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Christmas Template

It's beginning to look a lot like...🎄

Christmas Template It's beginning to look a lot like...🎄
Christmas TemplateIt's beginning to look a lot like...🎄

'Tis the Season 👼 'Tis the Season 👼

🎶 Hark! The hallway angels sing,

Winter break is on the wing!

Cocoa, crafts, and cheer abound,

The final bell's a joyful sound.

Classroom bulletin board with a countdown to winter break calendar and a small decorated tree
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Where Did Our Christmas Traditions Come From?
Mistletoe, figgy pudding, even the first song ever played in space! In this Smithsonian Sidedoor podcast episode, curators trace the surprising roots of familiar holiday customs. A great listen to spark a class discussion.
🔔 The Story Behind "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"
Those lines above come from Clement Moore's 1822 poem, originally titled "A Visit From St. Nicholas." The Library of Congress shares how it was written, plus historic prints and early sound recordings of the poem.
Lesson Plans for Winter and the Holidays

Lesson Plans for Winter and the Holidays

Celebrate winter and the holiday season in the classroom with this selection of lesson plans featuring poems by Richard Blanco, Emily Dickinson, Naomi Shihab Nye, and more.

launch poets.org
Classroom advent calendar made from colorful upcycled cardboard tubes
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Advent Calendars: It's Math! It's Sustainability! It's the Spirit of the Season 🌲

Building an advent calendar with your class, as a whole group, in small teams, or individually, is a great way to channel all that pre-break energy.


It's math (counting down, number patterns, calendar skills), it's sustainability (upcycle cardboard tubes, egg cartons, or old envelopes into pockets), and it builds classroom community. Instead of candy, fill each day with something meaningful:

🤝 A kind deed to do for someone at school
💬 A compliment to share with a classmate
🧩 A quick brain teaser or learning challenge
📖 A short winter poem or read-aloud

Short on Time? Try a 10-Day Classroom Countdown
This quick-setup bulletin board version reveals one activity a day, from escape rooms to STEM challenges, so you can keep students learning right up to the last bell.

Teaching About the Holidays in Public Schools

Keene, New Hampshire, where I teach music today, is a relatively secular community. Statistically speaking, it falls below the national average for religiosity, with just over 20 percent of the population officially affiliating with a specific church, temple, or mosque.

launch edutopia.org
Really Cool Info About Holidays and Their Ancient Roots
Michaelmas? Candlemas? May Day? Learn about the quarter and cross-quarter days here, dating back to the ancient Celts.

Take Care of You! Take Care of You!

Prepping for the holidays

  • This video has really easy tips for making beautiful holiday cookies
  • This article from the Today Show has helpful ideas for $0 spending this holiday season
  • Skip the streaming queue and explore the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History from your couch with this free, room-by-room virtual tour
  • This blog post is rich with ideas for how to pamper yourself over vacation without spending a dime.
  • And if you're not really feeling the holiday spirit this year, that's ok, too. This post has concrete, useful suggestions for how to tend to your own wellbeing.
Vacation Enrichment Activities
From PBS, a free roundup of games, recipes, crafts, and science videos for every age, PreK through 12th grade. Perfect for keeping curiosity going while school's out.
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