Keeping middle school students engaged before a holiday requires fun and educational holiday classroom activities. These holiday lesson ideas require minimal prep and deliver reading, writing, and critical thinking skills!
Alright, let’s talk. You’ve survived the Halloween sugar rush, navigated the pre-Thanksgiving “we-need-a-break” energy, and now the final boss approaches: the last few weeks before winter vacation. The students are practically vibrating with festive energy, and your lesson plans are getting side-eyed by kids who would rather be watching holiday movies.
Don’t you worry. I’m here to help you get through it without losing your mind or your commitment to actual learning.
You don’t have to throw your curriculum out the window to have a good time. These simple holiday classroom activities will keep your 6th-8th graders engaged while still secretly sharpening their ELA skills.
Think of it as hiding vegetables in their mashed potatoes.
But at the same time you need simple holiday activities for middle school ELA.
Here are 5 festive and fun holiday lesson ideas for your middle school ELA classroom. They require minimal prep and deliver maximum cheer.
Fun and Educational Holiday Lesson Ideas
1. Holiday Blackout Poetry
Grab some pages from an old, discarded copy of A Christmas Carol or any other winter-themed text. Give one page to each student along with a black marker.
Their mission? To find “anchor” words on the page that they can string together to create a new, holiday-themed poem. Once they’ve selected their words, they black out everything else on the page, leaving only their poetic creation.
This is one of those middle school ELA holiday lessons that works wonders for reluctant writers. It’s creative, visual, and takes the pressure off starting with a blank page.
2. Read a Classic Holiday Tale
Nothing beats curling up with a classic. Whether it’s a short story or a picture book, reading aloud is a great way to bring some festive cheer into the classroom.
I love to start by pulling up a holiday fireplace on the SmartBoard to set a cozy scene. And if your reading voice gives out, let an audio version do the heavy lifting. To find a free one, just Google the title and the word: podcast.
These are some of my students’ favorite holiday read alouds (with links when possible):
- The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
- Christmas Eve by Washington Irving
- Christmas Every Day by William Dean Howells (Every child’s dream. Or is it?)
- A Christmas Dream by Louisa May Alcott
- A Letter From Santa Claus by Mark Twain (An adorable letter written by Twain in the guise of Santa Claus to his daughter Susy, who was then two years old.)
- A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L Frank Baum (An entertaining tale about Santa and his enemies from the author of The Wizard of Oz.)
If you want ready-made lessons for some of these, I have audio links with mystery comprehension puzzles, and text-dependent writing units for The Gift of the Magi and A Christmas Carol. Click the titles to find them.
And click here for a paired passage lesson for Christmas Every Day.
3. Story vs. Movie Analysis
Start with one of the stories above, read it and then show one of the movie versions based on that book or short story. Most of them have been adapted and some have been adapted many times.
One of my favorite classic adaptations is The Muppet Christmas Carol (which is surprisingly faithful to the book).
Another is a Gift of the Magi clip on Sesame Street that has Bert and Ernie selling their most prized possessions– a paper clip collection and a rubber ducky– to buy each other presents.
Afterward, students can fill out a simple graphic organizer that compares and contrasts the plot, characters, and theme between the two versions. This encourages them to think critically about authorial and directorial choices. Which version did they prefer and why?
It feels like a movie day, but surprise! It’s a media literacy lesson.
4. Holiday Escape Room
If you’re feeling festive and ready to sneak in reading comprehension, critical thinking, and team-work skills, a holiday escape room is just the ticket.
Escape rooms are fantastic classroom tools for many reasons I’ve written about before. Students are busy solving a festive “escape” by reading and using the passage to complete puzzles and challenges.They’re so busy cracking the code that they don’t even notice they’re learning!
My kids and I love escape rooms. These days, my breakouts have to be no-prep, educational, and interesting! Here are two of my PRINT & GO favorites:
When my kids needed a reminder that there were more holidays than the ones they celebrated, I created Holidays Around the World, and it’s so much fun!
Who wouldn’t want to help a mysterious Gingerbread tasked with finding the snow globe that contains the essence of holidays around the world? Finding it will require solving several challenges based on an article called Discovering Winter Holidays Around the World. Kids will go back to the article to complete the challenges and puzzles.
And if you’re like me, you’re a sucker for mischievous elves who are causing mayhem in Christmas Escape Room: Catch Those Elves! Santa needs help stopping them. First, kids will read Catch Those Elves and The History of Elves in Literature. Then they will complete four challenges to catch the elves.
These no-prep activities are collaborative and engaging. And honestly, who doesn’t love a little friendly competition with a few candy canes on the line? Plus, it sneaks in critical thinking and teamwork skills while everyone’s too busy having a blast to notice they’re learning.
5. Design and Describe an Ugly Holiday Sweater
Middle schoolers will never pass up an actual invitation to be silly. Neither should we, but that’s another blogpost.
Tap into that with this fun holiday lesson idea. Have them design an ugly holiday sweater and then practice descriptive writing.
Show them a few pictures of the most wonderfully awful holiday sweaters you can find online. Then, have them invent their own and write a ridiculously detailed product description for it. Encourage them to use sensory details (Is it itchy? Does it jingle? Does it smell like gingerbread?).
This is a fun way to practice descriptive language and tone, making it a perfect addition to your holiday lesson plans .
There you have it. Five fun holiday lesson ideas that are simple to plan but still keep the learning train on the tracks.
You’ll get through this. And just think, in a few short weeks, you’ll be on your couch, enjoying a quiet cup of coffee.
Feel free to embrace the festive chaos with fun AND educational holiday lessons! You’ve got this!
