Classroom Activities for Special Days

Classroom Activities for Special Days

April Fool’s Day

April Fool’s Day. The first thing I would do in a class would be to present this day and talk about what is done and why it is celebrated. After that, I would work with the students with activities like, for example, inventing a false story and making all their companions believe it is real, but have strange events. I would also work on the difference between making jokes and pranks. That is, this day is very good to make some unimportant jokes, but what you cannot do is a prank, because then unfortunate things will happen. You can’t tell your mother something’s happened to your brother because she’ll be frightened and take risks to get there, and when she arrives and sees nothing happened, she’ll be very angry. This is a very important difference to teach children.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve. The first thing I would do in a class would be to present this day and talk about what is done and why it is celebrated. After that, the activities would be related to the feeling of Christmas: making Christmas cards to congratulate others, singing carols, and especially teaching that on those dates the important thing is to be with family, enjoy it, and, above all, help the neediest. Another activity that I would do would be to decorate the class with typical things and to create a plasticine nativity scene so that they all understand well the history of this day and why it is called this way.

Worker’s Day

Worker’s Day. The first thing I would do in a class would be to present this day and talk about what is done and why it is celebrated. Once the presentation was made, the activity that I would do with the students would be to divide them by groups and give each group a profession. I would leave time for chance and also have costumes to get better into character. Once they are ready, they will go to the blackboard and perform a skit for their companions to guess what profession it is. Another activity would be to make them see what things their parents do at work, so they would realize everything they do to make money to provide for their child, and not lacking anything. So the students would realize the effort of their parents and would appreciate it more often.

Easter Day

Easter Day. The first thing I would do in a class would be to present this day and talk about what is done and why it is celebrated. After that, I would put on a video about typical Easter things, like eating Easter monkeys or chocolate eggs; for them, that’s the best. I’d also say it’s a religious holiday. The activity would be that they will have a crossword puzzle and will have to fill it with the keywords of this day, those words I have been saying. This is a way to see if they have been paying attention or not.

Hanukkah

Hanukkah. The first thing I would do in a class would be to present this day and talk about what is done and why it is celebrated. After the explanation, the activity would be: In groups, they will have to fill in a typical song of this day with the keywords and typical elements of this day. Then I would ask if you know anyone who celebrates this day. I would also work with them to respect the religion that each one chooses, as it is a free world. Another activity would be a kind of meditation because, on this day, it is very important to do exercises of consciousness to make peace with discomfort.

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day. The first thing I would do in a class would be to present this day and talk about what is done and why it is celebrated. Once everything is explained, I would carry out two craft workshops. The first one would be to make a letter addressed to the person or people they most want, thanking them for all that they do for them. The second activity would be a small origami workshop directed by the teacher in which they would have to make a rose, a heart, etc. and give it to someone from the class, and tell him the good things he has. So the fellowship and the good work environment in class would be much better.

St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day. The first thing I would do in a class would be to present this day and talk about what is done and why it is celebrated. Then I would put on a song about the most important things of St. Patrick’s Day and give them a mask of the Irish elf to color it with the most representative colors of this day. Then I would make them make a clover out of paper and cut it out to put it on their shirt. When they’re all ready, we’ll sing the song again and dance. These activities would be done because this day in Ireland is celebrated with lots of music, costumes, and food.

New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve. The first thing you would do in a class would be to present this day and talk about what is being done and why it is celebrated. As it is a feast to dismiss the year, the activity would be to write a letter, recalling all that they have done during the year, the things they have learned, if they have made new friends, etc., and especially I would ask that they introduce new challenges which they wish to undertake for the new year. After that, we would all dress up and act out 12 strokes, eating 12 sweets.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Day of Martin Luther King Jr. The first thing you would do in a class would be to present this day and talk about what is being done and why it is celebrated. I would show them a documentary about what this man did, and after that, we would do a debate to be able to see the importance of what was accomplished. After the debate, I would give them a multiple-choice test with the fundamental aspects of the documentary.

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day. The first thing I would do in a class would be to present this day and talk about what is done and why it is celebrated. The activity that would be done would be: students would have to make a photo frame previously designed in class and put a picture inside with their mother. Behind the frame, I would make them write something about their mother, as I’m sure everyone has something to thank. Then we would read together a poem dedicated to the mother by Pablo Neruda, and they’ll have to make another poem to give it too.