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Fun ways to seize teachable moments with K-2s this holiday season!

2017-12-10 By: That Fun Reading Teachercomment

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The holiday season is indeed the season of abundance and gifts, and while the abundance in schools may come in the forms of chaos, germs, behaviors and lost mittens; the gifts come in teachable moments that the Winter holidays provide!

From learning about how others celebrate the season, to having a true purpose for writing, discovering math concepts, and for those of us who teach in Catholic and Christian Schools, learning about the Nativity!

Learning about how others celebrate the season:

These photos were taken after kindergarten students read stories with their reading buddies about how different characters celebrate the holiday season. The buddies then compared their own holiday traditions and drew side-by-side pictures of them.

My kindergarten students read stories with their reading buddies about how different characters celebrate the holiday season. The buddies then compared their own holiday traditions and drew side-by-side pictures of them. $ #readingbuddyactivities #christmas #holidays #readingbuddies

The big buddies didn’t know it at the time, but their little buddies had a surprise in store for them!

Reading Buddy Holiday cards

They had colored in cards for them, printed their names and drawn some pictures inside.

My students loved making cards for their big buddies. We did this fairly early, knowing how busy the season ahead would be. This added to the Christmas writing frenzy (we were already working on letters to Santa), which is why I provided the pre-made color and copy your name option.

While I believe we need to hang on to creating Christmas cards with kids for as long as possible, I also know we have to pace ourselves.Ā  I will be posting the card I made with my kindergarten students last year in the Christmas learning in kindergarten series I just started:

Christmas learning through play in in kindergarten!

It requires paint on hands, and goes in stages. For anyone (all of us?) in a time vacuum, or facing students in need of multiple cards, replacement cards, or something productive to do, below are Christmas cards and letters to Santa with multiple levels of support for your earliest writers!

Letters to Santa, Mrs. Claus

Save yourselves.

Math is everywhere during the holidays,

Here’s a popular post and product about counting by two’s with reindeer. The toilet paper roll figures are included (also in blackline version for students to color) in my Christmas / Nativity Craft / Dramatic Play Resource and the Big Christmas Bundle They make ideal manipulatives acting out the 10 at the Sled Song / Storybook:

Counting by 2s with reindeer and song with the Big Christmas Bundle! $ #christmasliteracy #christmasmath #christmascrafts

Santa stood at his sled and then he said “Come Dasher, come Dancer,” so along came Dasher and Dancer, too! There were 2 at the sled and Santa said, “Come Prancer, come Vixen...”

Especially in patterns!

Seize the teachable moments in the holiday season! Do you see any patterns?

Ask kids to go on a pattern hunt throughout the classroom, through picture books or at home. Recreating and extending patterns using a variety of art mediums, on shaped paper, or with beads, cubes, building toys, etc. make exploring patterns so much fun!

Teachable moments abound at Christmas time - especially for patterns! Seize the season!

Here are some fun and easy examples of how students duplicated some of the patterns they found!

Learning about the Nativity

Reading picture books are always a great way to introduce and review content and vocabulary with kids, and there are many wonderful stories about the First Christmas. Having themed costumes, toys, puppets handy are a great way to inspire dramatic play! Check out these amazing Nativity Education Ideas for Young Students on Pinterest!

The images used for these figures are a part of my Big Christmas Bundle on TpT! $ #Nativity #Christmas #earlyliteracy

The images used for these figures are a part of my Christmas / Nativity Craft / Dramatic Play Resource and Big Christmas Bundle. I laminated the color ones before taping them onto the rolls for durability, and the kids colored their own to take home! They really enjoy retelling the story of The First Christmas with these figures.

They also just can’t believe it when they realize that these are the exact same characters from their very own readers! Little minds blown! lol

Best wishes as you prepare for the holiday season,

 

 

 

 

Related:

Christmas and Nativity themed PreEmergent Sight-word readers! Color and 3 line-art versions with sentence puzzles and follow-up fun! $ #Christmas #Nativity #preemergent #reading #sightwords #teaching #earlyliteracy #fun #kindergarten

 

This fun cut-and-paste activity involves matching upper case Shepherds and lower case sheep! From Nativity: Read and Write and More!

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    Canadian mom and literacy teacher sharing great content from years of fabulous on-the-job training, and the best of what I find on the web. Background in teaching kindergarten and primary grades, Reading Recovery and special education

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