Hanukkah and Holidays Around the World- What I'm Teaching This Week..

Hey there! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I had the whole week off and it was nice to relax! We flew back home to Chicago where we were greeting to a 17 in. snow storm! While it looked pretty it was NOT FUN to drive in!

                                                      Along the side of the road

                                 car stuck at the bottom of the driveway...ugh

My boys sure did LOVE seeing all that snow and even though we did not have winter clothing they played in it anyway!

So, now that break is over it is back into school mode. Just 3 weeks left til winter break and so much to do!

This week we will be learning all about the holiday of Hanukkah. I have TONS of books to read. The first one we will be using is called Hanukkah Bear( or also known as the Hanukkah Guest).

To start off, we talk about some vocabulary words and objects that are used during that holiday. I found a great book companion back a few year back made by Fluttering Through First Grade!

It has so many great activities from retelling the story, text to self connections and literacy centers. Click on the cover to check it out.

Another story we will be reading this week is

                      I created a book compainion set to go along with this story

We will be using this story to work on identifying story elements, vocabulary and compare/ contrast. 

We will also be using activities from this Hanukkah set to help experience this holiday in a fun and interactive way! All these activities will be in my literacy centers for the week.

We are also beginning our trip around the globe to see how other places celebrate holidays in December. I have been using this pack from Journey Of A Substitute Teacher and really like it!

It comes with posters of each of the holidays, flags of the countries, passports, fact sheets and more. This unit will take us all the way til the end of December.

If we have time I also love to teach my students how to play the driedel game and bring in some latkes for them to taste. I also ask my students to bring in any objects from home they would like to share about the holidays they celebrate during the winter months.

Make sure to stop by next week when we will be diving into one of my favorite weeks to teach..Gingerbread!!


I would love to hear how you teach about the winter holidays. Do you just focus on one or teach about all holidays celebrated in winter? Comment below for a chance to win a holiday item from my store of your choice! Click the link below to see what you could win and tell me which one you hope to win!! Winner will be picked on Wednesday, December 2nd. Good Luck!

                                             December Activities