If you’ve ever looked at your calendar the Monday after Thanksgiving and thought… “How am I going to make it until winter break?”, …I’m right there with you! In my opinion, the weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break are some of the hardest weeks of the entire school year. Students are excited. Holiday events start filling the calendar. And the classroom can easily slip into a chaotic mess.
Your daily schedule gets interrupted. Everyone is counting down the days until break. And somehow, you’re still expected to keep students learning while preparing for the holidays yourself! But after years in a first grade classroom, I’ve learned something important:
You don’t need more complicated lesson plans. You need a plan that works with this season, not against it.
Here are the strategies that have helped me make it through December while keeping my students engaged, learning, and having fun along the way.
Give Students Something to Look Forward to Every Week
One of the biggest changes I made was stopping the “all the fun happens the last week before break” mentality. Instead, I spread the excitement throughout the month. This is the hack for surviving the weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break. So here’s an example:
Maybe one week we will host Gingerbread Day. Next week is Reindeer Day. Then it’s Snow Day. North Pole Day. Hot Cocoa Day. You can get as creative as you want. When students know there’s always something fun around the corner, they don’t spend the entire month asking, “When’s the party?”
Even better, these themed days make lesson planning so much easier because they naturally tie your reading, writing, math, and crafts together around one simple theme.
Teacher Tip: Your themed day doesn’t have to take over your entire schedule. Even one themed read aloud and one matching activity can make the day feel special.
Don’t Stop Teaching, Just Make Learning Feel Different
December isn’t the month to stop teaching the standards. Those weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break is the time to make those standards feel a little more exciting. Instead of changing what I’m teaching, I change how I’m teaching it.
So a graphing activity suddenly becomes holiday-themed. Writing turns into a gingerbread adventure. Math includes hands-on winter challenges like in class snowball fights which are a hit EVERY time. Reading is paired with meaningful holiday picture books.
Students are still practicing the exact same skills, they’re just more engaged because everything feels fresh. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that when students are engaged, classroom management becomes so much easier. Half the behavior issues I used to deal with disappeared simply because students were excited about what we were learning.
Add More Movement Than You Think You Need
If your students seem extra wiggly in December…You’re not imagining it. They’re really excited! And instead of fighting it, I plan for it.
Throughout December, I intentionally build movement into our day with simple activities like:
- Pass the Present
- Find a Friend
- Would You Rather
- Collaborative puzzles
- Four Corners
- Holiday brain breaks
- Snowball fights
These activities only take a few minutes, but they help students reset before jumping back into learning. I’ve learned that sometimes my students don’t need another reminder to focus. They simply need a chance to move.
Create Little Traditions Your Students Will Remember
Years from now your students probably won’t remember the worksheet they completed on December 12th.
But they’ll remember…
Reading by flashlight.
A holiday book exchange.
Making gifts for their families.
Sharing hot cocoa together.
Creating a classroom compliment circle.
Those little traditions become the memories students carry with them long after they leave your classroom.
The best part?
None of these ideas require hours of prep. This is such a great way to really make those weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break so special.
They’re simple, meaningful moments that help build your classroom community during one of the busiest months of the year.
Speaking of fun, simple, and meaningful! Have you tried a directed draw activity with your students? It’s a fun and simple way to build in some art while sneaking in a few minutes of peace and quiet. The kids LOVE them and you can grab this fun one FREE!
Grab your FREE reindeer directed draw using the link below!
Let Read Alouds Do the Heavy Lifting
December is one of my favorite months for picture books. Instead of squeezing in a holiday story “if we have time,” I make read alouds the starting point for our day.
A great picture book naturally leads to:
- meaningful discussions
- writing activities
- math connections
- vocabulary
- social-emotional conversations
- crafts and projects
One book can inspire an entire morning of learning. That takes so much pressure off planning because everything flows together instead of feeling like random holiday activities.
Don’t Feel Guilty for Making December Easier
Can I give you permission to hear something?
You don’t have to create brand-new lessons every single night in December. In fact, I think that’s one of the biggest reasons teachers feel burned out during the weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break. A few years ago, I realized I was spending my evenings scrolling Pinterest trying to piece together enough holiday activities to get through the next day. It was exhausting!
That’s when I started planning December differently. Instead of creating every lesson from scratch, I built a collection of seasonal activities that I could mix and match throughout the month whenever I needed something engaging and ready to go.
Eventually, those ideas became my Last Week Before Winter Break Lesson Plans & Activities Bundle. And even though the name says “last week,” I honestly pull ideas from it throughout December whenever I need an engaging literacy lesson, math activity, writing project, or themed day that’s already planned. For me, it isn’t about buying another resource. It’s about taking one thing off my plate during one of the busiest months of the year.
If December lesson planning always feels overwhelming, I hope this gives you permission to make it easier on yourself.
Remember That December Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect
The weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break will probably always feel busy. But they don’t have to feel chaotic. That’s a huge difference. Celebrate a little each week. Keep learning meaningful. Build in movement. Create traditions. Give yourself permission to simplify.
And most importantly…Remember to enjoy December right alongside your students. Because before you know it, winter break will be here. And those little moments you created together will be the ones everyone remembers.
Looking for Ready-to-Go December Lesson Plans?
If you’re anything like me, December is the month when having a plan makes all the difference.
That’s why I created my Last Week Before Winter Break Lesson Plans & Activities Bundle. Inside you’ll find 25+ engaging literacy, math, writing, crafts, movement activities, themed days, and more that you can use throughout December to keep students learning while making your planning so much easier. Many of the ideas I shared in this post—like themed days, read-aloud connections, movement breaks, and meaningful holiday learning—are woven right into those lesson plans.
I hope they help you spend a little less time planning and a lot more time enjoying this special season with your students.
I really hope you enjoyed learning some quick tips for surviving the weeks between Thanksgiving and winter break in the primary classroom! Don’t forget to subscribe to my email list! Not only will you get the most up to date tips, tricks, and classroom projects… and of course more fun FREEBIES including the Reindeer Directed Draw FREEBIE! You will also have exclusive access to tons of digital how to videos! If you would like to learn about this and other things happening in my classroom follow me @sweetnsauerfirsties on Instagram.
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