Well done for all your hard work this term. You’ve made it to the last week!
Autumn term is always the most difficult, especially for NQTs and anyone starting in a new school, year group etc. It’s also a very exciting term, particularly if you love the festive season.
As it’s the last week of term, your pupils will undoubtedly be excited for the Christmas break and probably have been for at least the last few weeks. You may notice (understandably) their concentration levels waning as their excitement and exhaustion grows. One way to combat this and give your pupils (and yourself) a boost in this last week, is to use festive themed activities. It’s always a great idea to use pupil interests where possible to engage learners, so why not use Christmas?
Depending on your school, you may still have lots of learning to cram in all the way up until the bell rings on the last day, or you may have some down time in the lead up to this. With that in mind I’ve provided activity ideas for a variety of subjects that will support learning in a fun way.
Please note, if you have pupils who cannot take part in Christmas themed activities, you could adapt these actives using a different seasonal theme or a celebration from their religion or culture.
Writing
- Character descriptions/wanted posters for Father Christmas, an elf etc.
- Writing versions of Christmas stories such as Babushka
- Creating their own Christmas stories, poems, song lyrics etc.
- Role playing Christmas scenes and writing about how the characters feel
- Non-fiction reports about Christmas
- Christmas words/paper to use in handwriting practice
Reading/Phonics
- Using a dictionary/thesaurus to create a glossary of Christmas themed words in a book
- Reading and making book reviews for Christmas themed texts
- Word based activities, such as word spotting, fill the gap, word searches, crosswords, choose an alternate word etc. all themed around Christmas
Maths
- Christmas shopping activity- adding up items and working out change
- Measuring trees, decorations etc.
- Weighing ingredients for Christmas cake
- Christmas themed problem solving e.g. If Santa eats 5 plates of cookies with 4 cookies on each plate, how many cookies does he eat altogether?
- Working out the speed/distance of the sleigh flight
History
- Researching the origins of Christmas
- Creating a comparison of Christmas now and in another time period
- Making a timeline of how Christmas traditions have developed and changed over the years
Geography
- Researching different countries including their celebrations at this time of year
- Research countries with cold climates and create presentations about the weather etc.
- Make a prediction about whether it will snow at Christmas and use research about the UK to prove it
RE and PSHE
- Ask questions such as do you prefer to give or receive presents and why? What does Christmas mean to you? What gifts could you give others that don’t cost anything? How can we help others and be kind to them at this time of year?
- Research religious celebrations, what their traditions are, what meaning they have.
Music
- Listen to, join in with, adapt and create Christmas songs/carols
- Choose from a range of instruments- selecting which ones they think work effectively for a Christmas song and why
- Listen to Christmas music and draw images of what they picture in their mind, and talk about how the music makes them feel and what they imagined
Art
- Snowflake prints (link to symmetry)
- Collages of character faces such as Rudolph
- Make and decorate gingerbread etc. (link with DT)
- 3D Christmas trees
- Christmas cards
- Create winter/Christmas scenes using different tools, textures and materials
- Sketches/paintings of their favourite Christmas characters
DT and Science
- Create a vehicle for Santa using suitable materials, considering elements like the climate, the strength and durability of the materials etc.
- Winter themed experiments such as creating snowflakes or snow volcanoes
- Research reindeer and create a fact file for Santa including facts such as animal group, diet, habitat etc.
- What if the reindeer couldn’t help Santa this year? What animals do you think could help and why (using your animal knowledge)? Maybe animals that are strong enough to pull the sleigh. Maybe animals who live in cold climates etc.
- Models of Father Christmas’s workshop (link with Art)
- Design and make Christmas themed food such as reindeer snacks
- Design, make an evaluate a toy for Santa’s workshop (link to forces)
PE
- Themed dances e.g. snowman, reindeer etc.
- Christmas themed obstacle courses e.g. “Climb up the ladder and hop in to the sleigh.”
- Throwing and caching with presents
- Follow the elf/elf says
- Positions of stillness based on Christmas characters/objects e.g. ” Show me a position like a Christmas tree.”
Have a wonderful Christmas break. Relax, have fun, you deserve it!