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This week Education World offers seven lessons to capitalize on students' excitement about the December holidays. These lessons combine fun and learning to teach a wide variety of skills. Included: Graphs, graphic organizers, bulletin board ideas, more!

Greetings of the season from the Education World editorial team!

This week we offer seven lesson plans to help teachers link holiday excitement to all areas of the curriculum. The lesson plans below will engage students in using a graphic organizer to compare holiday celebrations across cultures, creating a map to illustrate the probability of a white Christmas in your region or across the country, debating the authorship of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," and rewriting the popular "Twelve Days of Christmas"! But that's not all!

SEVEN LESSONS FOR CREATING A HOLIDAY PRESENCE

Click each of the seven lesson headlines below for a complete teaching resource. (Appropriate grade levels for each lesson appear in parentheses.)

December Holidays: Create a Comparison Chart
Invite students to create a chart comparing Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Las Posadas, and Ramadan. Student work sheet included. (Grades 3-12)

Counting Christmas Trees
Students answer questions about a simple line graph that shows total Christmas tree sales from 1993 to 2000. (Grades 2-8)

Happy Holidays from A Class Full of Angels
This "Happy Holidays from a Class Full of Angels" bulletin board is sure to generate smiles! (Grades PreK-8)

Moore vs. Livingston: Who Really Wrote "The Night Before Christmas"
Who was the real author of "The Night Before Christmas"? Students take a look at the facts and then decide! (Grades 6-12)

Will There Be a White Christmas This Year?
Students use historical weather data to create a map and color key that illustrates the likelihood of a white Christmas. (Grades 3-12)

December Concentration Game
Build memory and attention-to-detail skills as students play this seasonal adaptation of the classic Concentration game. (Grades PreK-8)

On the First Day of Christmas, My Teacher Gave to Me...
"On the first day of Christmas my teacher gave to me..." plus more "Twelve Days of Christmas" lessons! (Grades PreK-12)

MORE HOLIDAY LESSONS FROM EDUCATION WORLD

• Hanukkah Fun: The Dreidel Game (Grades K-8)
• Benne Cakes and Other Holiday Recipes (Grades K-12)
• How Many Ways Can You Say Merry Christmas? (Grades 3-12)
• Christmas in Other Countries: A Venn Diagramming Activity (Grades 3-8)
• True or False? A Quiz About Four December Celebrations (Grades 3-8)
• Christmas-Tree-Shaped Poems (Grades 3-12)
• Help Others on Boxing Day (Grades K-12)
• 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (Grades K-5)
• Christmas Around the World
  (Grades K-5)
• Ramadan (Islamic Holiday) (Grades 6-12)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

As Education World editors searched the Web for great holiday classroom resources, we found some excellent lesson plans created by teachers, for teachers. Click here for those lessons.

Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World®
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