Author's Point of View - ELA Lesson Plans #14

 How many more weeks do you have before winter break? We have two glorious weeks before we get off for the holidays.  Getting through to the end just may be the biggest test of my teaching skills yet.  This week will be all about thematic days.  Tuesday -Friday I will throw in food to help motivate my students to keep on learning .  We'll have a Cookie Day, Hot Cocoa Day, Candy Cane Day and a Gingerbread Day.  Monday is set aside for fruitcake, but we won't have any food because I spent the weekend loving on my family and not shopping for my class.  Each day we will also have a fun holiday read aloud, Grinch Reader's Theatre fluency time and Grinch sing alongs.  We will perform the reader's theatre, song and various poems at our holiday party.  Writing will look the same as last week, but we'll be writing about holidays around the world.  We are keeping the same format because otherwise kid's attention span wanes and we lose learning time.  Using a high interest topic coupled with a familiar format will keep the kids learning to the end or as long as I can possibly get them to.

We'll also be planting our traditional Candy Seeds.  You can find the seed pack and activities in my Peppermint Day unit by clicking on the picture below.

You can find my lesson plan page outlines from A Modern Teacher.

Holidays Around The Blog

The holidays can be a tricky road to navigate in the classroom.  We have to honor everyone's traditions, keep the rigor in our lessons until our last dying breath (eye roll) all while having fun so that we keep student engagement up.  This linky is designed to bring you engaging lessons and ideas from all over the globe.  Have fun looking around!

Winter Activities

One of my favorite winter time authors is Jan Brett.  Her books build childhood memories and the artwork is captivating.  You never have to worry about your students loving these books.  No matter what the background of your students, you can always find a book that is suitable for the holidays.

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Gingerbread Friends

Every child loves Jan's gingerbread books.  One of my favorites is "Gingerbread Friends".  It's always fun to copy a template on brown paper.  Have the students paint it with drip glue, dust it with cinnamon and decorate.  This is the perfect opportunity to use washi tape!  To add rigor, consider having your students write character traits on an index card to display with the gingerbread friend.  If you are in need of a quick keepsake, punch a hole through the top of the gingerbread friend and tie a ribbon.  Don't forget to put the date on the back of the keepsake.

Gingerbread Craft

Does "The Hat" qualify for a classic yet?  Everyone loves their favorite hedgehog Hedgie.  Here's a lesson suggestion for you:  Copy a template of a hedgehog for students to color and cut out.  Have them cut the back so that the spikes stick up like a real hedgehog.  This book is great for problem and solution.  For a quick lesson, have the students write the problem and solution to display with their hedgehog.

Fun with Hedgie from "The Hat"

The students love hands-on learning.  This next lesson can be used to compare "Snow Bears" to "Goldilocks and The Three Bears".  Give the students three index cards.  Have them cut one of the index cards in half.  On the two smaller index cards they will right the differences of the books.  They can write the similarities on the larger card.  Once they have all of their writing done they can tape the cards together to form an igloo.

Snow Bears

One of my favorite activities has always been making dioramas.  Students must use key details from the book in order to make an accurate diorama.  Our class used the book "Trouble With Trolls" for the diorama that is below.  This is a great book for problem/solution, character traits and retelling.

Trouble With Trolls

At the beginning of every year we send home a questionnaire asking parents what holidays they celebrate.  When everyone celebrates Christmas, the Christmas books come out.  The rest of this blog contains some of my most beloved Jan Brett Christmas books.

The Wild Troll Writing

If you have not read "Home For Christmas" you must do so right now.  This book has a great lesson for children.  In the book, the wild troll child thinks that his parents are too strict and he runs off for greener pastures.  Every child should respond to this book by writing about the lesson.  For a fun narrative, have the students write about their time as wild troll.

Troll Writing

Nothing is more engaging to a child then having them put their picture in a piece.  Below you will see the cover to a creative writing piece that the student's did in response to "The Wild Christmas Reindeer".  They wrote a story about the time they trained Santa's reindeer.

The Wild Christmas Reindeer

The story "Christmas Trolls" is another great read for author's message.  In the book two trolls struggle with compassion and a giving heart.  I like to have students make a horse of their own and do an exchange with a friend.  They love giving to others.  This is a great opportunity to have them write a story with feelings.

Christmas Trolls

Jan's newest book which just came out last month is "The Animals' Santa".  This book is wonderful for predicting.  You could make a quick foldable out of construction paper.  Have the students predict what animal is the Santa.

The Animals' Santa

If you find yourself busy and want the printables together and ready to go for you, you can purchase my Jan Brett unit by linking from the picture below.

Winter Crafts and Literacy Activities

We would love for you to have some extra dough this winter to put together some holiday lessons for your class.  Enter below for a chance to win an Amazon Giftcard.

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Click on the links below to visit the other bloggers with holiday lessons for you!