Holiday Traditions Lesson Plan

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What We Are Learning

 

Social Studies Focus:

holiday traditions

 

Social and Emotional Learning Focus:

identity, celebrating diversity

 

Theme Vocabulary:

holiday, tradition

 

Skills We’re Practicing:

group discussion, critical thinking, vocabulary, self-awareness, visual discrimination

  • Before reading the issue, take a look at different kinds of families in Who’s In My Family? by Robie H. Harris. Ask children about their families—who is in their family? What do they like to do together? Then tell them that they’ll be learning about what different families do for the winter holidays.

Holiday Tradition Share

Materials: none

  • This holiday-themed version of show-and-tell lets children share their own holidaytraditions.
  • Remind children that they learned about holiday traditions in the magazine. Now they’ll get to tell the class about what they do during the holidays. Ask caregivers to help children select an object that their family uses during the holidays. If children do not have a holiday they celebrate during the winter season, they can share something from any holiday or tradition they’d like. Make sure the item isn’t too large or fragile for the child to handle.
  • When you’re ready to have children share, gather everyone on the rug. Have them take turns explaining the importance of their object. Ask questions like, “Where did it come from? What does your family do with it? Why is it important?” Invite children to ask questions too. To keep children’s attention, space presentations out by having only a few children share each day. If possible, ask family members to visit your classroom to help talk about the holiday artifact! self-awareness

Materials: craft sticks, construction paper or card stock, glue, markers

  • Let children show off their holiday home—and create an adorable holiday gift.
  • Give each child six craft sticks, a piece of paper, and markers. Help them assemble the craft sticks to create the outline of a house on top of the paper, with a square for the base and a triangle for the roof. (Children can also create a bigger house using more craft sticks.) Once the outline has been assembled, glue it to the paper. If you’d like, trim the paper outside the craft sticks.
  • Have children draw their family inside the house and include any special people who might visit during the holiday season!
  • Children can share their holiday homes with the class and talk about who they drew in it. fine-motor skills/self-awareness