December is a lot. Real talk. The kids are on level 10. We have assessments, report cards, dress-up days, and many other activities happening. Plus, all the holiday things outside of school. So, first things first, deep breath. Do what you can/what you want and know that whatever you do is enough! And HAVE FUN these few weeks! Hopefully, these lesson plans for kindergarten, reindeer activities, and Polar Express activities and ideas will reduce your stress!
This year is a little different for me because I get to be a stay-at-home dad, so I can spend more time with our daughter and prepare for our second daughter, due on December 15!! If you’re keeping track, that’s 8 days from when I’m writing this…So, each week for Schedulin’ Sunday, I will post ideas and resources that I use in my classroom for that week in the school year. Each post will also contain links to previous years’ lesson plans!
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Week 17
Click the links to download our FREE Kindergarten October lesson plans for week 17!
2023-2024
2024-2025
You can get our editable lesson plan templates by clicking this image:
Lesson Plans For Kindergartn: Phonics And CVC Words
We are continuing to work on CVC words in phonics. We have been using our Word Family Bootcamp curriculum, but this week we take a break from that and do some fun Christmas-themed phonics lessons! Still learning, but make it merry!
For the lights, we used this resource:
This week, we’re also using our themed digital word-building tool and spelling CVC words with gingerbread letters and Christmas tree letters!
Lesson Plans For Kindergarten: Reindeer Activities
This week, we spent some time learning about reindeer! And yes, if you are Santa’s reindee,r you can fly! But only Santa’s reindeer! Each year it’s always fun to see how much the kids get into learning about reindeer! They are fascinated by them so let’s embrace that to help keep us focused this week.
We start with our schema about reindeer, and we read books and watch videos. As we learn, we fill in our graphic organizer! We also label reindeer and do a fun reindeer-directed drawing!
Kindergarten Lesson Plans: Polar Express Day Activities
And of course, the classic end to the December festivities: Polar Express Day! Hot chocolate, pajamas, blankets and a movie! And for our class, pancakes!
We read the book (it’s better than the movie in my opinion. Feel free to discuss.) and do some comprehension activities. Then we do a fun STEM challenge where the kids work in pairs to stack jingle bells using Play-Doh! And of course, there’s a hat!
We even do some Polar Express science with hot chocolate and our five senses!
And finally, there is some Polar Express activities for math! We measure ourselves with marshmallows! True story! It’s fun and silly and the only real use for marshmallows (NOT A FAN!). And we graph whether we like marshmallows in our hot chocolate!
We open our gifts from Mr. Greg, which is a personalized blanket. We curl up with our blanket and hot chocolate for the movie and enjoy pancakes cooked by Mr. Greg!
Kindergarten Lesson Plans For December
Here are a few other ideas for things to do this week to keep the kids busy so you can finish assessments and report cards and not go completely crazy!
First up, this Christmas Lights Phonics Project! Seriously. It keeps the kids busy for so long. And it’s cute. And if admin ask, it’s aligned to standards and differentiated to meet the needs of all kids. True story.
There’s also this cute elf project!
You can also grab some peppermints and do this Christmas STEM challenge: how tall is your peppermint tower?
WEEK 17 RESOURCES
Here are some more resources that can make your planning and prep easier!
December Lesson Plans And Activities: FREE RESOURCES
Click the images to get the freebies!
