Lessons Ideas for the Season

The holidays provide many opportunities to create multidisciplinary lessons that stimulate creativity and appreciation for the true meaning of the season. One of my favorite movies is Polar Express because of the deeper meaning behind the story. Reading through the book could be a holiday treat for your students, and here are a few suggestions for lesson plan ideas that promote creativity, analysis, as well as technology integration.

One of the key underlying themes of the book relates to the significance of the the boy's bell. Asking your students to describe a similar object of little monitary value but high sentimental value to themselves, their family members, or someone that they know in the community could be a powerful langauge arts writing activity. The student products for this lesson could be a simple write-up, a Voicethread (with actual pictures), or if you have access to video cameras, the students could create a 30 second video that explains the significance of the object.

For assessment purposes, don't forget about RubiStar where you can create a rubric to guide students to incorporate specific creative elements within their final products. Also, you could post exemplar products on a class Website, wiki or blog to give your students an authentic audience to share their thoughts with.

View the following links for more companion lesson plan ideas for the Polar Express:
Houghton Mifflin Books
Education World
http://dixiesd.marin.k12.ca.us/dixieschool/classrooms/gaskin/polar

Please use the comment section below to share additional teaching ideas or books that create excitement about learning language arts, math, and science in elementary classrooms during the holiday season.
~Melanie Bacon, Member of the TRC Leadership Team

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