Celebrate the Holidays with your Students

Do you celebrate the holidays with your classes?  As a high school English teacher, I've never paid much attention to the calendar holidays in my instruction, following my own pacing guide instead.  But, after 15 years, I'm starting to rethink this.  With the implementation of Common Core, I'm finding ways to meet standards and still play on the interests of my teenagers, relying a little less heavily on my own curriculum plan and a little more on timely, teachable moments.

One way that I'm planning to do this in February is with a new resource I uploaded to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Love Song Task Cards.  This resource is a collection of 40 task cards, each with an excerpt of a popular love song.


Since my freshman are just getting ready to start reading Romeo and Juliet, we're going to spend the Friday before Valentine's Day brushing up on our knowledge of figurative language.  Using the cards with popular song lyrics, the students will identify the specific type of figurative language used and explain its meaning.


I'm planning to hand each student a card, allow them a minute or so to read, identify, and explain, and then pass the card on to the next student.

When we start reading Romeo and Juliet the following Monday, the students will be adept at recognizing the figurative language that is so prominent in the play, and they will already be in the romantic spirit from the fun Valentine's Day activity.

What are some ways that you use holiday fun to teach your students?

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