Holidays Lesson Plans

Students examine ways in which holiday television specials reflect some of the religious, historic and cultural themes of the holidays on which they focus. They create their own holiday television specials in groups, each focusing on a holiday.

Students consider how the world events of the past year have impacted their perceptions of this holiday season. Each student then explores one general theme related to his or her feelings about the season by creating a news-based collage.

Students write in their journals to analyze the use of nostalgia. After reading an article, they identify aspects that are universal for holidays. They describe and examine their own memories of a specific holiday and interview someone who shares a similiar experience.

Students analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of the anti-lynching campaign spearheaded by African-Americans. This instructional activity focuses on Billie Holiday's signature song, "Strange Fruit," a protest song Lewis Allen (Abel Meeropol) wrote in 1938 about the ongoing and intransigent problem of lynching in the American South.

Holiday Cubes are created by students in this inventive, hands-on instructional activity which has a strong technology component. Students discuss their favorite holidays, then go to the computer lab to perform research about the origin of different holidays. Back in the classroom, 2nd graders utilize templates embedded in the plan that allows them to make very nice Holiday Cubes. A picture of a completed cube is included in the instructional activity.

Students examine December holidays around the world. In this holidays lesson, students examine different cultures, and their holidays and traditions. Students research a different country and their holidays and customs. Students use graphic organizers to record the information they discover about the country they chose.

Students make a list of all of the national holidays and explain why we celebrate them. They create a holiday based on their culture, gender, or generation and then debate and defend the creation of their holiday in class. They create a greeting card for their holiday.

Second graders explore the holidays of different cultures. For this culture lesson, 2nd graders knowledge about various holidays. Students play a matching game with the name of the holiday and the description. Students research one of the holidays and fill out a self assessment.

Students define culture and explore elements that are part of the custom or culture of a place.  In this holiday lesson, students identify the cultures they participate in.  Students identify the differences in people's cultures. Students bring in food from various cultures.

Students create a holiday card using computer software.  In this computer card making lesson, students design an original holiday card using a variety of tools.  Students navigate the software utilizing various tools.