The holidays are such a great time reflect on what a great class I have. I love my students and they inspire me to work hard everyday! I have been having so much with them this holiday season. We have been busy learning this holiday season. Take a look at what we have been up to!
Each year, I send home a parent questionnaire to determine what holidays and traditions students celebrate at home. We want everyone to be included, and we love learning about new customs and celebrations. Now it was 100% okay if parents do not want to share what they celebrate. Not everyone feels comfortable doing so.
This year, our entire class celebrates Christmas. Students and parents shared that they celebrate traditions of stuffing stockings, decorating trees, and always checking in on what sort of trouble their Elf is getting into. All of these things are great learning opportunities. Check out the list below to see how we incorporate these activities into our classroom learning!
- Decorating the Tree
- In our housekeeping center, we have 2 trees. Students use the provided materials to work on:
- fine motor skills
- AAC
- requesting
- turn taking
- sorting
- color identification
- prepositions
- following direction
- In our housekeeping center, we have 2 trees. Students use the provided materials to work on:
- Elf on the shelf
- Our classroom elf “Elfy” is always a hit. ( I think I
- Elfy always comes to our class with a welcome letter and Adapted & Interactive book explaining his expectations and rules.
- This is meant to be a fun little hide-and-seek activity. We do not use our classroom elf as a behavior management tool or for rewards. It simply is a fun little surprise for students to find.
- Stuffing stockings
- This holiday classic is a perfect opportunity to work on
- sorting
- color identification
- fine motor
- AAC
- communication
- requesting
- following directions
- This holiday classic is a perfect opportunity to work on
However, Christmas is not the only holiday we learn about in the classroom. We discuss, learn, and celebrate all winter holidays, including:
We celebrate by reading adapted books and creating fun crafts. You can grab these free holiday crafts in my FREE Resource Library by clicking HERE.
It is so important to celebrate all holidays and expose students to different cultures, traditions, and parts of the world!
