December Is a very stressful month for me at work. Not because I have to buy gifts or because the kids get excited. It is stressful for me because I feel like there is so much to teach and not enough time. Now some of you may not be follwing me so let me explain further. (I currently teach ELL and only see my students for 1 hour a day.) There is Hanunkka, Christmas & even Kwanza. I want to talk about Frosty, The Grinch that Stole Christmas, The Gingerbread Man, Fancy Nancys Splendiforus Christmas, Splat the Cats Christmas & The Polar Express. Not to mention the countless of other holiday books that I never get to. In addition to this my students come from various cultures and don't celebrate these holidays. However, I feel it is my duty to expose them to these celebrations and traditions that are a part of American culture/ tradition. All of this in addition to the regular curriculum.
Usually I pick 3 books and do a week on each one. However, yesterday when I pulled out my holiday books I had a VERY difficult time decideing on which ones to choose. What I finaly decided was that I would spend the first week in December talking about the different hoidays. The second week talking about Hanukkah & lighting a bulletin board menorah. Finaly the remainder of December we will discuss Christmas and it traditions. I will read two holiday books a week, even if they don't match the hoidays. I will finish it all upwith the Grinch which is not a Christmas story but a story about being accepting, thankful and loving no matter what you have.
What do you all think? How do you decide what to teach in December?
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What a GREAT way to get your students involved. Have them vote which they would like!!! You can even integrate graphing skills into this. They would love to be apart of the choice of curriculum! Good luck.
ReplyDelete-Rachelle
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