Christmas Lessons

[capebretonbarbarian]

Ever make the paper snowflakes where you fold up the paper a bunch of times, make some cuts and unfold it to reveal a intricate snowflake? 

Well, I had a spur of the moment extra class to kill and thought I'd try it.  It worked marvelously.  The students loved it, the teacher did too and now my classroom windows look a little more festive.

Other students who come in to the class always ask how to make them.  So, I may do it again as an actual prepared lesson before Christmas. 

For the lesson:

You need scissors (as many as possible because it takes a long time to do the cutting), paper and crayons.

First, do a demo. they will be amazed when you unfold it.  It builds excitement.
   
Second, give the students a paper and have them do it together, making sure they don't rush ahead. 

Third, when they have them unfolded give them some crayons to color them and write their names on them.
 
They can be displayed in the classroom or the students can take them home.  I did it with middle school kids and they loved it.  It took the full 45 minutes because they were very slow to cut and color them. 
Here is a link to see how to do it:
 http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Paper-Snowflake
I used the video method.   

[capebretonbarbarian]

It's December already!

I threw together a Christmas powerpoint and bingo sheet to use in my final class of the year.
The powerpoint uses a lot of my personal pics, (the students like them) but you can feel free to replace mine with one of your own.
The PP introduces xmas and then leads right into 2 consecutive bingo games.  The students write the vocab, you show the pic and if one of their vocab corresponds to the pic, they cross it off.

Cheers

[Brian]

Nice work, I'm going to steal this for today.  (Who schedules three days of tests, then has one token class the final period on Friday?  jfaw0oej80w38).
 
I switched some of the photos, no offense, and replaced "Santa Clause" with "Santa Claus." 

[Brian]

Also decided to make a word search from Discovery Puzzlemaker in case there's extra time at the end.

[merle]

I've attached a .ppt that includes a brief introduction as to how real snowflakes are formed (just so you get that extra bit of learnin' in).  I modified the ppt from somewhere, but unfortunately I don't remember where I got the original.  Sorry!

This lesson is really popular, especially when students need to wind down after exams and movies are not an option.

The wikihow page is really good.  Another great website is http://www.popularfront.com/snowdays/

At Popular Front, you get a (quick) animation of how to fold the paper, and then you can show how to cut the paper to get an intricate snowflake.  Of course, it's best to do a hands-on demo first.

But, the online version allows you to make horrible mistakes (like cutting out too much of the top of the triangle, making your snowflake have a big ugly hole for a centre) and show your students what NOT to do, while actually not wasting paper.  Although I do love the look of chagrin students have when they open up the paper and  realize their "snowflake" looks more like frilly lace cuffs than a proper flake... 

Also, you can pick up a box of coloured paper (for origami?) for pretty cheap at a stationary store, and have lots of beautifully coloured snowflakes for your classroom.

[Dyl]

Here is a whole-class speaking activity and a pair speaking activity I made as part of a Christmas lesson.

Find Someone Who
Students walk around the class trying to find the person who can answer the question on their card.

A Christmas Story
A little story about a wife who gets back at her husband at Christmas time. Students work in pairs and ask each other questions (which are provided) to fill in the gaps and find out what happened.

The .pdf and .doc files have the same content.

[nakdong]

Why is "Noel" the ABCD.......XYZ song?

I can't figure that out, can someone enlighten me? 

[emsem]

The alphabet is missing the letter "L". So, there is no L.  Get it?

[mabukmabuj]

Here is a Christmas party lesson plan.

[lfisher32]

I did this lesson today with my 5th graders and it went over really well.  We made Yule Log sandwich rolls.  I told the kids 2 days before what to bring in..I will warn you, there were some crazy/interesting creation in my opinion.

They worked in groups so each person brought something:

A loaf of Bread
Whipped Cream
Chocolate Powder (Like to make Chocolate Milk)
Ham
Cheese
Jam

Basically anything you would put on a Sandwich but that could be folded.

First I went through the Powerpoint and talked about the Yule Log and how it applies to Christmas and what it is. They really got a kick out of learning that TV stations shut down and just show a burning logs for hours.  They like hearing the sample I put in the Slideshow.

The second part of the presentation is how to make the Yule Log Sandwiches.  I went through the instructions and then let them have at it.  They had a lot of fun. Most of the sandwiches were jam whipped cream, cheese, and ham all together rolled up..I have to pretend I was full. Some used the chocolate powder and mixed it with the whipped cream to make it brown like the log.  Then some even put the chocolate cream on the outside to make a log.  I also told them they could just sprinkle the powder on the outside to make a log.

I told them it was like a kimbap sandwich so they would stray away from making sandwiches.

They have to make the bread really flat, I told them to just press the bread or use their taekwando punches.  They liked that too.

The powerpoint took the first 20 minutes of class so while they were making the Yule Logs we put on Ice Age:A Mammoth Christmas in the background (My co-teacher found it as well as the subtitles. The students liked it a lot and it's like 20 minutes so it's the perfect end to the lesson).

Hopefully someone can use this lesson.  Seems to work well and the kids can't complain too much because they are in charge of the ingredients and creating it!

Happy Holidays!

[soapysun]

I started off with the powerpoint. Then watched Merry Christmas Mr. Bean (Part One which is 8 minutes) followed by the Mystery Seed game. My students love the game.

[K]

Here is Jimmy Kimmel's "I gave my kids a terrible present" sketch.

Don't worry! I took out the profanity, added subtitles, and a Korean intro. Enjoy

Also, if I had a subtitle wrong, can you please let me know. Thanks!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmZzDXRe3Uo&feature=youtu.be

[FloridaGator314]

I made this choose your own adventure bored one evening trapped in my apartment by the deathly cold outside. I played it with my class while they were eating the candy canes I gave them because I consider myself to be a generous person albeit slightly insane as exhibited by some of the content in this choose your own adventure game. It's based on movie, "Elf".