Why Choosing Substance is Always Better When Celebrating Holidays
Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Earth Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Five school holidays often celebrated in elementary classrooms across the country. And for each one, teachers everywhere must choose how to “celebrate” it, how much time to devote to it, and where to find teaching resources.
A typical planning process goes something like this:
Go to Pinterest
Search for “holiday activities”
Scroll through thousands of images
Find a craft that is super cute
Use it the next day in the classroom
But, what do our students really gain from these types of holiday activities?
What do we really gain from them?
A cute project to hang on the wall for a few days and then send home?
Shouldn’t it be something more?
My two cents would be yes, it should.
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3 Reasons Choosing Substance is Always Better When Celebrating SCHOOL Holidays
1 | Substance provides a foundation of knowledge
Resources of substance provide students with an understanding of the history, culture, geography, and people behind the holiday. Students come away understanding why a day is devoted to celebrating a man known as St. Patrick, why chocolate came to be a prized gift given on special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, and how two unlikely groups of people came together to share a friendly meal of gratitude. Substance provides a view into the lives of those living half a world away, an appreciation of the difficult work behind the candy students eat, and a perspective of gift giving different from their own.
2 | Substance provides opportunities for skill practice
When planning for a holiday, oftentimes schedules are scoured for what can be cut from the usual routine to make time for that super cute Pinterest craft. So not only is precious time spent on a “filler” that provides little to no instructional value, but also routine learning is sacrificed in its place.
Rather than replacing content, why not integrate holiday themes into what’s already on the instructional plan?
Besides building a framework of knowledge, thematic holiday teaching resources provide an excellent opportunity for skill practice and review of essential reading skills.
3 | Substance encourages critical thinking.
Holiday resources of substance lend themselves to further exploration of a topic. They encourage students to ask, “I wonder why…” and open doors to follow-up Genius Hour studies, project-based learning, and meaningful discussions with peers.
EXAMPLES OF SUBSTANCE-FILLED SEASONAL RESOURCES:
1 | Nonfiction Mini-Units
Holiday non-fiction units are wonderful sources of thematic passages and aligned skill-based practices. Oftentimes units include options for differentiation, such as a variety of leveled texts, making your job even easier.
Simple resources can include guided practices that walk students through the process of close reading, written reflective responses to text, the collection and learning of important vocabulary words, and more.
Complex resources offer ways for students to expand on what they’ve learned and/or apply it to their own experiences.
2 | Writing Activity Units
For those who typically follow the cute Pinterest craft route during holidays, the switch to "meatier" resources can be difficult at first.
Holiday writing activities can often be a way to combine both substance and fun. Creative writing resources ask students to imagine themselves in new places or on exciting adventures.
Students forget they are practicing essential narrative writing skills and simply enjoy the creative process.
3 | Children’s Literature
Books. They can make anything better, can’t they? Holiday books are one of the best ways to incorporate both fiction and non-fiction into holiday lessons. Here are a few of my favorite books for celebrating holidays in the classroom. (Click on an image to learn more.)
Valentine's Day Books:
1. Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch
2. Those Shoes
3. The Hundred Dresses
For a complete list of books perfect for Valentine’s Day, see this post.
St. Patrick's Day Books:
1. S is for Shamrock
2. Patrick' Patron Saint of Ireland
3. This is Ireland
Earth Day Books:
1. This Book Stinks
2. The Magic School Bus and The Climate Change
3. The Human Footprint
Thanksgiving Books
1. The Thanksgiving Door
2. How Many Days to America? A Thanksgiving Story
3. Balloons Over Broadway
Christmas Books
1. Tree of Cranes
2. The Little Drummer Boy
3. The Nutcracker in Harlem
I’D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU
Looking to start incorporating resources of substance in your holiday plans? The Treasury contains several samples of holiday resources for you to use. You can find complete units here.
Are there any holiday titles you include in your plans each year? Share them below!
Click the image below to save these ideas for later…
