Christmas

Over the River and Through the Woods . ..
to grandmother's house we go! Where does your grandmother live? From what country is your family's heritage? What were some of the traditions of your family? Today's wiki is taking a look at some great sites to help your students understand Christmas traditions in America and in other countries.

Christmas Around the World Scavenger Hunts I know I mentioned this one yesterday but I'm going to mention it again today in case you missed it. It's a great site. I used it with 4th graders. We divided the class into 4 groups, each one taking a scavenger hunt. Each team had about 20 minutes to find the answers to the questions. At the end the teams shared their information with the rest of the class.

Why Christmas? Click on the icons on the top of the page to see Christmas customs, Christmas cultures, Christmas story, and Christmas fun! Once you click on an icon, there's a whole list of activities or sites listed on the left hand side. This site is full of great info! I'm really liking the Christmas karaoke on the fun page! Oh and check out the jokes too! "What kind of motorbike does Santa ride?" A Holly Davidson!

Google Earth
I always say Google Earth is the best thing since sliced bread! It is the best geography book ever made! Ok, it's not a textbook in the traditional sense! With all the different layers that are now available, it's a wealth of information. Did you know there's a traffic layer? Trying to teach midwesterners about the megalopolis on the east coast isn't always easy, especially if they live a great distance from a city. But turn on the traffic layer and look at Philly, NYC, Boston, etc. The traffic is identified by green, yellow and red lights and the mph is given for the traffic flow at the time! AMAZING! Did you know there's a weather layer? Students can see the cloud cover and check the temperatures all around the globe! You might check your version of GE. I think you'll want version 5, although our students have version 4 (I think!). I'm adding Google Earth to this page of the wiki because it seems logical that if you're going to look at Christmas traditions around the world, that you'll want to point out where those countries are! You or your students can use the push pins and actually pinpoint the countries and type the traditions in the description box.

Laura Candler's File Cabinet
This is a site that you'll use time and time again - not just at Christmas time. I'm mentioning it here because of the many resources that Laura has for Christmas. Here's a link to her Holiday ideas.

Enchanted Learning There are some very cute holiday projects to make on Enchanted Learning. Promethean Planet There are lots of flipcharts centered around Christmas. There are flipcharts on __The Polar Express__, holiday math flipcharts, and more.