5 Ways to Use Holiday Themed Graphic Organizers in the Classroom

We all know that keeping students engaged around the holidays can be a challenge. It's a time of high-energy and anticipation, but it can also be a time of great learning... if we handle it right. Adding a bit of holiday spirit to your regular lesson plans can do wonders for student attention and learning too. One fun and effective way to do this is by using holiday-themed graphic organizers. Here are five ways you can incorporate them into your classroom teaching activities:

Use Graphic Organizers for Practice Story Retelling

1. Story Retelling: You can use holiday-themed graphic organizers to help your students retell a holiday story they have read. This could be a Christmas book, a Halloween tale or a Thanksgiving story. Use graphics that align with the holiday to help students engage with the story and organize the different parts (beginning, middle, end, characters, setting, etc.).

Build Vocabulary with Graphic Organizers

2. Vocabulary Building: Holidays are rich with tradition and specific vocabulary. Create a graphic organizer with holiday-themed images and spaces for students to add words related to the holiday. This could be listing words related to the holiday, their synonyms, antonyms, or using them in sentences.

Great Way to Practice Compare & Contrast

3. Compare and Contrast: Holidays offer a unique opportunity to explore different cultures and traditions. Did someone say Holiday Around the World?? Use holiday-themed graphic organizers to compare and contrast different holiday traditions. This could involve comparing Halloween and Day of the Dead, Thanksgiving traditions, or Christmas and Hanukkah.

Strategy for Teaching Sequencing - Knowledge Map

4. Sequencing Events: Holidays often involve a series of events or traditions that take place. Use a holiday-themed graphic organizer to help your students sequence these events. This could include sequencing the activities in making a Thanksgiving dinner, or the events leading up to Christmas morning.

Cause & Effect Graphic Organizer

5. Cause and Effect: Holidays are full of events that have a cause and effect. New Year resolutions, for example, can be a great opportunity to use a graphic organizer. Students can explore why people make resolutions and what effect they can have.

Here are some Graphic Organizer Resources you will like:

Halloween Graphic Organizers

Thanksgiving Graphic Organizers

50 Graphic Organizers / Visual Notetaking

More Graphic Organizers

Keep students engaged over the holidays with creative mind maps!

Holiday-themed graphic organizers are a fun and engaging way to incorporate the festive spirit into your teaching while still reinforcing important academic skills. Not only will students be more excited to participate, but they'll also have a higher likelihood of retaining the information - which will keep us from feeling like ripping our hair out! So, let's take the festive energy and channel it into creative learning!

Happy Teaching! - Jen