December 2, 2024 • 22 mins
Teaching during the month of December can be a magical time for both you and your students, but it can also be challenging! With so many interruptions to your regular routine like holiday assemblies and class parties, your energy can be drained quickly. So in order to fill your cup back up, we’re sharing some of our tried and true December teaching tips.
For all the resources mentioned in this episode, head to the show notes: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/tried-and-true-december-teaching-tips/
Resources:
- December Teacher Survival Kit
- Christmas Brain Breaks
- Christmas Festive Breaks
- Holiday Behavior Helps
- December Teaching Podcast Playlist: listen on Spotify!
- December Teaching Podcast Playlist: listen on your web browser!
- Holiday Rom-Com Book List
- The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter
- Tis the Season Lift the Flap
- Connect with us on Instagram @2ndstorywindow.
- Shop our teacher-approved resources.
- Join our Facebook group, Teacher Approved
- Leave your review on Apple Podcasts!
Related Episodes to Enjoy:
- Episode 170, How to Be a Fun Teacher Without Losing Control of Your Class
- Episode 169, Our Best Teacher Tips for Finding Pockets of Prep Time to Get Ahead for January
- Episode 168, How Teachers Can Get a Jumpstart on a Stress-Free Winter Break
- Episode 107, Get Ahead For January Now With 4 Easy Steps
- Episode 106, The December Survival Kit: 3 Essential Tips to Help...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Emily (00:36):
Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
episode, we're sharing fivetried and true tips for teaching
in December, and we've got ateacher approved tip for finding
some more December teachinginspiration.
Heidi (00:49):
We start our episodes with a morning message, just
like we used to do at morningmeeting in our classrooms. This
week's morning message isdescribe teaching in December in
five words. Emily, what fivewords would you give to
December?
Emily (01:02):
Mine would be that is a January problem.
Heidi (01:07):
Oh, yes, those are almost famous last words as well as
December descriptors.
Emily (01:12):
Yes, do what I say, not what I do. What are your five
words Heidi?
Heidi (01:17):
Well, I know this is an old joke, but every time I
think, scrape kids off ceiling.Repeat.
Emily (01:23):
That's so true. We have some fun responses from our
teacher approved community.Celeste says Advil is my best
friend. Andrea says, Serenitynow, Serenity now, now!
Heidi (01:40):
And I appreciate she added a gif to that too.
Emily (01:42):
Yes Michelle said, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Oh,
100% she doesn't even need fivewords to say what she's got to
say. Sara said, cover mouth andwash hands.
Heidi (01:57):
Yeah, that probably works for the whole winter.
Emily (01:58):
Yes. Diane said, Help, help, help, help. Abby said, the
classroom inside is frightful.
Heidi (02:09):
I want to hear the rest of that song now Emily.
Emily (02:11):
Yeah I'm not going to be singing it for you. And let's
finish with this gem from Amy,who said it's like living in
hell. Oh, a merry little hell Ihope. We'd love to hear your
five word descriptions ofDecember. Come share with us in
the teacher approved Facebookgroup.
Heidi (02:31):
If you didn't know before, you could probably guess
from those five worddescriptions that teaching in
December can be a bit of achallenge.
Emily (02:39):
I loved being a teacher in December, there were so many
fun things to do, but Ifrequently drained every ounce
of energy from my body.
Heidi (02:48):
Yeah, December teaching is a real mixed bag of highs and
lows. In last week's episode, weshared some ideas for managing
the fun highs, so it only seemsfair that this week we tackled
the low lows.
Emily (03:02):
There's gonna be some highs in here too. Just hold on.
So check out Episode 170 thoughfor ways to add fun to your
class without everything fallingapart. And keep listening to
this episode for our top fivetips for teaching in December.
Heidi (03:18):
Let's kick things off with our first tip, which is to
prepare for disruptions, andthere will be disruptions. This
may be one of the hardest partsof teaching during the holiday
season. There's the holidayfundraiser kickoff assemblies,
the high school bandperformance, the school sing
along. And you know this isbarely scratching the surface of
(03:38):
all the interruptions that canclutter your December calendar,
or can just pop up a littlewarning.
Emily (03:44):
And that's not to mention the spur of the moment
interruptions of a big snowstormor inside recess. We like to
call these stretches of timewith lots of interruptions Swiss
cheese weeks, but December canbe a whole Swiss cheese month.
Heidi (04:00):
So how do you handle all of these disruptions? And the
key is just to expect them andbe prepared.
Emily (04:06):
Okay, cool. So be prepared. Got it? Everyone
moving on. Just kidding. The bigquestion is, how can you be
prepared for disruptions,especially ones that aren't even
known in advance?
You start with your schedule.Are there days that you know in
advance will have disruptions?Plan a modified schedule for
those days. Maybe on days withassemblies you're going to
(04:28):
rework your schedule and skipscience, or maybe you won't do
centers on those days. Knowingin advance what your schedule
will be will keep you fromscrambling in the moment.
Heidi (04:38):
Now, what about the disruptions you can't plan for?
One way to be prepared forwhatever disruptions arise is to
make a time filler activitybank. We have included a page
for this in the December teachersurvival kit.
Emily (04:51):
And this is a new addition to the survival kit.
The nice thing about a digitalproduct is that we can update it
easily, but unfortunately, yourcopy of the file if you already
have it doesn't automaticallyupdate. So if you have a version
of the survival kit that doesn'thave the time filler activity
bank, make sure you go downloadagain, and then you can just
paste in that tab into yourcurrent file.
Heidi (05:13):
Easy peasy. But if you don't have the survival kit, any
piece of paper will work. Or,you know, you could get a Google
Doc. You just need a list ofquick activities that can fill
any random pockets of downtime.
You want to load your timefiller activity bank with a
variety of ready to goactivities that you can do on
short notice. That list offestive books to choose from
(05:35):
links to short holiday learningvideos or a Quick Print and Go
activity like the ones on ourChristmas festive breaks. Those
are all great. Ideally, you'llhave the book set aside and
ready to go, the links alreadybookmarked and the copies
already made. So theseactivities you can just grab and
go in a moment's notice.
Emily (05:52):
So let's say your class gets back from an assembly early
and you have only 10 minutesbefore library. You don't want
to dive into your lesson forsuch a short amount of time. So
what can you do instead?
Heidi (06:02):
Well all you have to do is check your time filler
activity bank for an activitythat will take about 10 minutes
and you're ready to go. Becauseyou did the prep for those
activities already, you can havethe class up and running with
your time filler activity injust a few minutes.
Emily (06:18):
Or, let's say it's school pajama day, you still needed to
fit in a math lesson, but aftergiving it your best shot for 20
minutes, you decide it's alosing battle to get the kids to
focus. What do you do with theremaining 20 minutes of math
time?
Normally, I would say, get outold math games and play them for
a while, but when kids are thathyper, the loose structure of
playing games is just tossinggasoline onto the fire. Grab
(06:41):
your time filler activity, bankand put together 20 minutes of
engaging low effort, maybe lowkey activities to fill the time.
Heidi (06:49):
Right. You could show a short video, read a picture
book, learn an action song, do amovement brain break, play a
whole class learning game likevocabulary Pictionary or
anything else that will keep thekids engaged with minimal effort
on your part.
Emily (07:04):
Keep in mind that your emergency time fillers don't
have to be holiday themed justbecause it's December. If that
matters to you, go for it, butyou can show a 10 minute video
on shapes or how shoes are made,and it will still meet the goal
of keeping the high energylevels in check.
Heidi (07:19):
Also, because you have no way of knowing if you're going
to need two or maybe 20 timefiller activities this December,
you may want to avoid adding anyactivities to the list that you
really want to get to.
If there's a book you want toread to your class, or if
there's a certain art projectyou want them to do, make sure
to schedule those things in. Oryou could use them as festive
(07:39):
breaks so you can make sure thatyou get to them this month.
Leave your time for theiractivities, for things that
don't really matter.
Emily (07:46):
And when all else fails, take a deep breath and be
flexible. If your schedule getscompletely thrown off one day,
it's just one day you can getback on course soon.
Heidi (07:56):
Back in episode 38 we shared our three keys for
thriving as a teacher inDecember, and our first key is
to have the right mindset. Ifyou go into December with some
plans in place for disruptions,but also an attitude of
flexibility, this month is justgoing to go so much more
smoothly.
Emily (08:14):
Our second tip for teaching in December is to keep
your procedures and routinestight, or as tight as you can
anyway.
Heidi (08:22):
When things get wild, it can be tempting just to let
things slide right. You aretired. I have been there. I know
how tired you are. The kids areextra amped up. You can just get
everything back on track inJanuary, right?
Emily (08:35):
Do your best to resist this urge. It takes more work to
push through to the end of arough day than it does to get
the day back on track. So whenthings are getting out of hand,
call a stop to what's happeningand gather everyone for a
redirect.
Heidi (08:50):
You will definitely want to revisit your procedures and
routines in January, but thatdoesn't mean you want to let
them go completely in December.You're just making your job that
much harder when you let thefoundation of your management
fall apart.
Emily (09:03):
Smooth procedures and routines are what keep your
class running smoothly. It's agreat idea in December to take
some time each day to addressany procedures that are going
off course. Maybe every dayduring morning meeting, you'll
revisit one of them and make aplan for improving it.
Heidi (09:19):
Or you may find that simply reminding the students of
your expectations is enough tokeep things on track. Before you
head to lunch, you can revisityour lunchroom expectations. Or
before the kids head tospecialty classes, you can
remind them of the expectations,and then, of course, you want to
follow up after to see how wellthey did.
Emily (09:35):
Yes, keeping the expectations alive will help
things a lot in December.
Heidi (09:40):
In our December teacher survival kit, there are some
pages for you to make miniposters of your behavior
expectations. So if you don'talready have these in your
classroom, you can just printoff the stack and revisit them
all day long if you have to.With so much novelty in the air,
we really have to put in ourstrongest efforts to uphold our
structure.
Emily (10:00):
So think about that student engagement scale that we
talk about. Picture an oldbalance scale with structure on
one side and novelty on theother. When your scale leans too
far to one side or the other, itis a challenge to get your
students engaged. When thosesides are fairly even, your
students will be engaged.
Heidi (10:19):
Unsurprisingly, in December, the novelty side of
your scale will likely be piledhigh most days. To keep your
students engaged, you need tolean into the structure side of
your scale. Try to stick to yourregular schedule as much as you
can. Don't let your proceduresgo give students predictability
to calm their excited littlenerves.
Emily (10:40):
But that's not the only thing we can do to help students
Heidi (10:41):
Well of course. If you've listened to our podcast before,
stay engaged and on task. That'swhere tip three comes in, which
is to embrace a classroom rewardsystem. So can you tell us about
that Heidi?
it's no secret that we're nottypically big fans of reward
systems. The main reason isbecause reward systems don't
(11:03):
actually work long term, andthey are a ton of work to
manage, so it's not something werecommend for regular use.
Emily (11:12):
But December is not a regular time. You got to do what
you got to do to keep your classon track in December, and a
reward system is likely to bevery helpful with that.
Heidi (11:22):
Reward systems work well in December because you're only
using them for that short termperiod before winter break. You
can start your reward system assoon as Thanksgiving break ends,
or you can save it for when yourclass really starts to need one
in December, it's totally up toyou.
Emily (11:36):
And there are multiple ways to approach a reward system
for December. You can do a wholeclass reward system, like our
teacher favorite Reindeer Gamesreward system. The class earns
reindeer with their goodbehavior, and when all the
reindeer have been earned, asurprise reward is revealed. In
our holiday behavior helpsbundle, we have everything you
need to do this system,including a bunch of easy reward
(11:59):
ideas that your students willlove.
Heidi (11:59):
Another fun reward system in our holiday behavior helps is
This works great for having yourgroups compete against each
our build a character. It's socute where you have the students
earn the pieces to build alittle gingerbread guy.
other. You would just need a setof pieces for each group or
table. If competition ismotivating for your students,
(12:20):
they will love this and thatcompetition can push them to be
even better behaved, or you canalways earn the character pieces
as a whole class reward system.
Emily (12:29):
But if competition will result in negativity in your
classroom, you may want to gofor an individual reward system.
One that we include in theholiday behavior helps resource
is the lucky chance game. Soexplain that one Heidi.
Heidi (12:41):
This is such a fun one. So you just start by printing
out the lucky chance board,which has a row of symbols
across the top and then lettersdown the side, and then there's
just an empty grid.
When students have goodbehavior, you tell them that
they can go add their name to asquare in the board, and they
can pick any square they want.And then when it's time to
choose a winner, you pull asymbol and a letter card at
(13:02):
random, the student whose nameis on that square of the board
gets the prize.
Emily (13:07):
You can either have a set time of the day that you're
going to choose a winner, or youcan plan to choose a winner as
soon as the board is full. Ifyou go that route, though, be
sure you don't fill up the finalsquare until it's a convenient
time to choose a winner.
Heidi (13:20):
You could choose one type of reward system or mix and
match them to meet your needs.Just don't forget that no matter
which reward system you choose,you want to introduce it with a
discussion about yourexpectations. Now is the moment
to be concrete with yourstudents about what types of
behaviors earn rewards and whattypes of behaviors lose rewards.
Emily (13:41):
Our fourth December teaching tip is to remember that
you can do anything, but youcan't do everything. There is no
shortage of amazing activityideas to try in December. It's
going to be tempting to do alot, but that is a recipe for
disaster.
Heidi (13:56):
You can do any activity that you are excited about. If
you want to go big on a NorthPole classroom transformation,
because those big surprises areyour favorite part of teaching.
You should absolutely go all inon that and send us the
pictures, because that reallydoes sound amazing.
Emily (14:12):
Yes it does. But if that sounds terrible to you, then
don't feel even a moment ofguilt for opting out of it.
There are so many ways to be afun teacher, which we discussed
in last week's episode. Youdon't have to do what the other
teachers are doing to be a funteacher.
Heidi (14:27):
bring more joy to the activity. And in turn, to your
students when you chooseactivities that light you up.
Emily (14:39):
Just be aware that with any holiday activity, whether
that's in your classroom or inyour home life, when you say yes
to one activity, you are in turngoing to have to say no to some
others. So make sure that you'resaving time and energy for the
things you really enjoy. Focusyour energy on what you're
excited to do in December andlet the rest go.
And that brings us to our lastDecember teaching tip, which is
(15:01):
to make time for holiday magic.
Heidi (15:04):
Now, just so we're clear, holiday magic does not have to
mean going all out. In fact, Ithink the best holiday magic are
the small moments of joy thatyou can sprinkle into your
December schedule.
Emily (15:15):
One bit of holiday magic that we loved to do with our
second graders was a visit fromSinterklaas. So one side of our
family heritage is Dutch, so wehave received a visit from
Sinterklaas on the night ofDecember 5 our whole lives. And
I cannot tell you the joy itgave me to share this with my
students.
Heidi (15:34):
It was such a highlight for me when I taught second
grade, I'd have all of my kidsleave one shoe in the hall, and
they were always so confused,and it was just very fun to be a
teacher that. And then Igathered them to read the
Baker's Dozen book about StNicholas. But of course, I would
read it as Sinterklaas, becauseI was raised right.
(15:56):
While we read the story, one ofthe sweet angels in the front
office would come fill theirshoes with a little surprise.
And when I first started doingit, I would use bags of candy,
but it did feel weird to putcandy and like, sweaty little
shoes, so I switched to thoselittle packs you can find in the
target spot that have like acoloring book and four crayons
and a few stickers for like abuck.
(16:18):
And after we would finish thebook, I would talk about Dutch
traditions, and that, becauseI'm Dutch, I could get in touch
with Sinterklaas, and then Iwould watch as all these little
light bulbs came on. Their eyeswould get big, and I would
finally let them go check theirshoes. It was really one of my
favorite moments of the wholeyear.
Emily (16:33):
Yes, me too. Oh. Just makes me smile.
Another bit of holiday magic Ilove is a book Advent. You can
do this in the classroom bywrapping up some of your
favorite holiday read alouds andunwrapping one to read each day.
Or you can incorporate a readingcalendar, like the adorable free
Christmas reading calendars fromeveryday reading.
Heidi (16:53):
They really are cute. So every year, everyday reading on
Instagram makes a free holidaythemed poster with reading
prompts like read a book about asnowman, and then after you do
the prompt, you get to color apiece of the picture.
If you wanted you could printoff the poster for your class
and then try to finish up theposter this year. Now you might
have to double up and do acouple prompts a day, but it
(17:15):
would be a really low key way tosprinkle in some festive fun and
reading into your class.
Emily (17:20):
The important thing here is to remember what we said last
week about sprinkling in the funlike seasoning, you don't want
to go overboard with the fun andwaste all your learning time, or
use up all your energy ordisrupt your classroom
management.
Heidi (17:33):
Plus, fun is more special if you use it strategically.
Treat it like a treat.
Emily (17:38):
December is one of my favorite times of the year to be
a teacher. It can get hard attimes, but remember our five
December teaching tips. Preparefor disruptions, keep your
procedures and routines tight,embrace a reward system you can
do anything but not everything,and make time for holiday magic.
Heidi (17:59):
We would love to hear your best tips for teaching in
December. Come join theconversation in our teacher
approved Facebook group.
Emily (18:06):
Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip.
Each week we leave you with asmall, actionable tip that you
can apply in your classroomtoday. This week's teacher
approved tip is to check out ourpast holiday podcast episodes.
Heidi (18:19):
Yes, you definitely want to do that, because we have
amassed quite a catalog ofepisodes addressing all of the
ins and outs of teaching inDecember. But to make it easy
for you to find thatinformation, we have put them
all together in one playlist.
Emily (18:34):
So visit the show notes and you can find a link to our
December teaching podcastplaylist.
Heidi (18:42):
To wrap up the show, we're sharing what we're giving
extra credit to this week.Emily, what gets your extra
credit?
Emily (18:46):
I'm giving extra credit to the book that I just finished
a few hours ago, The MostWonderful Crime of the Year, by
Ally Carter. So enemy novelwriters Maggie and Ethan receive
cryptic invitations to aChristmas house party at an
English estate.
Heidi (19:01):
I love that they're enemy novel writers.
Emily (19:03):
Of course they are! Which turns out to be owned by the
famous mystery writer EleanorAshley. But that night, Eleanor
disappears from inside herlocked office, and Maggie and
Ethan are left unraveling theclues and investigating the
other house guests on theirquest to find her. The rivals
have to become allies and avoidkilling each other to solve the
(19:26):
mystery.
Absolutely loved this book. Itwas such a fun read, great
banter, some of my favoritetropes alive and well in here,
and it has a real knives outkind of vibe.
Heidi (19:37):
Has it got a Christmas feel at all?
Emily (19:39):
Yes, it's not, I would say it's not overly Christmas,
but it was Christmasy enough forme, because it takes place over,
you know, the the week ofChristmas.
Heidi (19:50):
Okay, all right, I'm gonna go download this right
now, because I was just, I needa Christmas book.
Emily (19:54):
It's a good I feel like first read for Christmas. If
you're just getting into yourChristmas reading. And then you
can get into the hard hittingChristmas tree farm books later
in the month. What are yougiving extra credit to Heidi?
Heidi (20:07):
Well, my extra credit also goes to a book. This is a
very different type of audience.My book is, Tis the Season: a
lift the flap Advent calendarfull of Christmas poems. So this
is published by Nosy Crow. Andif you know their books, you
know they have the sweetestillustrations.
This was a total impulse buy. Isaw it on Target, and I thought,
(20:29):
well, I need to have this. Anddespite the title saying it's an
Advent book, I totally missedthat when I ordered it, so when
it came that was just a funsurprise. So I love advent
calendars, and I'm a sucker forpoetry picture books. So this
really knocks it out of the parkon both levels.
Emily (20:45):
Yeah, just checks all your boxes, right?
Heidi (20:46):
This was made for me. There is a short poem for each
day, and then you can lift alittle flap and find a hidden
picture. I just demonstratedwith my hands how you lift the
flaps in books. So just in caseyou need a handy guide. You can
read this as a book where youlike turn the pages, but it also
folds out accordion style if youwant to display it.
(21:07):
Ooh, it's really pretty. I wasalways trying to get more poetry
into my classroom, so this mightbe a fun thing to add to your
class this year. I will say mostof the poems are wintry, but a
few of them are about Christmas,if that's an issue. But none of
the poems are religious. So Ithink they would be okay in
pretty much any classroom.
Emily (21:23):
Ooh, that sounds like a fun book.
Heidi (21:25):
It's gorgeous. You'll have to you have to look at my
copy.
That's it for today's episode.Remember our five tried and true
tips for teaching in December,and don't forget our teacher
proof tip to check out ourholiday episode playlist.
Emily (21:39):
If you enjoyed this episode, we would love it if you
shared with a teacher friend whomight enjoy it as well. It's the
best way to help our show reachnew listeners, and you can help
your friends get a head start onplanning for December.
Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
episode, we're sharing fivetried and true tips for teaching
in December, and we've got ateacher approved tip for finding
some more December teachinginspiration.
Heidi (00:49):
We start our episodes with a morning message, just
like we used to do at morningmeeting in our classrooms. This
week's morning message isdescribe teaching in December in
five words. Emily, what fivewords would you give to
December?
Emily (01:02):
Mine would be that is a January problem.
Heidi (01:07):
Oh, yes, those are almost famous last words as well as
December descriptors.
Emily (01:12):
Yes, do what I say, not what I do. What are your five
words Heidi?
Heidi (01:17):
Well, I know this is an old joke, but every time I
think, scrape kids off ceiling.Repeat.
Emily (01:23):
That's so true. We have some fun responses from our
teacher approved community.Celeste says Advil is my best
friend. Andrea says, Serenitynow, Serenity now, now!
Heidi (01:40):
And I appreciate she added a gif to that too.
Emily (01:42):
Yes Michelle said, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Oh,
100% she doesn't even need fivewords to say what she's got to
say. Sara said, cover mouth andwash hands.
Heidi (01:57):
Yeah, that probably works for the whole winter.
Emily (01:58):
Yes. Diane said, Help, help, help, help. Abby said, the
classroom inside is frightful.
Heidi (02:09):
I want to hear the rest of that song now Emily.
Emily (02:11):
Yeah I'm not going to be singing it for you. And let's
finish with this gem from Amy,who said it's like living in
hell. Oh, a merry little hell Ihope. We'd love to hear your
five word descriptions ofDecember. Come share with us in
the teacher approved Facebookgroup.
Heidi (02:31):
If you didn't know before, you could probably guess
from those five worddescriptions that teaching in
December can be a bit of achallenge.
Emily (02:39):
I loved being a teacher in December, there were so many
fun things to do, but Ifrequently drained every ounce
of energy from my body.
Heidi (02:48):
Yeah, December teaching is a real mixed bag of highs and
lows. In last week's episode, weshared some ideas for managing
the fun highs, so it only seemsfair that this week we tackled
the low lows.
Emily (03:02):
There's gonna be some highs in here too. Just hold on.
So check out Episode 170 thoughfor ways to add fun to your
class without everything fallingapart. And keep listening to
this episode for our top fivetips for teaching in December.
Heidi (03:18):
Let's kick things off with our first tip, which is to
prepare for disruptions, andthere will be disruptions. This
may be one of the hardest partsof teaching during the holiday
season. There's the holidayfundraiser kickoff assemblies,
the high school bandperformance, the school sing
along. And you know this isbarely scratching the surface of
(03:38):
all the interruptions that canclutter your December calendar,
or can just pop up a littlewarning.
Emily (03:44):
And that's not to mention the spur of the moment
interruptions of a big snowstormor inside recess. We like to
call these stretches of timewith lots of interruptions Swiss
cheese weeks, but December canbe a whole Swiss cheese month.
Heidi (04:00):
So how do you handle all of these disruptions? And the
key is just to expect them andbe prepared.
Emily (04:06):
Okay, cool. So be prepared. Got it? Everyone
moving on. Just kidding. The bigquestion is, how can you be
prepared for disruptions,especially ones that aren't even
known in advance?
You start with your schedule.Are there days that you know in
advance will have disruptions?Plan a modified schedule for
those days. Maybe on days withassemblies you're going to
(04:28):
rework your schedule and skipscience, or maybe you won't do
centers on those days. Knowingin advance what your schedule
will be will keep you fromscrambling in the moment.
Heidi (04:38):
Now, what about the disruptions you can't plan for?
One way to be prepared forwhatever disruptions arise is to
make a time filler activitybank. We have included a page
for this in the December teachersurvival kit.
Emily (04:51):
And this is a new addition to the survival kit.
The nice thing about a digitalproduct is that we can update it
easily, but unfortunately, yourcopy of the file if you already
have it doesn't automaticallyupdate. So if you have a version
of the survival kit that doesn'thave the time filler activity
bank, make sure you go downloadagain, and then you can just
paste in that tab into yourcurrent file.
Heidi (05:13):
Easy peasy. But if you don't have the survival kit, any
piece of paper will work. Or,you know, you could get a Google
Doc. You just need a list ofquick activities that can fill
any random pockets of downtime.
You want to load your timefiller activity bank with a
variety of ready to goactivities that you can do on
short notice. That list offestive books to choose from
(05:35):
links to short holiday learningvideos or a Quick Print and Go
activity like the ones on ourChristmas festive breaks. Those
are all great. Ideally, you'llhave the book set aside and
ready to go, the links alreadybookmarked and the copies
already made. So theseactivities you can just grab and
go in a moment's notice.
Emily (05:52):
So let's say your class gets back from an assembly early
and you have only 10 minutesbefore library. You don't want
to dive into your lesson forsuch a short amount of time. So
what can you do instead?
Heidi (06:02):
Well all you have to do is check your time filler
activity bank for an activitythat will take about 10 minutes
and you're ready to go. Becauseyou did the prep for those
activities already, you can havethe class up and running with
your time filler activity injust a few minutes.
Emily (06:18):
Or, let's say it's school pajama day, you still needed to
fit in a math lesson, but aftergiving it your best shot for 20
minutes, you decide it's alosing battle to get the kids to
focus. What do you do with theremaining 20 minutes of math
time?
Normally, I would say, get outold math games and play them for
a while, but when kids are thathyper, the loose structure of
playing games is just tossinggasoline onto the fire. Grab
(06:41):
your time filler activity, bankand put together 20 minutes of
engaging low effort, maybe lowkey activities to fill the time.
Heidi (06:49):
Right. You could show a short video, read a picture
book, learn an action song, do amovement brain break, play a
whole class learning game likevocabulary Pictionary or
anything else that will keep thekids engaged with minimal effort
on your part.
Emily (07:04):
Keep in mind that your emergency time fillers don't
have to be holiday themed justbecause it's December. If that
matters to you, go for it, butyou can show a 10 minute video
on shapes or how shoes are made,and it will still meet the goal
of keeping the high energylevels in check.
Heidi (07:19):
Also, because you have no way of knowing if you're going
to need two or maybe 20 timefiller activities this December,
you may want to avoid adding anyactivities to the list that you
really want to get to.
If there's a book you want toread to your class, or if
there's a certain art projectyou want them to do, make sure
to schedule those things in. Oryou could use them as festive
(07:39):
breaks so you can make sure thatyou get to them this month.
Leave your time for theiractivities, for things that
don't really matter.
Emily (07:46):
And when all else fails, take a deep breath and be
flexible. If your schedule getscompletely thrown off one day,
it's just one day you can getback on course soon.
Heidi (07:56):
Back in episode 38 we shared our three keys for
thriving as a teacher inDecember, and our first key is
to have the right mindset. Ifyou go into December with some
plans in place for disruptions,but also an attitude of
flexibility, this month is justgoing to go so much more
smoothly.
Emily (08:14):
Our second tip for teaching in December is to keep
your procedures and routinestight, or as tight as you can
anyway.
Heidi (08:22):
When things get wild, it can be tempting just to let
things slide right. You aretired. I have been there. I know
how tired you are. The kids areextra amped up. You can just get
everything back on track inJanuary, right?
Emily (08:35):
Do your best to resist this urge. It takes more work to
push through to the end of arough day than it does to get
the day back on track. So whenthings are getting out of hand,
call a stop to what's happeningand gather everyone for a
redirect.
Heidi (08:50):
You will definitely want to revisit your procedures and
routines in January, but thatdoesn't mean you want to let
them go completely in December.You're just making your job that
much harder when you let thefoundation of your management
fall apart.
Emily (09:03):
Smooth procedures and routines are what keep your
class running smoothly. It's agreat idea in December to take
some time each day to addressany procedures that are going
off course. Maybe every dayduring morning meeting, you'll
revisit one of them and make aplan for improving it.
Heidi (09:19):
Or you may find that simply reminding the students of
your expectations is enough tokeep things on track. Before you
head to lunch, you can revisityour lunchroom expectations. Or
before the kids head tospecialty classes, you can
remind them of the expectations,and then, of course, you want to
follow up after to see how wellthey did.
Emily (09:35):
Yes, keeping the expectations alive will help
things a lot in December.
Heidi (09:40):
In our December teacher survival kit, there are some
pages for you to make miniposters of your behavior
expectations. So if you don'talready have these in your
classroom, you can just printoff the stack and revisit them
all day long if you have to.With so much novelty in the air,
we really have to put in ourstrongest efforts to uphold our
structure.
Emily (10:00):
So think about that student engagement scale that we
talk about. Picture an oldbalance scale with structure on
one side and novelty on theother. When your scale leans too
far to one side or the other, itis a challenge to get your
students engaged. When thosesides are fairly even, your
students will be engaged.
Heidi (10:19):
Unsurprisingly, in December, the novelty side of
your scale will likely be piledhigh most days. To keep your
students engaged, you need tolean into the structure side of
your scale. Try to stick to yourregular schedule as much as you
can. Don't let your proceduresgo give students predictability
to calm their excited littlenerves.
Emily (10:40):
But that's not the only thing we can do to help students
Heidi (10:41):
Well of course. If you've listened to our podcast before,
stay engaged and on task. That'swhere tip three comes in, which
is to embrace a classroom rewardsystem. So can you tell us about
that Heidi?
it's no secret that we're nottypically big fans of reward
systems. The main reason isbecause reward systems don't
(11:03):
actually work long term, andthey are a ton of work to
manage, so it's not something werecommend for regular use.
Emily (11:12):
But December is not a regular time. You got to do what
you got to do to keep your classon track in December, and a
reward system is likely to bevery helpful with that.
Heidi (11:22):
Reward systems work well in December because you're only
using them for that short termperiod before winter break. You
can start your reward system assoon as Thanksgiving break ends,
or you can save it for when yourclass really starts to need one
in December, it's totally up toyou.
Emily (11:36):
And there are multiple ways to approach a reward system
for December. You can do a wholeclass reward system, like our
teacher favorite Reindeer Gamesreward system. The class earns
reindeer with their goodbehavior, and when all the
reindeer have been earned, asurprise reward is revealed. In
our holiday behavior helpsbundle, we have everything you
need to do this system,including a bunch of easy reward
(11:59):
ideas that your students willlove.
Heidi (11:59):
Another fun reward system in our holiday behavior helps is
This works great for having yourgroups compete against each
our build a character. It's socute where you have the students
earn the pieces to build alittle gingerbread guy.
other. You would just need a setof pieces for each group or
table. If competition ismotivating for your students,
(12:20):
they will love this and thatcompetition can push them to be
even better behaved, or you canalways earn the character pieces
as a whole class reward system.
Emily (12:29):
But if competition will result in negativity in your
classroom, you may want to gofor an individual reward system.
One that we include in theholiday behavior helps resource
is the lucky chance game. Soexplain that one Heidi.
Heidi (12:41):
This is such a fun one. So you just start by printing
out the lucky chance board,which has a row of symbols
across the top and then lettersdown the side, and then there's
just an empty grid.
When students have goodbehavior, you tell them that
they can go add their name to asquare in the board, and they
can pick any square they want.And then when it's time to
choose a winner, you pull asymbol and a letter card at
(13:02):
random, the student whose nameis on that square of the board
gets the prize.
Emily (13:07):
You can either have a set time of the day that you're
going to choose a winner, or youcan plan to choose a winner as
soon as the board is full. Ifyou go that route, though, be
sure you don't fill up the finalsquare until it's a convenient
time to choose a winner.
Heidi (13:20):
You could choose one type of reward system or mix and
match them to meet your needs.Just don't forget that no matter
which reward system you choose,you want to introduce it with a
discussion about yourexpectations. Now is the moment
to be concrete with yourstudents about what types of
behaviors earn rewards and whattypes of behaviors lose rewards.
Emily (13:41):
Our fourth December teaching tip is to remember that
you can do anything, but youcan't do everything. There is no
shortage of amazing activityideas to try in December. It's
going to be tempting to do alot, but that is a recipe for
disaster.
Heidi (13:56):
You can do any activity that you are excited about. If
you want to go big on a NorthPole classroom transformation,
because those big surprises areyour favorite part of teaching.
You should absolutely go all inon that and send us the
pictures, because that reallydoes sound amazing.
Emily (14:12):
Yes it does. But if that sounds terrible to you, then
don't feel even a moment ofguilt for opting out of it.
There are so many ways to be afun teacher, which we discussed
in last week's episode. Youdon't have to do what the other
teachers are doing to be a funteacher.
Heidi (14:27):
bring more joy to the activity. And in turn, to your
students when you chooseactivities that light you up.
Emily (14:39):
Just be aware that with any holiday activity, whether
that's in your classroom or inyour home life, when you say yes
to one activity, you are in turngoing to have to say no to some
others. So make sure that you'resaving time and energy for the
things you really enjoy. Focusyour energy on what you're
excited to do in December andlet the rest go.
And that brings us to our lastDecember teaching tip, which is
(15:01):
to make time for holiday magic.
Heidi (15:04):
Now, just so we're clear, holiday magic does not have to
mean going all out. In fact, Ithink the best holiday magic are
the small moments of joy thatyou can sprinkle into your
December schedule.
Emily (15:15):
One bit of holiday magic that we loved to do with our
second graders was a visit fromSinterklaas. So one side of our
family heritage is Dutch, so wehave received a visit from
Sinterklaas on the night ofDecember 5 our whole lives. And
I cannot tell you the joy itgave me to share this with my
students.
Heidi (15:34):
It was such a highlight for me when I taught second
grade, I'd have all of my kidsleave one shoe in the hall, and
they were always so confused,and it was just very fun to be a
teacher that. And then Igathered them to read the
Baker's Dozen book about StNicholas. But of course, I would
read it as Sinterklaas, becauseI was raised right.
(15:56):
While we read the story, one ofthe sweet angels in the front
office would come fill theirshoes with a little surprise.
And when I first started doingit, I would use bags of candy,
but it did feel weird to putcandy and like, sweaty little
shoes, so I switched to thoselittle packs you can find in the
target spot that have like acoloring book and four crayons
and a few stickers for like abuck.
(16:18):
And after we would finish thebook, I would talk about Dutch
traditions, and that, becauseI'm Dutch, I could get in touch
with Sinterklaas, and then Iwould watch as all these little
light bulbs came on. Their eyeswould get big, and I would
finally let them go check theirshoes. It was really one of my
favorite moments of the wholeyear.
Emily (16:33):
Yes, me too. Oh. Just makes me smile.
Another bit of holiday magic Ilove is a book Advent. You can
do this in the classroom bywrapping up some of your
favorite holiday read alouds andunwrapping one to read each day.
Or you can incorporate a readingcalendar, like the adorable free
Christmas reading calendars fromeveryday reading.
Heidi (16:53):
They really are cute. So every year, everyday reading on
Instagram makes a free holidaythemed poster with reading
prompts like read a book about asnowman, and then after you do
the prompt, you get to color apiece of the picture.
If you wanted you could printoff the poster for your class
and then try to finish up theposter this year. Now you might
have to double up and do acouple prompts a day, but it
(17:15):
would be a really low key way tosprinkle in some festive fun and
reading into your class.
Emily (17:20):
The important thing here is to remember what we said last
week about sprinkling in the funlike seasoning, you don't want
to go overboard with the fun andwaste all your learning time, or
use up all your energy ordisrupt your classroom
management.
Heidi (17:33):
Plus, fun is more special if you use it strategically.
Treat it like a treat.
Emily (17:38):
December is one of my favorite times of the year to be
a teacher. It can get hard attimes, but remember our five
December teaching tips. Preparefor disruptions, keep your
procedures and routines tight,embrace a reward system you can
do anything but not everything,and make time for holiday magic.
Heidi (17:59):
We would love to hear your best tips for teaching in
December. Come join theconversation in our teacher
approved Facebook group.
Emily (18:06):
Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip.
Each week we leave you with asmall, actionable tip that you
can apply in your classroomtoday. This week's teacher
approved tip is to check out ourpast holiday podcast episodes.
Heidi (18:19):
Yes, you definitely want to do that, because we have
amassed quite a catalog ofepisodes addressing all of the
ins and outs of teaching inDecember. But to make it easy
for you to find thatinformation, we have put them
all together in one playlist.
Emily (18:34):
So visit the show notes and you can find a link to our
December teaching podcastplaylist.
Heidi (18:42):
To wrap up the show, we're sharing what we're giving
extra credit to this week.Emily, what gets your extra
credit?
Emily (18:46):
I'm giving extra credit to the book that I just finished
a few hours ago, The MostWonderful Crime of the Year, by
Ally Carter. So enemy novelwriters Maggie and Ethan receive
cryptic invitations to aChristmas house party at an
English estate.
Heidi (19:01):
I love that they're enemy novel writers.
Emily (19:03):
Of course they are! Which turns out to be owned by the
famous mystery writer EleanorAshley. But that night, Eleanor
disappears from inside herlocked office, and Maggie and
Ethan are left unraveling theclues and investigating the
other house guests on theirquest to find her. The rivals
have to become allies and avoidkilling each other to solve the
(19:26):
mystery.
Absolutely loved this book. Itwas such a fun read, great
banter, some of my favoritetropes alive and well in here,
and it has a real knives outkind of vibe.
Heidi (19:37):
Has it got a Christmas feel at all?
Emily (19:39):
Yes, it's not, I would say it's not overly Christmas,
but it was Christmasy enough forme, because it takes place over,
you know, the the week ofChristmas.
Heidi (19:50):
Okay, all right, I'm gonna go download this right
now, because I was just, I needa Christmas book.
Emily (19:54):
It's a good I feel like first read for Christmas. If
you're just getting into yourChristmas reading. And then you
can get into the hard hittingChristmas tree farm books later
in the month. What are yougiving extra credit to Heidi?
Heidi (20:07):
Well, my extra credit also goes to a book. This is a
very different type of audience.My book is, Tis the Season: a
lift the flap Advent calendarfull of Christmas poems. So this
is published by Nosy Crow. Andif you know their books, you
know they have the sweetestillustrations.
This was a total impulse buy. Isaw it on Target, and I thought,
(20:29):
well, I need to have this. Anddespite the title saying it's an
Advent book, I totally missedthat when I ordered it, so when
it came that was just a funsurprise. So I love advent
calendars, and I'm a sucker forpoetry picture books. So this
really knocks it out of the parkon both levels.
Emily (20:45):
Yeah, just checks all your boxes, right?
Heidi (20:46):
This was made for me. There is a short poem for each
day, and then you can lift alittle flap and find a hidden
picture. I just demonstratedwith my hands how you lift the
flaps in books. So just in caseyou need a handy guide. You can
read this as a book where youlike turn the pages, but it also
folds out accordion style if youwant to display it.
(21:07):
Ooh, it's really pretty. I wasalways trying to get more poetry
into my classroom, so this mightbe a fun thing to add to your
class this year. I will say mostof the poems are wintry, but a
few of them are about Christmas,if that's an issue. But none of
the poems are religious. So Ithink they would be okay in
pretty much any classroom.
Emily (21:23):
Ooh, that sounds like a fun book.
Heidi (21:25):
It's gorgeous. You'll have to you have to look at my
copy.
That's it for today's episode.Remember our five tried and true
tips for teaching in December,and don't forget our teacher
proof tip to check out ourholiday episode playlist.
Emily (21:39):
If you enjoyed this episode, we would love it if you
shared with a teacher friend whomight enjoy it as well. It's the
best way to help our show reachnew listeners, and you can help
your friends get a head start onplanning for December.
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