Happy Halloween! For many educators, today kicks off that spooky (and exciting) part of the year where the holiday season makes time seem to hasten and attention spans… well… shorten. But fear not — we’ve compiled a list of tricks and treats to get you through the end of the semester in one piece! Check out these strategies to help you keep your students focused during the holiday season.
Holiday Season Tips to Keep Your Students Focused
Set clear goals and expectations for what needs to be accomplished before the break.
As with any good goal, the process you develop to keep your students focused throughout the holiday months should start with setting clear parameters around what needs done prior to winter break. Take a moment to identify any goals or benchmarks you have for your classroom, and then brainstorm some ways to meet them with your students. Getting your students involved with this process gives them a sense of responsibility during the process and will help them prioritize and set goals of their own, in the future!
Maintain regular routines and schedules as much as possible.
Scheduling during the later “‘ber” months can get difficult, what with all the holiday breaks and various travel plans. After you’ve set your goals and decided how to help your students meet them, it’s important to stick to that plan as much as possible and to maintain a sense of normalcy through the continuation of a set classroom routine. The goal is to find ways to engage students without distracting from or derailing their studies entirely.
Communicate with parents about maintaining routines and expectations at home.
Students spend the vast majority of their time in the classroom and at home with their families. With the holiday season just beginning, now is the time to send home a letter or handout asking families to help keep students on-task and regulated throughout the next few months. We all know that it takes a village… Now’s the time to band together and model good goal-focused habits!
Incorporate holiday-themed activities and content into lessons to engage students.
It’s understandable why our seasonal activity blogs are always a hit within the TCEA community… Students and educators, alike, love a seasonal activity! Engage students with holiday-themed activities to keep them learning while also providing them space to get excited in anticipation of the coming celebrations. You might choose to use seasonal themes for writing prompts, math word problems, or even science experiments. But remember to keep things inclusive — with so many holidays and cultures to represent, it’s often safest to stick with winter imagery and examples, as opposed to honing in on a specific holiday.
This is also a great chance to introduce a variety of cultural holidays through inclusive, hands-on activities! Just make sure to check with your school or district leadership, first.
NOTE: We’re collecting and developing exciting Thanksgiving and winter holiday activities, and will share them as blog posts in the near future! In the meantime, check out these past examples to get your inspiration flowing.
- Fall into Learning: Autumn Activities and Websites for Students
- Three Fall-Themed Classroom Activities
- Deck the Halls with Holiday-Themed STEM Activities
Re-energize students with short movement breaks.
One of the best ways to combat student jitters is to actually let them move! Incorporate a fun game of “Simon Says” and lead students through some basic stretches while turning their listening ears back on. Or, turn on some energizing music and have a 30-second dance party — it works wonders (even for me when I get overwhelmed at my desk)! View more movement break ideas here.
Use choice boards to give students more autonomy.
Students of all ages benefit from a little autonomy and trust within their own education. An easy way to give them a choice while still keeping them on-par with your classroom benchmarks is to utilize choice boards in your lesson plan. Plus, these choice boards provide an opportunity for differentiated learning and for students to help each other stay on task.
How do you keep your students on task during the holiday season?
Let us know what tactics or techniques you use in your own classroom in the comments below!
*List created with the help of Perplexity.AI. Edits provided by Macee Hall, Communications Specialist at TCEA.
