an array of great lesson ideas to help you incorporate December’s many multicultural events and celebrations into your classroom.
Want to jumpstart the holiday season with lessons and actitivites ready to use in the MimioStudio™ software? Check out our updated holiday-themed packs on MimioConnect®, our online educator community. Our Holiday Gallery Pack contains fun holiday images and lessons—you can create your own lessons with the templates and clipart, or use the pre-made activities in the Lessons tab. Or, add some "Ho, ho, ho!" all month long with our December Calendar and Morning Meeting Pack! You'll keep your students in the holiday spirit throughout the entire month with calendars, morning meeting activities, an attendance chart, a daily graphing activity, math activities, and more.
Learning During the Holiday Break
These ideas can also be incorporated at home during the break—just because students aren’t in class, it doesn’t mean they should press pause on the learning process. Many students suffer from learning loss during breaks, which can cause them to forget lessons and concepts learned throughout the previous semester. Continuing learning during breaks can help students retain and reinforce what they have learned, helping them pick up where they left off upon their return to the classroom. Keep in mind that they are on a break, so it’s important that they also have fun! Live Science offers great suggestions for winter experiments that can easily be done at home, including frozen bubbles and making your own snow.
How do you bring the holidays into your lessons? Let us know in the comments below!
Find even more inspiration for this holiday season and all year long on MimioConnect, our interactive teaching community. Learn More.>>
