Type that Christmas Tune

One of the fun activities that grades 4-8 do in Computers just before Christmas break is called Type that Christmas Tune. It's a great way to practice keyboarding skills and have some fun at the same time. We listen to instrumental versions of various Christmas songs, and the students have to type the name of the song. I use some of the more recognizable songs for the lower grades and use some of the more difficult songs with the older students. After I play 10 different tracks, we go through each one again and name the tune. The student(s) with the most titles correct wins a little prize. I usually get candy cane pens from the local Walgreens for a reasonable price. This activity could really be done with any kind of music at any time of the year.

Polar Express Christmas Around the World

At this time of the year, I have the first graders listen to The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg read by Lou Diamond Phillips at Storyline Online at the beginning of class. Then they each create a passport of their own using ReadWriteThink's stapleless book maker. You can include the names of the countries you are going to be learning about during your trip around the world in your passport. Before the students leave, I give each of them a ticket to board the Polar Express and tell them that they'll need to bring the ticket to the next class when we will be traveling around the world to learn about Christmas and other holiday traditions in other countries.

When the students arrive for our next class, I have a Christmas around the World webquest for them to complete. As they read about each country's traditions, they write down one thing they learned in their passport. I got a free CUSTOMS stamp from VistaPrint to stamp their passport page when it is filled out. This makes it seem even more official.

If you wanted to make this lesson more exciting, you could find schools in other countries to Skype with. The students at these schools could tell your class first hand what some of their holiday traditions are. I'm making this a goal of my own for next year!

Making Patterns in KidPix

This lesson can be done at any time of the year. We happen to do this in December, so I added a Christmas theme to it. First I sit the students down, and we talk about what a pattern is. I create a pattern by having the students alternate standing up, sitting down, standing up, sitting down, and standing up. Then we talk about what the next student would have to do to continue the pattern. I pick a student to show us the answer by joining the pattern. We do several more examples like this, making some of them harder by creating a pattern of 3 repeating. After the students have done several examples, they head to their seats where they finish some Christmas patterns in Kidpix using the Rubber Stamp (see example below). After they complete the Christmas patterns, I challenge them to create a pattern of their own. When they are finished, we add their name to the page and print it off for them to take home.