November 11, 2022

45. How to Do a Secret Santa in the Classroom or Homeschool

27 minutes

Christmas can be such a busy time of year, and sometimes it can be tricky to find time to do the “fun stuff” with your class along with everything else that needs to be done before the holiday break. So on today's episode of the podcast I want to share an activity with you that will make it so you can walk away from this podcast and be less stressed this holiday season.

In this episode I share all about our Secret Santa Writing Activity! This Secret Santa activity isn't only a fun way to integrate writing into the curriculum during Christmas time, but also as a unit to build classroom community- AND bring in Christmas cheer! I also want to note for the homeschool mamas or dads- you know I love you as a homeschool mom now myself! You could ALSO use this activity as a family if you homeschool.

For the intro lesson, I read the students a fictional story I wrote. As I read, I have students hold up the pictures to go along with it.

The story is about a child named Andy who was not being very kind to his classmate, Carl. Santa had written him a letter telling him that since Santa couldn’t be there himself, he needed Andy to be his “Secret Santa” and look after him, this leads to introducing the “Secret Santa” unit.

I explain that students will draw the name of a classmate, and they will be writing letters and doing kind things for this person for the next couple of days or weeks, depending on how much time we have. Once students are all assigned, I give them their first writing prompt. The students are to write a compliment to their Secret Santa. It is so much fun to read the student’s clever responses!

That's a just brief overview of what I dive into with this episode. This Secret Santa Activity is a wonderful unit to add to your curriculum this holiday season and you'll hear all about why in this today's episode.

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