Those last few days before the holidays can be a tricky time. Students have checked out mentally, or it’s too late to start a new topic before the break. What can you do (other than showing a movie) that is creative, fun, and also history related? Click here to download the following options for free:
1- Have the students create a commemorative Christmas ornament. This is a great idea if you want to focus on one specific person or topic with just a few facts. For example, create a commemorative ornament about Benjamin Franklin.
2- Have students design a themed Christmas tree about a historical topic. If a Christmas tree were about World War I, what might it have on it? What type of ornaments would it have? What might replace the star or the garland? This is a good assignment to choose if you are covering a topic with lots of information available.
The great thing about these assignments is that they are not content-specific and can therefore be used with various topics and time periods. This is helpful because many teachers are covering different topics before the Christmas break.
Download these assignments with in-depth instructions and examples here.
As always, each students is different and you want to make sure you have an option for those who don’t celebrate Christmas. If students don’t feel comfortable doing one of these assignments, have them design a T-shirt instead with similar criteria.