December doesn’t have to be glitter storms and lost learning. We share a practical, story-driven way to turn holiday energy into real science with a Christmas-themed matter unit that keeps kids focused, curious, and proud of their work. Think stockings and balloons for inferring solids, liquids, and gases. Think hot cocoa tests that make temperature, dissolving, and fair experiment design click. The result is joyful rigor: standards met, mess managed, and students begging for “one more test.”
We start with the real problem—tired teachers, sugar-fueled classes, and lessons that feel cute but shallow. Then we map a simple structure that works: characters who pose questions, low to mid prep stations, clear roles, and data sheets that guide talk and writing. Randy Reindeer anchors states of matter with hidden items in balloons. Santa explores solubility and rate of change using cocoa and controlled temperatures. A snowman station tackles floating and sinking with familiar treats, gently introducing density concepts. An elf narrator nudges property observations—texture, size, weight, volume, and temperature—so students use accurate vocabulary while they explore.
To knit it together, we fold in short nonfiction reading and claim-evidence-reasoning writing, so science time stretches into ELA without breaking your schedule. Behavior improves because each station has a purpose, a reveal, and a shared goal; setup stays sane thanks to reusable stockings, simple supplies, and a ready-to-send family letter. You can run it all in a day or spread it across a week, and the format adapts to other units like force and motion with “sleigh tests,” keeping the seasonal spark while protecting content.
Want to try it without the heavy lift? Grab the free Randy Reindeer experiment at TrinaDeboriTeachingandLearning.com/ChristmasMatter, then decide if you want the full unit with anchor charts, prompts, and more labs in our TPT shop. If this approach helps, subscribe, share the episode with a teammate who needs a December win, and leave a quick review so more teachers can find it.
Links Mentioned in the Show:
Free Randy Reindeer Explores Matter FREEBIE
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Episode Transcript
Welcome to One Tired Teacher episode 272
(00:04):
Christmas Science ActuallyMagical, not just a mess.
So today we're talking about howto incorporate Christmas into
science.
And let me tell you, it can bedone, and it is one of my
favorite things to do inteaching.
Hope you stick around.
SPEAKER_00 (00:27):
Welcome to One Tired Teacher.
And even though she may need anap, this teacher is ready to
wake up and speak her truthabout the trials and treasures
of teaching.
Here she is, wide awake.
Wait, she's not asleep rightnow, is she?
She is awake, right?
Okay.
From Trina Debori Teaching andLearning, your host, Trina
(00:48):
Debori.
SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
Hey, welcome back.
All right.
So we are talking about addingChristmas to like adding science
into the Christmas season, orlike actually teaching science
and adding a little bit ofChristmas into the into science.
So raise your hand if it isDecember and or if it's ever
been December for you and you'veever made you want to put
(01:15):
glitter in a locked cabinet andscience on the backburner.
You're like, absolutely not.
I'm so over all of this.
Everything is commercialized todeath.
I'm so tired.
The kids are out of control.
I just want to pretend like itdidn't exist.
We're gonna just focus nonstopon reading, writing, and math.
Okay.
I've been there torn betweentrying to keep kids engaged and
(01:40):
not setting the room on fire.
So, or actual literal of fire.
In fact, one year, I'm gonnatell this short story.
One year when it was my lastyear in um before I resigned.
Like my last year, I wasn't in aclassroom, I was in a media
center, and I was in a largeTitle I school.
(02:01):
It was a very, it was actually asuper hard job.
Um, and the art teacher had putup some lights on his door in
the classroom with using anextension cord, and I guess the
extension cord was in betweenthe crack of the door.
Anyway, needless to say, itcaught fire.
And so we had a little fire inthe school and we all were
(02:23):
evacuated for hours because thefire department had to come.
It wasn't not like a fire thatbroke into craziness, it was
like a quick little blaze andthey put it out.
I mean, that's still superscary, but we were outside four
hours.
That was my very last day, and Iwas like sitting on the picnic
table with a person that I hadworked with for years who was
(02:45):
the technology specialist in thedistrict.
She was she for years was at myold school that we I was at
forever that I helped open.
And um, and I was like, we weresitting there together, and I
go, Well, this is kind of ironicthat I'm walking away from a job
that I've that's I've loved mywhole entire life, and it's up
(03:08):
in flames.
So it just felt so crazy.
Okay, anyway, so hopefully thatdoesn't happen to anyone.
Be very careful with extensioncords, but let's talk about like
not a real literal side or fire,let's talk about a holiday
science activity that will feellike you're setting a fire.
(03:28):
Actually, no, it'll feel it'sexciting.
And the truth is, science inDecember can be magical, it just
needs a little structure and alot of meaning and no electrical
cords.
In today's episode, I'm going toshare how I took one of the most
sugar-fueled cra classroomchaotic times of the year and
(03:51):
turned it into a calm andcaptivating science unit that
still has kids talking and evenlearning.
Kids love this unit, it is sofun.
I actually created it forHalloween too, later after I had
done it as Christmas because Ithought it would be really cool
as a Halloween thing as well.
(04:12):
But that one, it it never liketook off like the the I wanted
to call it Holidays Matterbecause I thought that was so
cute.
And um, that never did reallydid well.
It's finally when peopleunderstood that it we're going
over matter, solids, liquids,and gases with a Christmas
theme.
They were like, oh, and it's sofun.
You know, you can even skip yourChristmas party and do this
(04:34):
because it is so much fun, andkids absolutely love it.
So the problem with December andfun lessons, it can be really
hard sometimes.
Like the holiday fun can feellike chaos and disguise, and if
they often feel unstructured,there's like no academic value.
(04:55):
We've got students bouncing offthe walls, behavior problems are
spaking, teachers are drowningand in a lot of prep and with
little little payoff, and it'sit's hard.
And science, science gets leftout because it sounds more like
you know, like a lot more prepand a lot more mess and a lot
more chance for disaster, but itdoesn't have to be like that.
(05:19):
So, what actually worked in myclassroom?
Let me tell you about the yearthat I was super exhausted, but
I still wanted to end strong.
I had a group of kids who werecurious, they were energetic,
and let's just say they werereally enthusiastic about candy
canes.
So I was trying to wrap up bylike wrap up my grading,
(05:40):
finalize my report cards, andnot collapse into a puddle
before the end of the year.
And also I didn't want to gointo the Christmas season sick
and drained for my own family.
So that's when I wrote andcreated the Science Matter unit.
And it's, I have to say, it'sdefinitely one of my favorite
(06:03):
things.
And what I love the most aboutit is is it didn't just give
kids something to do, it gavethem a story, a purpose, a
reason to observe, to infer, towrite, to think, to read.
Plus, they got to dress up intheir scientist coats, which was
one of my favorite things to do,and they really got down to
(06:24):
business.
Um, I had the I one year Ididn't have the scientist coats,
like those ended up beingdonated the next year, but I had
um like white button-downshirts, and so we would use
those as our science, ourscience coats, our lab coats,
and kids absolutely loved it.
When I got the real like lab,not the real lab coats, but like
(06:47):
the thin, like you know, gauzykind of lab coats, that was even
better.
So here's what is inside of thisunit and why it is can be so
powerful, and how you canactually adapt any kind of unit
that you might be working on inscience, and kind of like how
you might add a sciencecomponent in case you're like, I
(07:08):
don't, I don't need, I'm notcovering states of matter, or I
don't need to cover that.
Um I mean, if you're a secondgrade teacher, then you you
probably do need to cover it, sothat's just one thing to think
about, you know.
So and then sometimes we getstuck on pacing guides, which I
think is why I created the theHalloween version, because it uh
(07:30):
in the beginning matter wascovered in December, and then we
they changed it to October, andI'm like, no.
But um sometimes you gotta justmove those things around, you
know, it's like that's should bemore of a guide and not a
everybody must follow this exactthing, but I won't get on that
tangent.
All right, so here's what'sinside without spoiling any of
the fun.
(07:51):
So one of the activities, it'sit definitely has all kinds of
reading included nonfictionreading passages with questions,
and they're not really passages,they're kind of written with
with Christmas characters and umand some you know fun little
visuals.
There are questions to you knowthat are standards based, and
(08:11):
then there's several differentexperiments.
We've got Randy Reindeer whoexplores solids, liquids, and
gases, which we're usingballoons inside of stockings.
And I'm gonna say this is not ano-prep activity, this is a low
to mid-level prep.
And when you sometimes whenpeople hear that, they're like,
(08:32):
I don't want anything that Ihave to prep.
But I do give you a letter forparents that you can get
everything donated.
And actually, some of thesesupplies, you once you have
them, like obviously not theChristmas like candy and cookies
and stuff like that.
Um, you're not gonna keep thatforever.
But you the stockings that youuse are can be used over and
(08:54):
over again, and that is and youcan get those at like, you know,
a dollar store or something likethat for and sometimes you can
find them if you for evencheaper than that.
And it is well worth it.
It's a unit that you're gonnawant to do over and over again.
I did it every year in myclassroom, and it was a a hit
every single time.
It was totally worth it, whichis why I think it's more fun
(09:17):
than doing it in lieu of like anactual Christmas party, because
in this case they're learningand they still get to eat
Christmas goodies, and they'reum they're reading, they're
writing, they're doing science,they're inferring, they're
experimenting.
It's so fun.
Anyway, so we've also got andalso you they put the balloons
(09:39):
inside the stocking, sorry, andthey um they have to infer if
it's a solid, liquid, or gas.
They don't they don't know thethey know that the balloon is in
there, but there's somethinginside the balloon, and they
have to make and that is one ofmy favorite things because
they're like they're trying, youknow, the solid is pretty easy.
They they've got they reachtheir hand down in the stocking
(09:59):
and they're feeling around andthey're like, is it a solid,
liquid, or gas?
And they're like, a solid, andthey're you know, gas, and and
then the the gas is air, so thenthey get to like open up the
stocking and open cut theballoon open and see what's
inside.
And every time it's it's air,they're like, it's air, and
(10:21):
they're so excited, and it is sofun.
It is so fun.
I have recorded it severaltimes, and I'm just like, I love
how excited they are over air.
Anyway, I have this is actuallya free a freebie.
I've taken that little fun umRandy Reindeer Explorer Solids,
liquids, and gases.
(10:42):
I've taken that littleexperiment out of the unit and
I'm giving that away for free.
So you can check it out.
And if if it's something thatyou think is really fun and you
want the whole unit, then youcan come back and grab that
Christmas um matter unit, andthen you'll have the whole
thing.
But Randy Reindeer is a funlittle thing.
You can find it at Trina Deborahteachingandlearning.com forward
(11:03):
slash Christmas Matter.
All one word, Christmas Matter.
Just put all the letterstogether.
Christmas Matter.
Um, I'll also drop that in theshow notes.
So you've got Santa investigatesliquids and solids with hot
chocolate chocolate, hot cocoa,and marbles.
You've got the gingerbread girlruns a fair test using hot
chocolate and three differenttemperatures.
(11:25):
We've got Mr.
Snowman tests with floats, ittests what floats and what
sinks.
So we got sinking and floating,which is a standard that we have
to cover in milk, milk, and alsowe've got and like in cocoa, and
they've got to think about likethey're they're looking at MMs
and marshmallows and you know,candy canes and things like
(11:47):
that, like what floats, whatsinks.
And that's a really littleinteresting little floating and
sinking activity.
We're also looking at thechanging states of matter when
we're looking at like the cocoamix mixing with milk, just
regular warm temperature milk,or when we change it to hot milk
or hot water, and what adifference that makes.
(12:08):
So that's a really interestingthing for kids to see.
We're looking at Emily the Elf,who leads in observing texture,
size, weight, volume, andtemperature.
So we're looking at thedifferent, you know, attributes,
and that is with nonfictiontexts, and and I've used Emily
the Elf as a little character totell the kids about it.
And everything is tied back toreal standards.
(12:31):
And yes, there is some prep,like I said, but here's the
here's the best part, and thatis that I've included a
pre-written letter for parents,and you just have to gather
those supplies.
It really, it really only takesa little bit of planning, and
then you have got days ofexcitement, and you can do it in
one day if you want, you can doit in several days because there
(12:53):
is like different components andit's kind of broken up.
It's broken up so that you cando science in a short amount of
time, but also you can use partsof it in your reading block
because it's nonfiction text,and then that's how you can kind
of work it into a very packedschedule.
That's just an idea.
Why this isn't just cutescience, this unit isn't fluff,
(13:16):
it's grounded in real inquiry,and the kids are predicting
outcomes, they're using sensesto make observations, they're
comparing physical properties,they're exploring how matter
changes, and it's all wrapped upin a seasonal storyline that
helps it feel fun, but actuallyteaches content that they will
(13:36):
remember, and they will rememberit because you made it feel
relevant and because you used aseason and their natural
curiosity, and that is how kidsremember things.
Um, and it's story drivenbecause I've reinforced the ELA
standards, um, comp, you know,the comprehension, the
(13:57):
vocabulary, and even writingabout science.
So where to start?
The fur well, you can just grabthat little freebie and just see
if what you think, if you likeit.
And you're you're thinking, ormaybe you're thinking, I'm so
stretched, so thin, I can't doany of this, I can't gather
supplies, I can't, yeah.
Then maybe you just start withthe free lesson and you just
(14:19):
kind of test it out.
And you need you do need threestockings per team, or maybe you
could even just do one as ademonstration.
I think it's so much more funwhen the kids are like gathered
around a team and they're likeinferring together.
And um, but you know, do whatyou gotta do.
If you have to make it moresimple, that's totally fine too.
(14:42):
Um, again, you can find that atTrina Deborah
Teachingandlearning.com forwardslash Christmas matter.
And if you want the full versionwith all of the elements, the
anchor charts, the writingprompts, the um the ELA part,
the X more experiments, thenit's in my TPT shop at Trina
Deborah Teaching and Learning.
And you can do this with lots ofdifferent science things.
(15:04):
If you are maybe working onforce in motion and you want to
add, you know, maybe thereyou're t Santa's testing his
sleigh, and we are looking atpushing and pulling, and it's
just really just incorporatingparts of the holiday into
science and making it really funfor kids.
All right, so you don't have toabandon real learning to make
(15:26):
December fun, and you don't haveto choose between standards and
smiles, and you can make sciencemagical without chaos, and your
kids will thank you for it, andyou can thank your January self
can thank you as well.
Because there's also parts ofthis where you can kind of like,
especially the reading andanswering question part where
(15:47):
you can kind of take a littlebit of moment for yourself to
gather like what you need, youknow, as far as like I'm gonna
answer an email really quickly,or I'm gonna, you know, do a
little bit of grading, or I'mgonna actually get work done at
work.
All right.
So grab the free sample from theChristmas Matter unit, explore
the full unit on TPT.
And if you want more ideas likethis, check out my um make sure
(16:12):
you're on my email list, TrinaDeborah Teachingandlearning.com.
Um, you can grab a littlefreebie to get on the email
list.
It's just a fun.
And actually, if you grab thereindeer rain or Randy's
reindeer, then then you're onthe list.
All right.
Um, it's definitely one of myfavorite things to hear when
kids are like, I didn't knowscience could be so much fun.
(16:36):
That is like, or feel like sucha game.
I've heard that before too.
That is that's when you knowthat it's working.
All right.
So that wraps up this week'sepisode.
Hopefully you are thinking, ohmy goodness, how can I add
Christmas to science?
Because it can be so fun.
Until next time, sweet dreamsand sleep tight.
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