Creating Holiday Traditions in Your Classroom: Part 1

Welcome to this brand new series all about how to start incorporating holiday traditions into your classroom! Trust me when I say starting traditions in my classroom was THE ONE THING that led to a more unified, connected classroom community and a more sane, joyful teacher.

Each upcoming blog will focus on one of the six traditions in the series.

So, let’s start with something we can all begin today!

Digging into the Details

How Does it Work?

• Make a list of themed books that relate to this time of year (Christmas, Winter, Hanukkah, etc). Make sure you pick books that excite you. You want you and the kids to look forward to reading these books!

  • If you do not have time to make a list, click here to check out the one I made for this year. All books are previewed by me, so you don’t have to! This book list is full of amazing books and includes both heartwarming and hilarious stories.

• Preview them or look online to see reviews of the books and whether the themes will work for your classroom. *Bonus: try to select books you could use to teach a new standard or as a review of previously taught standards.

• Collect the books. It can take a long time to create your own personal collection of books as they can be pretty pricey! Try these places to get as many books as you can:

  • Your school library (you can give them your book list in early December!)

  • Your local library

  • Thrift Stores

  • Facebook Marketplace

  • Older or retiring colleagues that may be cleaning out their libraries

  • Barnes and Noble (20% educator discount) or a local bookstore near you

• Build Suspense. Traditions work best when anticipation is built over time. As a tradition, this is something special that is not typically a part of their daily routine or classroom library. Capitalize on this by making it as exciting as possible. Here are some ideas!

  • Wrap each book and place under a class Christmas tree

  • Hide each book around the classroom

  • Withhold all books except one each day that you place in a gift bag. One student is selected to open it and after reading, it gets placed on a display shelf.

  • Number each book and have one student pick a number each day. If the book’s number is called, you read that book. This makes it a surprise for everyone.

*Disclaimer: Traditions should not be stressful or too complicated. Pay attention to how you are feeling and where your capacity is at and then pick the ideas that fit you and your classroom.

Be sure to come back tomorrow to find out the next classroom holiday tradition! Comment below how you might use this in your classroom and what books you are excited to try!