'Twas the Week Before Christmas Break

With concerts galore and a multitude of interruptions,  here are some fun ways to keep your students busy with Math and Literacy Stations.  Offering choice activities and providing task cards and lapbooks is always a good approach to keeping your students engaged. Here's a sample of the things that I have tried in classes from grades 3 to 6:

Christmas Writing Folder

This interactive folder is a great springboard to assist your students with three writing forms and a bonus Wanted Poster. You will find a descriptive task called Open the Doors to Christmas. With this four door book, students will use 4 of their senses to describe the Christmas season. A procedural writing task is included. Students will write about how to ready their place for Santa. A letter writing activity is included. This is a choice with students deciding on who they would like to direct the letter to at the North Pole. Various letter writing choices are provided. A fun task is to have students create wanted posters for jobs at Santa's workshop. A sample is provided to encourage descriptive details and drawings to make this poster task a fun one.Templates, rubrics and folder assembly instructions are included. All you need is a regular sized folder. 

Idioms Word Work

This unit has expressions on word cards ready for cutting and laminating. Students will be provided with a blank template and task cards filled with an expression related to a Christmas theme. They will then be asked to sketch a situation using the idiomatic expression on the card and then write and sketch their interpretation of it. This is a great addition to your Word Work Station or can be used as an extra activity for early finishers. 


Christmas Writing Task Cards

Task cards are individualized with title and writing prompts. In addition to 24 prompts, you will find graphic organizers and specialty writing paper to assist students with the writing process. These task cards will make a great addition to a writing station. 


Christmas Math Stations

Keep your students engaged in fun math activities with a Christmas theme. Activities include: construction of a Gingerbread House based on money amounts, December calendar math activities involving patterning and operations, completing a hidden picture using decimal operations and playing a Race to the Gingerbread House game based on odd and even sums.

The Gingerbread House construction and Race to the Gingerbread House game may be differentiated. Game boards, instructions, answers and number cards are included.

Christmas Memories Recount Writing

This is a great home-school connection or addition to your literacy writing station. Students are encouraged to write about their special Christmas memories. A helpful planning sheet is included for your struggling writers. This writing activity will encourage writing at any grade level. 


Christmas Writing Paper

This package includes Christmas letter writing paper and lined paper for emergent and established writers. Art work created includes a reindeer, penguin and dog. Bonus gift tags are included in this package.

Silly Christmas Sentences for Fluent Readers

Silly sentences have always been a fun way to explore sentence building and recognizing parts of speech. Students in grades 3 through 6 will have the opportunity to use subject, verb and complement cards to build and simplify silly sentences. Challenging verb cards are included with this unit as well as nouns associated with the Christmas theme, a blank sentence building template, display and label cards and a synonym chart. This is a perfect activity to use in your Word Work Stations or as an extra project for early finishers. 

Christmas Part Part Whole Number Cards

Part-part-whole cards are designed to assist students in computation of number sums. This unit of 25 part-part-whole cards will allow students to practice sums from 2 to 10. The unit includes 2 variations for the numbers 2 and 3 and 3 variations for the numbers 4 to 10. With numbers hidden with flaps, Students can then justify what the missing part is and lift the flap to verify their answers. Cards may be used during a number talks, during guided math groups or for individual assessments. 

Christmas Roll a Story

Students will be prompted to tell or write story with a Christmas theme. This unit includes a story prompt sheet, graphic organizers, word lists (Christmas & transition words), rubric and specialty writing paper with full and half lined pages.

Christmas Write the Room

This is a fun way to have students recognize and learn to write Christmas words. Used as a literacy station, printed cards on cardstock can be placed around the room at students’ height. Using a clipboard and recording sheet, students will write the correct word beside the correct number. There are two variations of the recording sheet for differentiation. Cards contain shape box letters and images to reinforce letter formation and word recognition. 

Free Downloads

Christmas Writing Choice Board Freebie

This writing choice board freebie is a great addition to your Writing Station or a useful activity for early finishers. Eight writing options plus a free one are included.

Free Clip Art

Christmas Frames