Beating Holiday Stress - Fun & Engaging Activities for November & December

Does anyone else find themselves caught in between holiday excitement and sheer exhaustion this time of year? November and December fly by, and I’m ready to channel student excitement into learning better than ever!

Here are some of the fun things we’re up to! (Sneak peak in pictures below.)

November:

We’ve been all about practicing kindness and building our attitudes of gratitude.
Our room is decorated with thankful turkeys and personalized word problem turkeys.
Our math and ELA centers are Thanksgiving themed.

To simplify your planning this week you can grab November activities here.

December:

We love all things snowman! It’s a great winter subject that all of my students can enjoy. Their favorite activity is to make a “snowman puddle” craft story (see below).
A great attention getter for any lesson is to pose a question and have students record their answer on a sheet of paper and crumple it into a ball. Students then have a “snowball” fight where they toss their paper on the floor and everyone has to pick up someone else’s snowball. They read and write a response to the new snowball they choose, then repeat as many times as fits your lesson.
Candy cane geometry – you bet we snack on candy canes while we work 🙂 Super simple to add a treat and excitement to any lesson.
Our math & ELA centers are winter themed too! I love to stock up on Target’s dollar spot erasers then swap them out for new ones each week. They can’t wait to get to their rotations and see their new erasers.