December Planning Ideas and Songs
In this podcast episode we share some of our favorite activities, songs, and tips for the month of December. Hopefully this episode will help you enjoy your teaching from now to the beginning of winter break!
We give suggestions on how to enjoy Christmas themes, build cultural awareness, or learn about elves and reindeer without the holiday slant. For example, using the book “The Elves and the Shoemaker” is a great way to study “elves” in a different way. My class loved when we drew a tiny picture of ourselves by our life-size shoe in our art class.
We talk about gingerbread play dough that will last all month if you store it in a tight container… And much much more such as Christmas Around The World, a visit to the North Pole to learn about Santa and his elves, and the Reindeer Hokey Pokey!
Also, don’t forget to visit Nancy Stewart and see for yourself why we love using her songs in our classroom! And if you love to use music in the classroom, don’t forget to grab your song and finger play posters for December.
It is packed with 15 of our favorite December songs, many which we sing on this podcast.
Also Available at TPT
Christmas and More Songs and Fingerplays for December
December is a great month to celebrate Christmas, lights, trees, gingerbread men, reindeer, lights and of course Santa.
Using songs and fingerplays throughout the school day not only makes for a happier environment, it increases reading and math skills, and has proven effect on classroom management! Litter your classroom with song and fingerplay posters, sing at the carpet, at transition time, as part of the curriculum, and well, anytime you fill like adding some extra happy to your day. Your students will also love singing during reading independent and free-choice times. They are also perfect for poetry studies and binders! * Be sure to find our podcast on iTunes or on our Blog using these songs.
Fifteen Songs Are Included (With YouTube examples)
A Season for Singing
The Ginger Man
5 Little Ginger Men
Jingle Bells
Navidad
Ho Ho Ho
Santa and the Chimney
Old Santa
Santa's Elves
Santa and the Elves
Elf on the Shelf
The Colors of Christmas
S-A-N-T-A
The Reindeer Pokey
Christmas is the time
© Kathy Crane Kindergarten Kiosk
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Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Product Description
Are you looking for thematic way to teach academic skills? You will love this Gingerbread Man Thematic Unit, and it will thrill the students in your classroom or homeschool setting. Everything is successfully classroom tested.
This Gingerbread Man unit is strategically linked to core standards. It is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, social studies, science, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation.
The first page of the unit is a planning sheet. This page shows everything that is available to you within the unit, divided into categories. There is also space provided to make notes and add activities to personalize the unit to fit your own needs!
Table of Contents:
Shared Reading Activities:
Gingerbread Man Retelling Activity
Gingerbread Man Story Element Study
Gingerbread Man: Five day Poetry Study Lesson Plans
Literacy Activities:
Beware the Fox: Blending Phonemes Into CVC Words
Run Run As Fast As You Can: Printing, Identifying & Matching Uppercase letters.
A Village of Sounds: Identifying Final Sounds
Gingerbread Man Match: Identifying Color Words
Independent Literacy Activities
Colored Ginger
Gingerbread Get Away
Math Activities:
Gingerbread Hide & Seek: Ordering Numbers Using Concept of Greater Than/Less Than
Across The River: Identifying Two-Dimensional Shapes
Gingerbread Man Escape: Naming The Numbers 0-20 Fluently
Gingerbread Land: Naming and Matching Numbers 11-20
Independent Math Activities:
The Cookie Jar: Counting Quantities & Making One Greater
Gingerbread Man & Friends: Number Quantity & Writing Numerals
Art Projects
Gingerbread Story Puppets
Gingerbread Man-Story Take Home Project
Science
Gingerbread Twins: Identifying Matching Pairs Tactilely
Gingerbread Playdough: Combining Ingredients
Kitchen
Decorating Gingerbread Men Gingerbread Hunt
Gingerbread Houses
Writing Prompts/Word Wall
Guided Writing Activities:
Label It
Using a Word Wall
Story Elements
All About Mr. Fox
The Gingerbread Man
Gingerbread Word Wall Words
Guided Reading Books
The Gingerbread Man
Related Products
Gingerbread Orchestrated Reader's Theater
The Christmas Train Kindergarten
The Christmas Train First Grade
Christmas Around the World Mega Bundle (Parts 1,2,3 and 4)
Christmas Around the World Part 1
Christmas Around the World Part 2
Christmas Around the World Part 3
Christmas Around the World -- The Scrapbook Part 4
Christmas Themed Writing Activities
Christmas Alphabet Sound Flashcards
Christmas Addition Problems Fluency 0-5
Christmas Class Play: The Bear's Great Adventure
Santa Gets Dressed Phoneme Segmentation Fluency PSF
Santa's Mail Write the Room Alphabet or Sight Words
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
This Christmas Express Train unit is strategically linked to the common core standards. It divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, worksheets, science, kitchen, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation.
Level 1 is for Preschool and Kindergarten Classrooms. For Advanced Kindergarten, First Grade, or Special Education Support, you will like level 2.
These Christmas Train activities are classroom tested, fun, and gives students a break from typical worksheets.
Contents Include:
Literacy Activities:
Word Train: Decoding Real and Nonsense Words
Christmas Train: Reviewing Early Reading Skills
Jingle All The Way: Identifying Digraphs and Blends
Cocoa Cocoa: Segmenting Words
Train Syllables: Comparing Syllables to Vowel Sounds
Santa’s Bag: Identifying Vowel Sounds
Math Activities:
Santa Express: Using subtraction to compare numbers
Break The Train: Finding The Pattern Within a Pattern
Pajama Wars: Decomposing Numbers Less Than Ten
North Pole Candy Store: Using the Equal Sign
The Cookie Store: Represent Numbers with Tens and Ones
Number Choo Choo: Find the Missing Addend
Science
North Pole Facts: Factual Content
Jingle Jangle: Drawing Conclusions
North Pole Putty: Mixing Ingredients to Make A New Element
Songs
Jingle Bells
Clickity Clack
Kitchen
Cocoa: Following a Recipe
Decorate a Cookie
Writing Prompts/Word Wall
Christmas Train
Jingle Bells
Christmas Train Word Wall
Gingerbread Orchestrated Reader's Theater
The Christmas Train Kindergarten
The Christmas Train First Grade
Christmas Around the World Mega Bundle (Parts 1,2,3 and 4)
Christmas Around the World Part 1
Christmas Around the World Part 2
Christmas Around the World Part 3
Christmas Around the World -- The Scrapbook Part 4
Christmas Themed Writing Activities
Christmas Alphabet Sound Flashcards
Christmas Addition Problems Fluency 0-5
Christmas Class Play: The Bear's Great Adventure
Santa Gets Dressed Phoneme Segmentation Fluency PSF
Santa's Mail Write the Room Alphabet or Sight Words
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Product Description
This Elf Themed Unit can be used at Christmas Time or as a unit to enhance the traditional tale, "The Elves and the Shoemaker." Your classroom or homeschool students will love this Elf Adventure!
Activities Include:
Shared Reading Activities:
The Elves and The Shoemaker: Retelling Story and Story Cards, Thinking Map, Story Element Page, Venn Diagram
The Little Elves Poem: Five Day Activity Plan
Literacy Lessons:
Back to the Pole: Blending and Segmenting
The Elf Dance: Alphabet Fluency or High Frequency Word Fluency
Santa’s List: Reading Nonsense Words or Naming Sounds
Elf Inventory: Writing Letters for Sounds or Spelling Words
Independent Activities:
Elf Hunt: Finding Letters in Alphabetical Order
My Little Alphabet Book: Matching Upper and Lowercase Letters
Math Lessons:
Elf Convention: Counting Forward From Numbers Other Than One.
Elf Roll Call: Adding a Number to Make Ten
The Elves’ Tree: Matching Quantity to Numbers
Independent Activities:
Find the Elves: Writing Numbers
The Elf Friends: Comparing Written Numerals
Packing Presents: Ways to Make 10
Social Studies
The Elf Door Activities
Guided Reading Books
The Little Elves
Elf Writing
I Can:
Write A Story
Make A Card
Write A List
Write A Letter
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency is a crucial phonemic awareness skill that prepares your student to decode CVC words.
Your children will love helping Santa get dressed so he can make his Christmas deliveries! This game includes a scripted lesson, over 100 cards that are perfect for segmenting practice, a Santa game mat, and Old Santa's sleigh to hold the collected gifts.
© Kathy Crane Kindergarten Kiosk
Related Activities
Gingerbread Man Thematic Unit
Gingerbread Orchestrated Reader's Theater
North Pole Thematic Unit
The Christmas Train Kindergarten
The Christmas Train First Grade
Christmas Guided Readers
Christmas Around the World Mega Bundle (Parts 1,2,3 and 4)
Christmas Around the World Part 1
Christmas Around the World Part 2
Christmas Around the World Part 3
Christmas Around the World -- The Scrapbook Part 4
Christmas Themed Writing Activities
Christmas Alphabet Sound Flashcards
Christmas Addition Problems Fluency 0-5
Christmas Class Play: The Bear's Great Adventure
Santa Gets Dressed Phoneme Segmentation Fluency PSF
Santa's Mail Write the Room Alphabet or Sight Words
December Homework Preschool
December Homework Kindergarten
December Homework First Grade
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Also Available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Call them what you will, Readers’ Theater, Partner Plays, or simply, what it is, reading for fluency and comprehension. When you add sound effects (Foley effects) and Leitmotifs (simple melodies) to a script it becomes and Orchestrated Script! No matter the name or the purpose, young children love to read, practice, rehearse and perform!
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Product Description
This North Pole thematic unit is classroom tested, aligned to core standards, and packed with great activities. It is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, social studies, science, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation.
Contents include a planning Guide and tips for unit use and the following activities!
Literacy Activities:
Present Rhyming: Producing Rhyming Words
Baking With Mrs. Claus: Increasing Alphabet Letter Naming Fluency
Baking Cookies: Sight Words
Ornament Crackdown: Fluently Naming Alphabet Letter Sounds
Park a Reindeer: Distinguishing between similarly spelled words
Santa's Bag: Matching Beginning Sounds
Math Activities:
Buying Ornaments: Counting Pennies to Equal a Given Amount
The Elf Challenge: Comparing Numbers
Reindeer Games: Ordering In An Ordinal Sequence
Present Panic: Fluently Naming Numbers 1-20
North Pole Number Hunt: Writing Numerals Matching Quantities
Elf Roll: Matching Quantity and Numbers
Art Projects
Christmas Tree Collage
Paint A Reindeer
Become Santa's Elf
Shape Santa
Draw a Reindeer
You've Been Framed
Writing Prompts/Word Wall
The North Pole
All About Elves & Reindeer
Dear Santa
North Pole Word Wall
Songs/Fingerplay Posters
Here is the Chimney
Old Santa
Santa and the Elves
Santa Says Ho Ho Ho
Christmas Kitchen
Reindeer Snack
Peppermint Dough
Graham Cracker Reindeer
Guided Reading Books
The North Pole
Related Products
Gingerbread Orchestrated Reader's Theater
The Christmas Train Kindergarten
The Christmas Train First Grade
Christmas Around the World Mega Bundle (Parts 1,2,3 and 4)
Christmas Around the World Part 1
Christmas Around the World Part 2
Christmas Around the World Part 3
Christmas Around the World -- The Scrapbook Part 4
Christmas Themed Writing Activities
Christmas Alphabet Sound Flashcards
Christmas Addition Problems Fluency 0-5
Christmas Class Play: The Bear's Great Adventure
Santa Gets Dressed Phoneme Segmentation Fluency PSF
Santa's Mail Write the Room Alphabet or Sight Words
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Gingerbread Orchestrated Reader's Theater
The Christmas Train Kindergarten
The Christmas Train First Grade
Christmas Around the World Mega Bundle (Parts 1,2,3 and 4)
Christmas Around the World Part 1
Christmas Around the World Part 2
Christmas Around the World Part 3
Christmas Around the World -- The Scrapbook Part 4
Christmas Themed Writing Activities
Christmas Alphabet Sound Flashcards
Christmas Addition Problems Fluency 0-5
Christmas Class Play: The Bear's Great Adventure
Santa Gets Dressed Phoneme Segmentation Fluency PSF
Santa's Mail Write the Room Alphabet or Sight Words
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!Bring guided reading to a new level by using "Partner Plays" also called "Reader's Theater." These books have simple, adorable scripts, that will increase student's ability to read with expression and fluency. Perfect for your emerging readers!
Set includes chair covers or headband art for character costumes.
Also Available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Reach Common Core Early Reading Objectives the fun way by playing the game, Elf Dance. As with our other lessons, this lesson is scripted for easy delivery and confidence that objectives are being met. A worksheet follows the game to allow for independent practice with letter fluency. Enjoy our new free product, we know your students will!
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Product Description
Christmas Themed Guided Readers to Read and Color!
Offering students a "paper" book that can be colored and taken home offers students authentic purpose for the guided reading instruction and opportunity to practice techniques at home. Students love these delightful stories that are ready to read on their level. The clip art is delightful!
Contents
Merry Christmas
Presents From Santa
The North Pole
Run Gingerbread Man Run!
The Christmas Train
Related Products
Gingerbread Orchestrated Reader's Theater
The Christmas Train Kindergarten
The Christmas Train First Grade
Christmas Around the World Mega Bundle (Parts 1,2,3 and 4)
Christmas Around the World Part 1
Christmas Around the World Part 2
Christmas Around the World Part 3
Christmas Around the World -- The Scrapbook Part 4
Christmas Themed Writing Activities
Christmas Alphabet Sound Flashcards
Christmas Addition Problems Fluency 0-5
Christmas Class Play: The Bear's Great Adventure
Santa Gets Dressed Phoneme Segmentation Fluency PSF
Santa's Mail Write the Room Alphabet or Sight Words
December Homework Kindergarten
Winter Indépendant Writing Center Activities
Guided Reader Sets
Picture Book Themed Guided Readers
Back To School Themed Guided Readers
Colors Themed Guided ReadersFall Themed Guided Readers
Halloween Themed Guided Readers
Apple Pumpkin Themed Guided Readers
Christmas Themed Guided Readers
Winter Themed Set 1 Guided Readers
Winter Themed Set 2 Guided Readers
February Themed Guided Readers
Dinosaur Themed Guided Readers
End of School Year Themed Guided Readers
Sight Word Readers
Wonders Sight Word Readers
Wonders Sight Word Readers Units 1-5
Wonders Sight Word Readers Units 6-10
Guided Readers For Readers Theater
Readers Theater Little Red Riding Hood
Readers Theater Little Red Hen
Readers Theater Jack and the Beanstalk
Readers Theater The Three Little Pigs
Readers Theater The Billy Goats Gruff