The crazy excitement your students show during the holiday season can make teaching rather difficult! You and your students are anticipating a much needed long holiday break. Sometimes you feel that it’s not worth teaching the curriculum during this time. But, including curriculum-based, holiday themed activities will solve your problem and continue with learning with no interruptions! This Santa contraction match came at a perfect time for my students. They reviewed what they knew about contractions and their excitement wasn’t interrupted!
A Great Time for Review
The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is so hard. Your students come back from being gone a week. Then three weeks later they are off again for two more weeks. What in the world are you going to teach during the crazy excitement of the holiday season? Each teacher and each class is different, but if it’s feasible I like to use this time for review! Reviewing from the last fifteen to sixteen weeks gives me a chance to know what to focus on when we get back from our break.
Contractions are a skill that my second graders are familiar with. So this Santa contraction match is a great activity to not only get kids excited about the holiday season but to review their knowledge.
Easy to Prep
The last thing you need is an activity that takes hours to prep! Simple, easy to prep activities are just as effective and will save you tons of time! First, download this FREE resource by clicking the download button below. Next, print, laminate and cut…or print, cut and laminate. Whatever you choose! However, when you cut, make sure to cut between Santa and the chimney!
Various Ways to Play
There is no wrong way to complete this activity! You know your students best and know what type of games really get them engaged. When I created this resource, I had a memory game in mind. However, you can also split the full word into one pile and the contraction into another pile. Students can work on matching each word and contraction together.
While your students match the word to it’s contraction, they can record their answers on the recording sheet that is included! This is a great way to do a quick assessment of what they can do on their own.
Fill your lesson plans with this and other holiday themed literacy centers to keep your students engaged all while continuing the excitement of the holidays!