Holidays in primary grades mean class parties with crafts, games, and snacks. In most schools, parties like this come to an end in third grade. This presents a challenge for upper elementary teachers. Students still expect to celebrate the holidays, but teachers need to stick to the demands of the curriculum.

As a teacher, it’s up to you to decide how much to celebrate holidays, how much time to devote to the celebration, and where to find teaching resources.

For most teachers, that process looks a little something like this:

• Head to Pinterest

• Search “holiday activities”

• Scroll, scroll, and scroll some more through thousands of images

• Find a cute craft

• Use the cute craft with your students the next day

I’d like to add one more step. The one where you wonder what your students actually gained from the activity. Is it anything more than something to hang on the classroom wall and then send home?

Should our classroom holiday celebrations be something more? Something with substance?

Yes, they should.

Three reasons to choose substance when celebrating holidays:

1. Substance provides a foundation of knowledge.

2. Substance provides opportunities for skill practice.

3. Substance encourages critical thinking.

Learn more about choosing rigor when celebrating school holidays here.

Today I’m going to introduce you to a resource I created that will have your students excited about celebrating Valentine’s Day AND engaged in valuable learning… at the same time.

History of Chocolate Unit

Valentine’s Day means candy and to me, that means chocolate. I created this unit for you to use with your third, fourth, or fifth grade students. It takes something they are very familiar with - chocolate - and teaches them background information and history they’ve never encountered before.

The History of Chocolate is available as a printable or digital resource. It provides your students with a history of chocolate while practicing close reading skills, writing responses, vocabulary, and more.

I designed this unit with enough resources to fill at least six days of ELA lessons in your classroom. It’s a little to no-prep resource and is also perfect for use as an emergency sub plan.

What’s Included With This Chocolate Unit

Feel good about celebrating a holiday with activities of substance that require little to no-prep for you. The History of Chocolate unit includes:

1 | Six Days Of Ready-To-Go Teaching Plans

Not only do these plans make it easy for you to plan a holiday unit that interests students and meets standards, they’re also perfect to have on hand for emergency sub plans. If you need to be out of the classroom unexpectedly, feel confident your students will be engaged in high-quality learning activities.

2 | Three Leveled Versions Of An Original Nonfiction Passage

Need to differentiate for different groups of learners within your classroom? No problem. I’ve included three versions of the same passage to allow you to meet the needs of all of your learners without any extra effort on your part.

3 | Three Close Reading Practices

This resource has students practicing all standards for informational text. These activities provide opportunities for flexibility as students can complete them independently, in partners, or with a group.

4 | Three Writing Response Prompts

Students gain important writing skills, using what they’ve learned while reading in order to answer the prompts. Fun - and yummy looking graphics - add a bit of fun!

5 | Vocabulary Booklet

You know how vital it is for students to continue to build their vocabularies. This booklet allows them to capture details they learn about important words within the passages.

6 | You Also Get:

• Daily “I Can” Sheets

• Writing Pages

• Bookmarks

• Thinkmarks

• Answer Keys

7 | There’s Still Room For Fun

Bonuses included in the unit allow students a bit of the fun they’re used to without the whole class party. Inside this unit, you’ll find printable and digital valentines that can be used two ways. Teachers can give them to students or simply print them out and give them to students to use for a card exchange.

I designed this resource to strike the right balance between holiday fun and rigorous instruction. I’m confident your students will love it - and you will, too!

Celebrate Valentine’s Day while building students’ critical reading and writing skills. Grab this History of Chocolate unit from my TPT store today!

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