December Holiday Celebrations in the Classroom
December holiday celebrations in the classroom can create some amazing memories for your students. It takes a lot of effort to plan out all of your activities. With careful planning and student prep, your winter celebrations will go off perfectly!
If you are looking for general tips about holidays in the classroom, check out an old post HERE. For other December ideas visit my December category on my blog! For other seasonal activities, consider December Binder Tasks, December Directed Drawing, or December Vocabulary Activities.
* This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click and end up purchasing, you pay no extra cost, but I earn a small fee for referring you.
What Is Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza?
Holiday celebrations are more than just a party. We must teach our kiddos the true meaning of each holiday. My social story bundle comes with a social story for each holiday! Each social story also comes in 3 different levels for easy differential. (Level 1 pictured below). I also have social stories about Visiting Families During the Holidays. Another social story about Holiday Presents. Lastly, I have a Visiting Santa social story to use!
Understanding Christmas social story:
How To Manage Behaviors During the Holidays
December is full of A TON of holidays. Whether you celebrate in the classroom or not, children will still experience celebrations in the home. Try to get ahead of the behaviors and teach students about expected behaviors. Below are a few behaviors you could expect to need some re-teaching before December!
- School Celebrations: This lesson is kind of a given if your school celebrates holidays. If you are having a celebration or performance the routine is going to be different. Review expectations before the celebrations begin!
- Manners: A LOT of gifts are given during the holiday season. It is important to teach our students to say please, thank you and you are welcome!
- Greeting Others: This holiday your students may be visiting other homes for a holiday celebration. Re-fresh their skills and teach them proper greetings.
- I Will not Throw things: This is a good lesson to review before any winter celebrations in the classroom. Often times when new things (like gifts, toys and activities) are introduced students get overly excited. This excitement can manifests as someone throwing something.
- Taking Turns: This lesson is important for school celebrations because often times with celebrations come fun activities. These activities typically require sharing and taking turns with peers.
- Changes in School: Like all holiday celebrations, many routines change. It is important to review with students ahead of time the important of flexible thinking and tolerating the changes in schedule due to the celebration!
ALL things Santa
A big theme in December is Santa. I have social story all about Visiting Santa. This can help prep students for any Santa experiences and to review expected rules when doing so. No pulling the beard! LOL!
I also have a freebie social script for students to use/bring when visiting Santa. Also included is a FREE visual schedule for visiting Santa!
I love these letters from Breezy Special Ed that help students write letters to Santa! This is a great writing activity for your writing center!
Check out this SUPER cute Santa craft from buggy and buddy! Perfect for incorporating sensory play and art!
Holiday Picture Books
Picture books are my JAM. I love picture books because so much learning can take place. Below are a list of some of my favorite holiday picture books for the month of December. These can proudly be put on display all month. They also make a perfect addition to your December holiday celebrations in the classroom.
Kwanzaa Picture Books
- Seven Spools of Thread: A Kwanzaa Story by Angela Shelf Medearis
- Kevin’s Kwanzaa by Lisa Bullard
- Together for Kwanzaa by Juwanda G. Ford
- Li’l Rabbits Kwanzaa by Donna L. Washington
Hanukkah Picture Books
- Hanukkah Lights by David Martin
- The Story of Hanukkah by David A. Adler
- Latke, the Lucky Dog by Ellen Fischer
- Hanukkah Bear by Eric A. Kimmel
Christmas Picture Books
- The Night Be Christmas by Clement Moore
- Merry Christmas by Roger Priddy
- Splendiferous Christmas (Fancy Nancy) by Jane O’Connor
- Construction Site on Christmas Night by Sherri Duskey Rinker
- Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
- Pete the Cat Saves Christmas by James Dean
- Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson
- Little Blue Truck’s Christmas by Alice Schertle
- How to Catch an Elf by Adam Wallace
- Elf on a Shelf by The Elf on The Shelf
Communication on the Holidays
Communication should ultimately be your main goal in the classroom. With communication comes independence. All year long, the IEP team is working hard to build communication skills. Why should this stop during the holidays? If you have an electric communication device, be sure to input seasonal vocabulary and holiday phrases so that the student is able to participate. If you are not yet using high level communication devices, consider creating a picture exchange communication system for the holidays. Below are some communication pages from my holiday communication book.
Christmas communication pages:
Holiday Videos and Songs
Brain breaks and movement breaks are a MUST in every classroom. The research flat out supports it. I love to find seasonal videos for the holidays because it keep things fun and to help generalize holiday themes and vocabulary.
Holiday Goodies
If your school permits celebrations, holiday goodies are a fun addition to your classroom! I know classroom funds are tight, so build your collection slowly over the years. Also- consider posting a donors choose project or asking for donations! A lot of fun goodies can also be found second hand at the goodwill and stores as such.
Below is a list of some fun activities for the Hanukkah:
Here are some of my favorite Christmas goodies for the classroom:
Holiday Crafts and Sensory Activities
Sensory play is so important for all kids. Sensory play helps children to develop critical thinking, creative play and social skills. Working with monthly themes is a fun way to incorporate sensory play and monthly vocabulary. Below are some fun ideas for the holidays that I wanted to share with you! Click on each image to be taken to the original author for more information!
I set up this fun snow sensory bin for Tucker, but it would be perfect for the classroom too! It will last all Winter, even through it’ll be sunny come January 1st here in California!
I have five snow sensory activities that you can do in the classroom all month long! To read the full post, click HERE.
Cooking is a must! Look at these adorable reindeer crafts from Sailing the Spectrum.
Holidays can be a blast in the classroom if planned out ahead of time. I know this blog post is full of all sorts of goodies, and I completely understand if you can’t incorporate all of these ideas every year. I do hope you found some of these tips and tricks helpful for this holiday season. If you plan on discussing more holidays this year, check out my Holiday social stories discounted bundle!
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