Christmas Activities for ELA Bundle | Fun Christmas activities for English Class

These Christmas activities for ELA will keep your students engaged all winter long! I know that it can be hard to keep your English class engaged in learning before winter break, but these fun Christmas activities will have your students enjoying every second of your class. 

When you purchase this product, you'll receive:

1. Winter Poetry Activities - Printable AND Digital
This winter poetry activity will keep your students engaged even during the days leading up to winter break. These poems about winter are a great way for students to cozy up to the ELA standards while having fun in the classroom. Both the printable and the digital version are included so that you can use these winter-themed activities with all students.

Students will have the opportunity to read 5 different poems and complete activities for each poem. There is also a creative activity where students will build a literary snowman as they analyze each poem on "pieces" of the snowman. I've also included a Google Slides version to share for distance learning.

The poems that are covered in this activity are:

1. "The Snow Man" by Wallace Stevens

2. "Winter's Artist" by Suzanne Bates

3. "Snow Day" by Billy Collins

4. "Blizzard" by Linda Pastan

5. "A Winter Blue Jay" by Sara Pastan

Topics covered include: symbolism, tone, mood, imagery, personification, and more!

When you purchase this product you'll receive:

- Full instructions + example for digital and printable version of the product

- A creative "build a snowman" activity

- Links to all poems

- Critical thinking and analysis questions for each poem

- Full answer key/answer suggestions 

2. Winter Snowglobe Activity for Any Text
Need an activity to keep students engaged during the final days before Christmas break? This seasonal winter activity will work with any text in the ELA classroom. Students will have so much fun creating their project that they won't realize that they're actually reviewing literary elements. This is a great activity for ELA to keep your students completing standards-based writing activities while still having fun.

During this Christmas activity, students will be creating a snow globe for a text of their choosing (or one that you assign!). Students will fill out a writing planning sheet, draw/color a symbolic snow globe of their favorite story, and use literary elements to set the scene. 

I've also included an informational text option! 

When you purchase this product, you'll receive:

- Planning guide for literary text snow globe

- Full instructions and worksheet for creating a literary snow globe

- Planning guide for informational text snow globe

- Full instructions and worksheet for creating a literary snow globe

- Example of a literary text snow globe

- Full editable file 

3. Holiday short story and short film analysis

This Christmas activity for ELA is the perfect way to keep students engaged during the holiday season. Students will love this holiday short story and short film analysis that keeps them practicing all of the important standards-based skills. 

Students will read O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" and then watch a short film titled "Magi." They have vocabulary activities, reflection questions, and critical thinking questions based on symbolism, theme, and more! 

When you purchase this product you'll receive:

- Pre-reading activity sheet with 5 vocabulary words and 2 reflection questions

- Post-reading questions about symbolism, the importance of the title, metaphors, ad more

- List of multiple links to the full text of "The Gift of the Magi"

- Link + Scannable QR code to a short film titled "Magi"

- Analysis questions for the short film

- Full answer key guide 

4. Christmas around the world activity
I'm always looking for something for my secondary students to enjoy during the holiday season that entertains them, but still sticks to the standards. I love for my students to learn about different cultures, traditions, etc. from around the globe. Throughout this activity, students not only enjoy reading about holiday traditions from around the world, they also get to use their artistic skills on an ornament creation project! I've also created a portion where students get to reflect on their own holiday traditions and fun!

Includes:

- 5 separate articles: Christmas in China, Christmas in Sweden, Christmas in the Philippines, Christmas in Norway, and Christmas in Australia

- Graphic organizer for students to focus on their own holiday traditions

- Symbolic ornament project for students to use what they've learned

5. Holiday writing prompts
Start the 12 days of Christmas early in your classroom with these holiday writing prompts! There are 12 original prompts that will challenge your students to think critically about their own writing. Each prompt can be displayed for students and includes: prompt, 1-3 different requirements (literary elements, word choice, point of view, etc.) 

You can print these 4-6 to a page for students to cut and glue into their notebooks!

I like to give my students an extra quiz grade if they complete all 12 prompts. Sometimes, we even have mini writer's workshop days with these prompts.

I've even included 3 graphic organizers to help your students plan + refine their writing.