The holidays are my favorite time to be a teacher. Nothing beats the excitement of an elementary school at Christmas time. Holiday spirit is in the air and you can’t help but smile.
I like celebrating the holidays with my students, but I also value rigorous instruction. I want to feel like I am still instructing, even though we may be enjoying a little bit of holiday fun.
Skip Counting Digital Game
One of my favorite math games to play around the holidays is called Skip Counting Around the Christmas tree. Skip counting & multiplication are one of the biggest math skills in third grade. When students master these tricky skip counting patterns, they are more successful at remembering their multiplication facts.
For this game, I use my ActivBoard to project the game board for my students. I break my class up into two relay teams. The teams race to see which team can correctly fill their tree with the correct pattern.
Each student may only make one change to the tree during his or her turn. This means if the student sees a mistake, they can erase and fix one mistake but then they must return to the line to wait for their next turn. This prevents one student from coming up and correcting the entire tree. I want all of my students’ brains to grow… not just one!
Skip Counting Craft
My students also create Christmas trees to help them memorize the skip counting patterns. We hang the trees in the hallway for a bright and cheery Christmas display.
You can download this game and craft by clicking here! What are your favorite ways to keep the rigorous lessons going while still having holiday fun?
Happy holidays!
