It's that time of the year!!!! Christmas!!! Easily, my all-time favorite holiday and I love sharing fun things to do with the classes. But, with all the stress of it being report card time and trying to make magic happen for my own family, the classroom is one more stress factor that many women don't need. Over the years, my team has perfected the "Easy Classroom Christmas Party."Morning: Begin the morning with opening Christmas presents. (See below for how I do this cheap!) Then, allow the kids to bring games & play in the classroom.
Middle of the Day: Gingerbread Houses. This is the hardest part, but can be managed on your own if you lack parent volunteers. I set up during our planning time, have the kids come back and give instructions before they're allowed near the tables. On each table I have: a plastic tablecloth to make clean up easy; bowls of candy all mixed together; 1 plate per child holding the following: 2 milk cartons taped together, 4 unbroken Graham cracker sheets, 2 half Graham Cracker sheets; 1 spoon per child. As they come in, I give them the frosting container they brought in and tell to pick a spot. They use the frosting to "glue" the Graham crackers to the milk cartons to make the house. Then, they use the frosting to glue candy decorations to the house. When done, they're given a piece of tape with their name on it to stick to the bottom of the plate. Carefully, place the whole plate & house in cookie platter bags and tie them up nice and pretty to go home. Once done, clean up and start the movie.
Lunch Until End of the Day: In the classroom with a movie. Polar Express is always a favorite movie, but my kids have seen it a million times (every year in elementary school), so they get bored quickly. For that reason, I'll show A Christmas Carol. It's rated PG, which means I have to get parent permission, but it's really good and one the kids haven't really seen. If we still have time, I break out the old Christmas TV specials: Rudolph, Frosty, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, etc. This is when I get out the hot chocolate that was in their Christmas stockings.Christmas Presents
I order stockings through Dollar Tree ($1 per stocking, but I've also used lunch bag sized goody bags from Wal-Mart) and fill it with books from Scholastic and Dollar Tree items: pencils, erasers, stickers, stamps, coloring books if I can find them less than $1 each. I also include a baggie of "Snowman Soup" - hot chocolate, marshmallows, and a candy cane. I pick up a bag of Styrofoam cups and they use hot water from our classroom sink to make their hot chocolate. The candy cane is used to stir it. And finally, throw a homework pass and/or extra credit pass in there. Free for you and worth its weight in gold to them!
Gingerbread Houses Materials List- Plastic Table Clothes - 1 per table students will be working at.
- Cookie Platter Bags - Can be bought at Dollar Tree - 1 per child
- Plates - 1 per child
- Spoons - 1 per child
- Bowls - 1-4 per table, depending on the size of the bowl
Have Students Bring In
- Everyone brings in 1 can of frosting (cream cheese is thickest and works best. Whipped frosting is too thin and everything slides apart) If in a pinch, I've had kids share frosting by putting a glob on a plate or bowl.
- Students with Last Names Beginning A-F: Plain Graham Crackers (or about one-fourth of your class)
- Everyone Else: Bags candy or another item (pretzels, etc) to decorate the houses
