Lesson Ideas for the Month of December

We are going to start off today’s blog  with your weekly reflection question. How is your lesson planning going this month? Take a moment to reflect on this question. Think about this question and answer to yourself honestly where you currently stand with planning for the month of December. 

Right now many of us are preparing for the winter break. The thing that is on our mind is making it till the middle of December. Some might be  burnt out and tired. There are others who are in the midst of the testing season. All of these factors can affect our lesson planning. It also means that our lessons for our language learners can take a backseat since many of us may be in survival mode. 

I know I can definitely relate. Around this time of the year I am in survival mode. I am tired and counting down the days till winter break. Feeling this way has affected my lesson planning. I tend to find myself trying to rush and do last minute lessons because I am just so tired. This year I wanted to be as prepared as possible, so I thought of some lessons that I can teach during this time of the year. 

Let’s dive into some lesson ideas for the month of December.

Close reading lessons about winter, winter traditions, and winter sports. I have three close read lessons available in my store that you can use. These reading lessons include speaking and writing components. They are fantastic to use in your classroom because they are already planned out for you. All you have to do is print and go. Having these lessons in my arsenal is fantastic. My students love engaging with topics about winter. Even if you are somewhere that doesn’t experience winter, these are great lessons to build background with your students. Here are my favorite winter lessons. 

When doing these close reading lessons, I love building background with picture books. Some picture books that you can read your students this month are:

• My Winter City by James Gladstone (Located on GetEpic)
• What Do You Celebrate?: Holidays and Festivals Around the World by Whitney Stewart
• Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner (Located on GetEpic)

When reading these books, I highly suggest modeling reading comprehension skills. Reading comprehension skills that will be a great focus this month is 

• Main Idea & Details
• Plot/Story Elements
• Compare & Contrast

These comprehension skills are really helpful to review or introduce to the students. You can pull practice passages using some of the topics and themes that I suggested.  After introducing, practicing, and assessing students with the reading comprehension skill. It is fun to have students do a project. The students will be so engaged and proud to show off their skills. 

An idea for winter projects is building a main idea snowman. Have the students read a story or passage. Then, they will need to identify the main idea and supporting details in the text. The head of the snowman can be the main idea and have 2-3 snow circles/snowman body for the supporting details. 

Students can also create a mini-book that describes what they are grateful for this holiday. Students can also create a mini book that compares and contrasts two seasons.

Students can create a mini-book that describes what they are grateful for this month. Students can also create a mini book that compares and contrasts two seasons. Here is an engaging lesson you can do with your students about comparing and contrasting. 

There are so many fun and engaging ideas that you can do this month with your Language Learners. Pick one of the ideas above or take a few moments to brainstorm some ideas. 

What lesson are you doing this month with your Language Learners? Share below in the comments.

You can download the transcript here.