untitled a creative idea book for the elementary teacher written and illustrated by Karen Sevaly © Teachers Friend, a Scholastic Company December Monthly Idea Book Reproduction of these materials for.
a creative idea book for the elementary teacher written and illustrated by Karen Sevaly © Teacher's Friend, a Scholastic Company December Monthly Idea Book Reproduction of these materials for commercial resale or distribution to an entire school or school district is strictly prohibited Pages may be duplicated for one individual classroom set only Material may not be reproduced for other purposes without the prior written permission of the publisher Copyright © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company All rights reserved Printed in China ISBN-13 978-0-439-50380-8 ISBN-10 0-439-50380-9 © Teacher's Friend, a Scholastic Company December Monthly Idea Book This book is dedicated to teachers and children everywhere © Teacher's Friend, a Scholastic Company December Monthly Idea Book Table of Contents MAKING THE MOST OF IT! What Is in This Book How to Use This Book Monthly Organizers Bulletin Board Ideas Adding the Color Lamination Photocopies and Ditto Masters Lettering and Headings 10 10 11 12 CALENDAR - DECEMBER! 13 December December December December Calendar and Activities Calendar Header Calendar Symbols - Blank Calendar 14 17 18 20 DECEMBER ACTIVITIES! 21 Holiday Word Find My Letter to Santa! My Santa Book Holiday Trivia Snowman Math Snowman Story Page Santa Color Page Elf Wheel Dreaming of the Holidays Santa’s List My Shopping List! 22 23 24 25 28 30 31 32 34 35 36 FOR GOODNESS SAKE! 37 Award Ornaments Holiday Awards Pencil Toppers Holiday Mini Booklets December Bookmarks Corner Bookmarks Super Awards Student of the Month Holiday Carolers Holiday Finger Puppets Stocking Awards Toy Patterns © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 50 December Monthly Idea Book HOLIDAY CRAFTS! 51 Angel Ornament Santa Ornament More Holiday Crafts! Movable Reindeer Movable Santa Santa Puppet Radical Reindeer Mouse Topper Stained Glass Pictures Reindeer Antlers Christmas Tree Puppet Holiday Cards Gingerbread Man Story of the Gingerbread Man Movable Gingerbread Man 52 53 54 56 57 58 60 61 62 64 65 66 67 68 70 MERRY CHRISTMAS, MANY WAYS! 71 International Greetings International Christmas Tree Customs and Traditions Peace on Earth Dove of Peace Creative Writing Page 72 73 74 78 79 80 CHRISTMAS IN MEXICO! 81 Feliz Navidad Word Find The Christmas Story Christmas in Mexico Las Posadas Crafts Nativity International Children - Mexico Creative Writing Page 82 83 83 84 85 86 88 CHRISTMAS IN ITALY! 89 Christmas in Italy La Befana International Children Holiday Wreath La Befana Puppet Creative Writing Page © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company Italy 90 91 92 94 95 96 December Monthly Idea Book CHRISTMAS IN HOLLAND! 97 Sinterklaas Day Wooden Shoe International Children - Holland Windmill Ornament Poems from Sinterklaas - Dutch Treat Windmill Booklet Creative Writing Page 98 99 100 102 103 104 106 CHRISTMAS IN SWEDEN! 107 Santa Lucia Santa Lucia Headwreath International Children - Sweden Swedish Desserts Advent Calendar 108 109 110 112 113 HANUKKAH! 115 The Story of Hanukkah and The Dreydl Menorah Dreydl Pattern Hanukkah Booklet Hanukkah Word Find Happy Hanukkah Bulletin Board and Star of David International Children - Israel Creative Writing Page 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 124 KWANZAA! 125 The Kwanzaa Holiday Kinara Candleholder Principles of Kwanzaa Muhindi Booklet Cover International Children Symbols of Kwanzaa Creative Writing Page Africa 126 127 128 129 130 132 134 BULLETIN BOARDS AND MORE! 135 December Bulletin Boards Partridge and Pear Tree Patterns Antler Pattern Reindeer Pattern Santa Sign Man 136 139 140 141 142 ANSWER KEY 143 © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company December Monthly Idea Book g n i k a M t s o m e th ! t i of © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company December Monthly Idea Book WHAT IS IN THIS BOOK: You will find the following in each monthly idea book from Teacher’s Friend Publications: A calendar listing every day of the month with a classroom idea and mention of special holidays and events At least four student awards to be sent home to parents Three or more bookmarks that can be used in your school library or given to students by you as “Super Student Awards.” Numerous bulletin board ideas and patterns pertaining to the particular month and seasonal activity Easy-to-make craft ideas related to the monthly holidays and special days Dozens of activities emphasizing not only the obvious holidays, but also the often forgotten celebrations such as: Santa Lucia Day and Kwanzaa Creative writing pages, crossword puzzles, word finds, booklet covers, games, paper bag puppets, literature lists and much more! Scores of classroom management techniques and methods proven to motivate your students to improve behavior and classroom work HOW TO USE THIS BOOK: Every page of this book may be duplicated for individual classroom use Some pages are meant to be copied or used as duplicating masters Other pages may be transferred onto construction paper or used as they are If you have access to a print shop, you will find that many pages work well when printed on index paper This type of paper takes crayons and felt markers well and is sturdy enough to last (Bookmarks work particularly well on index paper.) Lastly, some pages are meant to be enlarged with an overhead or opaque projector When we say enlarge, we mean it! Think BIG! Three, four or even five feet is great! Try using colored butcher paper or poster board so you don’t spend all your time coloring © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company December Monthly Idea Book MONTHLY ORGANIZERS: Staying organized month after month, year after year can be a real challenge Try this simple idea: After using the loose pages from this book, file them in their own file folder labeled with the month's name This will also provide a place to save pages from other reproducible books along with craft ideas, recipes and articles you find in magazines and periodicals (Essential Pocket Folders by Teacher's Friend provide a perfect way to store your monthly ideas and reproducibles Each Monthly Essential Pocket Folder comes with a sixteen-page booklet of essential patterns and organizational ideas There are even special folders for Back to School, The Substitute Teacher and Parent-Teacher Conferences.) You might also like to dedicate a file box for every month of the school year A covered box will provide room to store large patterns, sample art projects, certificates and awards, monthly stickers, monthly idea books and much more BULLETIN BOARD IDEAS: Creating clever bulletin boards for your classroom need not take fantastic amounts of time and money With a little preparation and know-how, you can have different boards each month with very little effort Try some of these ideas: Background paper should be put up only once a year Choose colors that can go with many themes and holidays The black butcher paper background you used as a spooky display in October will have a special dramatic effect in April with student-made, paper-cut butterflies Butcher paper is not the only thing that can be used to cover the back of your board You might also try fabric from a colorful bed sheet or gingham material Just fold it up at the end of the year to reuse again Wallpaper is another great background cover Discontinued rolls can be purchased for a small amount at discount hardware stores Most can be wiped clean and will not fade like construction paper (Do not glue wallpaper directly to the board; just staple or pin in place.) Store your bulletin board pieces in large, flat envelopes made from two large sheets of tagboard or cardboard Simply staple three sides together and slip the pieces inside (Small pieces can be stored in zip-lock, plastic bags.) Label your large envelopes with the name of the bulletin board and the month and year you displayed it Take a picture of each bulletin board display Staple the picture to your storage envelope Next year when you want to create the same display, you will know right where everything goes Kids can even follow your directions when you give them a picture to look at © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company December Monthly Idea Book ADDING THE COLOR: Putting the color to finished items can be a real bother to teachers in a rush Try these ideas: On small areas, watercolor markers work great If your area is rather large, switch to crayons or even colored chalk or pastels (Don’t worry, lamination or a spray fixative will keep color on the work and off of you No laminator or fixative? That’s okay, a little hair spray will the trick.) The quickest method of coloring large items is to start with colored paper (Poster board, butcher paper or large construction paper work well.) Add a few dashes of a contrasting colored marker or crayon and you will have it made Try cutting character eyes, teeth, etc from white typing paper and gluing them in place These features will really stand out and make your bulletin boards come alive For special effects, add real buttons or lace Metallic paper looks great on stars and belt buckles, too LAMINATION: If you have access to a roll laminator, then you already know how fortunate you are They are priceless when it comes to saving time and money Try these ideas: You can laminate more than just classroom posters and construction paper Try various kinds of fabric, wallpaper and gift wrapping You’ll be surprised at the great combinations you come up with Laminated classified ads can be used to cut headings for current events bulletin boards Colorful gingham fabric makes terrific cut letters or bulletin board trim You might even try burlap! Bright foil gift wrapping paper will add a festive feeling to any bulletin board (You can even make professional looking bookmarks with laminated fabric or burlap They are great holiday gift ideas for Mom or Dad!) Felt markers and laminated paper or fabric can work as a team Just make sure the markers you use are permanent and not water-based Oops, make a mistake! That’s okay Put a little ditto fluid on a tissue, rub across the mark and presto, it’s gone! Also, dry transfer markers work great on lamination and can easily be wiped off © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 10 December Monthly Idea Book ... 10 10 11 12 CALENDAR - DECEMBER! 13 December December December December Calendar and Activities Calendar Header Calendar... week of December beginning on the 26th.) © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 16 December Monthly Idea Book December December Calendar Header © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 17 December. .. Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 12 December Monthly Idea Book r a d n e l a C December! © Teacher’s Friend, a Scholastic Company 13 December Monthly Idea Book DECEMBER 1ST ROSA PARKS, a black seamstress,