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5 Easy Ways to Survive the Last Week Before Christmas Break

December 15 By Linda Kamp Leave a Comment

5 simple ideas and activities, with several free downloads, to help first, second, and third grade teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break. 5 ideas for the last 5 days to keep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders happy, engaged, and still learning!

Surviving the last week before Christmas break can make even the most seasoned teachers feel frantic.  To make the days less stressful I’ve rounded up a few of my favorite ideas and activities to help save your sanity, survive the week, and have fun with your students! These simple ideas, with minimal prep, will help you keep behavior in check, spread kindness through your classroom, get your parent gifts done, and keep everybody engaged and still learning that last crazy week before break!

By now, you may be hanging on for dear life trying to get your duties all done, report cards finished, and the last of your parent gifts completed. Here are 5 ideas, and some free downloads, for the last 5 days before Christmas break that your class will love!

Hold A Holiday Book Exchange

Receiving a new book is always exciting! It’s also a great way to keep our kids reading over the upcoming break. During the last week, hold a holiday book exchange. I use Scholastic bonus points to purchase books to give each student and always get a few extras to add to our holiday book exchange. I build up the excitement by purchasing books that I know they all love and have been drooling over in the monthly book club fliers!

5 simple ideas and activities, with several free downloads, to help first, second, and third grade teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break. These ideas are ideal to keep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders on task with holiday random acts of kindness, RAK, morning work ideas, easy things for students to write and make, plus a holiday book exchange.

Set up your book exchange by having students bring in gently used books from home wrapped in their favorite way. I lay out all of the books as they come in so that students get excited all week!  On our chosen day, I draw 3 or 4 names at a time for students to choose their books. This is a fun thing to do with reading buddies too. Keep it super-easy by downloading this FREE editable parent letter.

Secret Santa of Kind Words

Spread some holiday kindness around your classroom and throughout your school by holding a Secret Santa of Kind Words.  Have students draw names and make cards for their classmates, reading buddies or school staff. The smiles are priceless as students read the words of kindness in their cards.

5 simple ideas and activities, with several free downloads, to help first, second, and third grade teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break. 5 ideas for the last 5 days to keep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders happy, engaged, and still learning! Secret Santa of kind words #christmasactivities #rak #teachingideas

Over the years we’ve made them not only for classmates and reading buddies, but for our office, cafeteria, and custodial staffs too.

5 simple ideas and activities, with several free downloads, to help first, second, and third grade teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break. 5 ideas for the last 5 days to keep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders happy, engaged, and still learning! #secretsanta #rak #classroom

We deliver them on the last day before break and the reactions from both the givers and the receivers are treasures!

5 simple ideas and activities, with several free downloads, to help first, second, and third grade teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break. 5 ideas for the last 5 days to keep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders happy, engaged, and still learning! #secretsanta #rak #classroom

Count Down the Days Until Break

This is one of my most favorite week before break activities. It is honestly one of the best things I’ve ever done with my class. They get so excited to see what each day will bring and of course, we sing an alternate version of “The 12 Days of Christmas”.

5 simple ideas and activities, with several free downloads, to help first, second, and third grade teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break. 5 ideas for the last 5 days to keep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders happy, engaged, and still learning! #christmascountdown #classroom #anchorchart

Count down the last 5 days until break by rolling down the chart each morning to reveal a daily gift/treat.

Need something to keep your first or second graders engaged and still learning that last CraZy week before Christmas or Winter Break? See how I made a Christmas break countdown anchor chart and surprised my students with simple daily gift/treats each day. They use the treats to do the tasks! Worked like a charm! they love reindeer noses! Ideal for the last week before break in 1st and 2nd grade. #firstgrade #secondgrade

Students then use the treats to do the tasks! I place the gifts and activity pages on everyone’s desk before they arrive. It’s a fun, hands-on option to replace morning work that week or to add to your center activities.  The resource we use is available in versions for Grades 1-4.  I’ve included both “Christmas break” and “Winter break” terminology in each set along with an alternative, winter-themed version for students who don’t celebrate.

5 simple ideas and activities, with several free downloads, to help first, second, and third grade teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break. 5 ideas for the last 5 days to keep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders happy, engaged, and still learning! #christmascountdown #classroom #anchorchart

Managing this is easy. If you’re short on time and don’t want to get fancy, no worries! Simply pass out the pages for the day and place a handful of  treats on a napkin on students’ desks. Find all of the simple treats from the dollar store for around $10.00. I’ve made versions of this resource for Grade 1, Grades 2-3, and Grade 4.  Students use the treats to practice grade level specific math and language arts skills.  If you do decide to make the chart, all the parts are included. It’s a win-win for me because everybody is thrilled (which means engaged and on-task) AND they’re still learning. I’m freed up to complete a number of other things on my “must get done before break to-do list”.

Decorate for Data

I love to include a lot of gingerbread math ideas during the last week before break, and decorating gingerbread men as glyphs is a great one for data and graphing.  Click here to see how we took it a step further and animated our glyphs using the ChatterPix app to describe what each item represents.

Here’s a fun December math activity for data and graphing starting with a gingerbread man glyph. Use real cookies or a construction paper cut out to make the glyphs. This post has lots of graphing ideas for first and second grade teachers that make a great addition to your gingerbread man unit or Christmas activities.

If you don’t have time to decorate real ones, decorate virtual cookies online!

5 simple ideas and activities, with several free downloads, to help first, second, and third grade teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break. 5 ideas for the last 5 days to keep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders happy, engaged, and still learning. Decorate virtual gingerbread man cookies!

Rotate students through computers and iPads to decorate virtual gingerbread cookies on Blenderbox.com.  Students can even print their creations!

Wrap Parent Gifts in Gingerbread Houses

Getting parent gifts done is always high on the priority list the last week before break. These adorable gingerbread house gift bags made using lunch sacks from the dollar store, are a fun and easy way to wrap them.

5 Simple ideas to help teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break! This easy gingerbread house paper bag craft is ideal for kids to wrap parent gifts. We used this with our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade and it made a great addition to all of our Christmas activities.

The easiest thing ever to prep, they include a one-page template that students can color and cut out.

5 Simple ideas to help teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break! This easy gingerbread house paper bag craft is ideal for kids to wrap parent gifts. We used this with our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade and it made a great addition to all of our Christmas activities.

Glue the gift tag on the back and you’re all set! If you do a gingerbread week be sure to check out this post, Comparing Favorite Versions of The Gingerbread Man, for lots of book activities and some freebies! Don’t miss the FREE gingerbread-themed Caught Being Kind coupons in the post to help keep behavior in check!

Read versions of The Gingerbread Man

Review a lot of the skills you’ve taught this past quarter by reading versions of The Gingerbread Man. These books lend themselves so well to teaching about central message, character traits, why authors use repetition, gaining information from illustrations, and how characters respond to major challenges.

Comparing favorite versions of The Gingerbread Man: Turning readers into thinkers! Close reading lesson ideas and anchor charts for first and second graders using versions of The Gingerbread Man will help. This post has lots of gingerbread activities for 1st and 2nd with free printable story elements charts.

Click here  to see how the Gingerbread Man turned my readers into thinkers and add a few of these ideas into your last week before break.

Have A Guilt-Free Movie Day

Have a movie day your principal will love! Put on a movie and make it educational with these FREE movie day menus. Students do math and ELA activities while you get your duties all done!

FREE movie day menus that make movie day educational! Ideal for 2nd and 3rd graders to do math and ELA tasks based on a movie.

Click here to download the FREE Movie Day Menus.

Clean off  Your Desk

Lastly, before you leave clean off your desk. Save the planet by tossing all of those ungraded papers straight into the recycle bin (after your students leave) and feel good about yourself. You’ll come back to a fresh start and do better next time.

5 simple ideas and activities, with several free downloads, to help first, second, and third grade teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break. 5 ideas for the last 5 days to keep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders happy, engaged, and still learning! Plus a little Hey Girl advice for the teacher.

I hope you’ve found some ideas you can use to help you get through that last cRaZy week before Christmas break! If you like these ideas, why not share with other teachers? Pin them for later or share on Facebook!

5 simple ideas and activities, with several free downloads, to help first, second, and third grade teachers survive the last week before Christmas or winter break. 5 ideas for the last 5 days to keep 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders happy, engaged, and still learning!

Do you need parent gift ideas? Check out this post with lots of easy parent Christmas gifts. For volunteer and staff gift with lots of FREE printables, check out 10 Free Christmas Printables for the Last Week Before Break!

Planning a bit for January before you leave for break?  The first week back in January is a great time to write New Year’s resolutions and to set new learning goals!  Click here for New Year’s activities and ideas for your classroom.

New Year's Activities for the classroom-5 fun teaching ideas and January activities for reading, writing and setting goals that will help your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders start the new year off right!

Need help making a smooth transition back after break? Click here.

Classroom management tips for getting students settled back into their routine after a school break.

Happy teaching!

-Linda

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    Filed Under: Christmas, Classroom Management, Holidays Tagged With: activities, Christmas, classroom management, Holidays, winter break

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