Teachers have so many goals each year. While many focus on academics, others focus on social skills. Honestly, this is essential as students build relationships with classmates and become positive community members. Therefore, I strive to make my classroom a place where students feel safe, appreciated, and respected for who they are. This is why my classroom motto is simple. It is “Be Kind. Work Hard.” While this is a focus all year long, there are some special ways to focus on Christmas Kindness Around the World. Students will love learning how others spread kindness as they create ways to do so within their school and community.
Celebrating Cultural Diversity
It is so important students learn to embrace different heritages and beliefs. Luckily, spreading Christmas kindness around the world is the perfect way to show students different cultures and traditions. By seeing how others celebrate, they learn the importance of being open-minded, inclusive, and embracing people who may be different from them.
Christmas Around the World
When Christmas craziness starts in December, it can seem impossible to plan everything. Thankfully, this resource is a no-prep way to study Christmas around the world!
Specifically, there are 13 fun literacy activities and a step-by-step art project for each of the 9 countries represented! This includes Christmas in Mexico, Australia, Germany, Canada, England, Italy, and Sweden. Students will also learn about Diwali in India and the Chinese New Year in China.
Cultural Components of Christmas Kindness Around the World
To learn about how other cultures celebrate Christmas, students will learn about symbols, dress, and flags. This will happen through sentence reading and writing, comprehension activities, comparing and contrasting, and writing prompts. There are even Venn diagrams to help support students as they become writers.
Furthermore, there are single-page flip books for all 9 countries for students to keep as an extra keepsake of their learning. Essentially, this allows students to explore the selected country, read and write about it, and fill in missing words as they learn information. Honestly, this is a great way to include comprehension skills!
Since every classroom is different, there is tons of built-in differentiation. For instance, teachers can choose from the different activities to make a booklet for each student. Additionally, the literary comprehension printables include two different levels of reading. Thankfully, this means that booklets look the same but contain different levels to meet the needs of students.
You can even see a sample of the Christmas Around the World Flipbook for FREE!
Art Projects
Students love hands-on projects! Teachers love how they are a great way to reinforce learning. Thankfully, the art projects within the Christmas Around the World resource include a project to represent the art in that culture.
There are step-by-step pictures and templates to support teachers and students. After students finish, the projects make stunning bulletin board displays. As other students travel down the hallway, they will learn all about Christmas kindness around the world.
To see how fun and educational the art projects are, you can even have FREEChristmas in Mexico Printables sent to your inbox – just click the purple button below!
Students will love these crafts so much! Check out the Seasonal Art and Craft Projects to keep this excitement alive.
Random Acts of Kindness
As students focus on Christmas kindness around the world, they can also bring this learning to their school. If possible, teachers can also involve family members.
Each student will take home a one-page template to fill out with a family member. Specifically, they will write about the kindness they’ve seen or a personal story. Then, students will return their finished papers to share with the class. After students share, they can hang up the posters to display in the hallway. While this will eventually make a class book, hanging them up is a great way to promote kindness!
This is a powerful activity that reminds students how vital being kind is! As you do this project over the years, you will notice students returning to read through the new acts of kindness. Or, younger siblings who remember what their sibling selected.
To begin implementing this activity, you can have a FREE Class Kindness Book sent to your inbox – just click the purple button below!
Christmas Kindness
Spreading Christmas kindness around the world begins with one small act. Luckily, the Kindness Countdown has everything needed to ensure students practice this vital skill. Students will fill Santa’s long beard with acts of kindness. This includes “Smile at as many people as you can today” or “Give a compliment.” Then, students will trim each task off Santa’s beard as they complete it. Students will love the excitement and positive feelings after spreading kindness.
Kindness Poster
Sometimes, students need reminders to be kind. While they do not mean to forget, life can get really busy. So, it can be helpful to hang up the FREE Kindness Poster. Students will love being surrounded by messages of kindness.
Kindness Notes
By December, students are usually very good at complimenting each other. Therefore, now is the perfect time to add in Stand Up Characters to help spread Christmas kindness around the world.
Students will secretly make a little note for their class partner. Then, they will fold the message and tape it inside one of the characters. After handing out their characters, students will return to their desks. They will love reading their kindness note!
Multicultural Christmas Tree Art Project
After learning about Christmas kindness around the world, students can celebrate their respect with a 3-D Christmas tree. Specifically, they will decorate a tree with the flags of different countries. The Christmas Around the World resource has all the templates needed. Teachers just need to print, and then students can decorate the tree with flag decorations and star templates.
Santa Letters
Students of all ages love to write to Santa. Luckily, the Santa Letter Templates include multiple options to fit the needs of each student. It even contains winter-themed writing for students who do not celebrate Christmas.
December is such an exciting month in the classroom. Instead of students only focusing on presents, this is the perfect time to teach Christmas kindness around the world. Students will love exploring cultural celebrations while performing acts of kindness.
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