Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's

episode, we're sharing five tried and true tips for teaching

in December, and we've got a teacher approved tip for finding

some more December teaching inspiration.

We start our episodes with a morning message, just

like we used to do at morning meeting in our classrooms. This

week's morning message is describe teaching in December in

five words. Emily, what five words would you give to

December?

Mine would be that is a January problem.

Oh, yes, those are almost famous last words as well as

December descriptors.

Yes, do what I say, not what I do. What are your five

words Heidi?

Well, I know this is an old joke, but every time I

think, scrape kids off ceiling. Repeat.

That's so true. We have some fun responses from our

teacher approved community. Celeste says Advil is my best

friend. Andrea says, Serenity now, Serenity now, now!

And I appreciate she added a gif to that too.

Yes Michelle said, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Oh,

100% she doesn't even need five words to say what she's got to

say. Sara said, cover mouth and wash hands.

Yeah, that probably works for the whole winter.

Yes. Diane said, Help, help, help, help. Abby said, the

classroom inside is frightful.

I want to hear the rest of that song now Emily.

Yeah I'm not going to be singing it for you. And let's

finish with this gem from Amy, who said it's like living in

hell. Oh, a merry little hell I hope. We'd love to hear your

five word descriptions of December. Come share with us in

the teacher approved Facebook group.

If you didn't know before, you could probably guess

from those five word descriptions that teaching in

December can be a bit of a challenge.

I loved being a teacher in December, there were so many

fun things to do, but I frequently drained every ounce

of energy from my body.

Yeah, December teaching is a real mixed bag of highs and

lows. In last week's episode, we shared some ideas for managing

the fun highs, so it only seems fair that this week we tackled

the low lows.

There's gonna be some highs in here too. Just hold on.

So check out Episode 170 though for ways to add fun to your

class without everything falling apart. And keep listening to

this episode for our top five tips for teaching in December.

Let's kick things off with our first tip, which is to

prepare for disruptions, and there will be disruptions. This

may be one of the hardest parts of teaching during the holiday

season. There's the holiday fundraiser kickoff assemblies,

the high school band performance, the school sing

along. And you know this is barely scratching the surface of

all the interruptions that can clutter your December calendar,

or can just pop up a little warning.

And that's not to mention the spur of the moment

interruptions of a big snowstorm or inside recess. We like to

call these stretches of time with lots of interruptions Swiss

cheese weeks, but December can be a whole Swiss cheese month.

So how do you handle all of these disruptions? And the

key is just to expect them and be prepared.

Okay, cool. So be prepared. Got it? Everyone

moving on. Just kidding. The big question is, how can you be

prepared for disruptions, especially ones that aren't even

known in advance?

You start with your schedule. Are there days that you know in

advance will have disruptions? Plan a modified schedule for

those days. Maybe on days with assemblies you're going to

rework your schedule and skip science, or maybe you won't do

centers on those days. Knowing in advance what your schedule

will be will keep you from scrambling in the moment.

Now, what about the disruptions you can't plan for?

One way to be prepared for whatever disruptions arise is to

make a time filler activity bank. We have included a page

for this in the December teacher survival kit.

And this is a new addition to the survival kit.

The nice thing about a digital product is that we can update it

easily, but unfortunately, your copy of the file if you already

have it doesn't automatically update. So if you have a version

of the survival kit that doesn't have the time filler activity

bank, make sure you go download again, and then you can just

paste in that tab into your current file.

Easy peasy. But if you don't have the survival kit, any

piece of paper will work. Or, you know, you could get a Google

Doc. You just need a list of quick activities that can fill

any random pockets of downtime.

You want to load your time filler activity bank with a

variety of ready to go activities that you can do on

short notice. That list of festive books to choose from

links to short holiday learning videos or a Quick Print and Go

activity like the ones on our Christmas festive breaks. Those

are all great. Ideally, you'll have the book set aside and

ready to go, the links already bookmarked and the copies

already made. So these activities you can just grab and

go in a moment's notice.

So let's say your class gets back from an assembly early

and you have only 10 minutes before library. You don't want

to dive into your lesson for such a short amount of time. So

what can you do instead?

Well all you have to do is check your time filler

activity bank for an activity that will take about 10 minutes

and you're ready to go. Because you did the prep for those

activities already, you can have the class up and running with

your time filler activity in just a few minutes.

Or, let's say it's school pajama day, you still needed to

fit in a math lesson, but after giving it your best shot for 20

minutes, you decide it's a losing battle to get the kids to

focus. What do you do with the remaining 20 minutes of math

time?

Normally, I would say, get out old math games and play them for

a while, but when kids are that hyper, the loose structure of

playing games is just tossing gasoline onto the fire. Grab

your time filler activity, bank and put together 20 minutes of

engaging low effort, maybe low key activities to fill the time.

Right. You could show a short video, read a picture

book, learn an action song, do a movement brain break, play a

whole class learning game like vocabulary Pictionary or

anything else that will keep the kids engaged with minimal effort

on your part.

Keep in mind that your emergency time fillers don't

have to be holiday themed just because it's December. If that

matters to you, go for it, but you can show a 10 minute video

on shapes or how shoes are made, and it will still meet the goal

of keeping the high energy levels in check.

Also, because you have no way of knowing if you're going

to need two or maybe 20 time filler activities this December,

you may want to avoid adding any activities to the list that you

really want to get to.

If there's a book you want to read to your class, or if

there's a certain art project you want them to do, make sure

to schedule those things in. Or you could use them as festive

breaks so you can make sure that you get to them this month.

Leave your time for their activities, for things that

don't really matter.

And when all else fails, take a deep breath and be

flexible. If your schedule gets completely thrown off one day,

it's just one day you can get back on course soon.

Back in episode 38 we shared our three keys for

thriving as a teacher in December, and our first key is

to have the right mindset. If you go into December with some

plans in place for disruptions, but also an attitude of

flexibility, this month is just going to go so much more

smoothly.

Our second tip for teaching in December is to keep

your procedures and routines tight, or as tight as you can

anyway.

When things get wild, it can be tempting just to let

things slide right. You are tired. I have been there. I know

how tired you are. The kids are extra amped up. You can just get

everything back on track in January, right?

Do your best to resist this urge. It takes more work to

push through to the end of a rough day than it does to get

the day back on track. So when things are getting out of hand,

call a stop to what's happening and gather everyone for a

redirect.

You will definitely want to revisit your procedures and

routines in January, but that doesn't mean you want to let

them go completely in December. You're just making your job that

much harder when you let the foundation of your management

fall apart.

Smooth procedures and routines are what keep your

class running smoothly. It's a great idea in December to take

some time each day to address any procedures that are going

off course. Maybe every day during morning meeting, you'll

revisit one of them and make a plan for improving it.

Or you may find that simply reminding the students of

your expectations is enough to keep things on track. Before you

head to lunch, you can revisit your lunchroom expectations. Or

before the kids head to specialty classes, you can

remind them of the expectations, and then, of course, you want to

follow up after to see how well they did.

Yes, keeping the expectations alive will help

things a lot in December.

In our December teacher survival kit, there are some

pages for you to make mini posters of your behavior

expectations. So if you don't already have these in your

classroom, you can just print off the stack and revisit them

all day long if you have to. With so much novelty in the air,

we really have to put in our strongest efforts to uphold our

structure.

So think about that student engagement scale that we

talk about. Picture an old balance scale with structure on

one side and novelty on the other. When your scale leans too

far to one side or the other, it is a challenge to get your

students engaged. When those sides are fairly even, your

students will be engaged.

Unsurprisingly, in December, the novelty side of

your scale will likely be piled high most days. To keep your

students engaged, you need to lean into the structure side of

your scale. Try to stick to your regular schedule as much as you

can. Don't let your procedures go give students predictability

to calm their excited little nerves.

But that's not the only thing we can do to help students

Well of course. If you've listened to our podcast before,

stay engaged and on task. That's where tip three comes in, which

is to embrace a classroom reward system. So can you tell us about

that Heidi?

it's no secret that we're not typically big fans of reward

systems. The main reason is because reward systems don't

actually work long term, and they are a ton of work to

manage, so it's not something we recommend for regular use.

But December is not a regular time. You got to do what

you got to do to keep your class on track in December, and a

reward system is likely to be very helpful with that.

Reward systems work well in December because you're only

using them for that short term period before winter break. You

can start your reward system as soon as Thanksgiving break ends,

or you can save it for when your class really starts to need one

in December, it's totally up to you.

And there are multiple ways to approach a reward system

for December. You can do a whole class reward system, like our

teacher favorite Reindeer Games reward system. The class earns

reindeer with their good behavior, and when all the

reindeer have been earned, a surprise reward is revealed. In

our holiday behavior helps bundle, we have everything you

need to do this system, including a bunch of easy reward

ideas that your students will love.

Another fun reward system in our holiday behavior helps is

This works great for having your groups compete against each

our build a character. It's so cute where you have the students

earn the pieces to build a little gingerbread guy.

other. You would just need a set of pieces for each group or

table. If competition is motivating for your students,

they will love this and that competition can push them to be

even better behaved, or you can always earn the character pieces

as a whole class reward system.

But if competition will result in negativity in your

classroom, you may want to go for an individual reward system.

One that we include in the holiday behavior helps resource

is the lucky chance game. So explain that one Heidi.

This is such a fun one. So you just start by printing

out the lucky chance board, which has a row of symbols

across the top and then letters down the side, and then there's

just an empty grid.

When students have good behavior, you tell them that

they can go add their name to a square in the board, and they

can pick any square they want. And then when it's time to

choose a winner, you pull a symbol and a letter card at

random, the student whose name is on that square of the board

gets the prize.

You can either have a set time of the day that you're

going to choose a winner, or you can plan to choose a winner as

soon as the board is full. If you go that route, though, be

sure you don't fill up the final square until it's a convenient

time to choose a winner.

You could choose one type of reward system or mix and

match them to meet your needs. Just don't forget that no matter

which reward system you choose, you want to introduce it with a

discussion about your expectations. Now is the moment

to be concrete with your students about what types of

behaviors earn rewards and what types of behaviors lose rewards.

Our fourth December teaching tip is to remember that

you can do anything, but you can't do everything. There is no

shortage of amazing activity ideas to try in December. It's

going to be tempting to do a lot, but that is a recipe for

disaster.

You can do any activity that you are excited about. If

you want to go big on a North Pole classroom transformation,

because those big surprises are your favorite part of teaching.

You should absolutely go all in on that and send us the

pictures, because that really does sound amazing.

Yes it does. But if that sounds terrible to you, then

don't feel even a moment of guilt for opting out of it.

There are so many ways to be a fun teacher, which we discussed

in last week's episode. You don't have to do what the other

teachers are doing to be a fun teacher.

bring more joy to the activity. And in turn, to your

students when you choose activities that light you up.

Just be aware that with any holiday activity, whether

that's in your classroom or in your home life, when you say yes

to one activity, you are in turn going to have to say no to some

others. So make sure that you're saving time and energy for the

things you really enjoy. Focus your energy on what you're

excited to do in December and let the rest go.

And that brings us to our last December teaching tip, which is

to make time for holiday magic.

Now, just so we're clear, holiday magic does not have to

mean going all out. In fact, I think the best holiday magic are

the small moments of joy that you can sprinkle into your

December schedule.

One bit of holiday magic that we loved to do with our

second graders was a visit from Sinterklaas. So one side of our

family heritage is Dutch, so we have received a visit from

Sinterklaas on the night of December 5 our whole lives. And

I cannot tell you the joy it gave me to share this with my

students.

It was such a highlight for me when I taught second

grade, I'd have all of my kids leave one shoe in the hall, and

they were always so confused, and it was just very fun to be a

teacher that. And then I gathered them to read the

Baker's Dozen book about St Nicholas. But of course, I would

read it as Sinterklaas, because I was raised right.

While we read the story, one of the sweet angels in the front

office would come fill their shoes with a little surprise.

And when I first started doing it, I would use bags of candy,

but it did feel weird to put candy and like, sweaty little

shoes, so I switched to those little packs you can find in the

target spot that have like a coloring book and four crayons

and a few stickers for like a buck.

And after we would finish the book, I would talk about Dutch

traditions, and that, because I'm Dutch, I could get in touch

with Sinterklaas, and then I would watch as all these little

light bulbs came on. Their eyes would get big, and I would

finally let them go check their shoes. It was really one of my

favorite moments of the whole year.

Yes, me too. Oh. Just makes me smile.

Another bit of holiday magic I love is a book Advent. You can

do this in the classroom by wrapping up some of your

favorite holiday read alouds and unwrapping one to read each day.

Or you can incorporate a reading calendar, like the adorable free

Christmas reading calendars from everyday reading.

They really are cute. So every year, everyday reading on

Instagram makes a free holiday themed poster with reading

prompts like read a book about a snowman, and then after you do

the prompt, you get to color a piece of the picture.

If you wanted you could print off the poster for your class

and then try to finish up the poster this year. Now you might

have to double up and do a couple prompts a day, but it

would be a really low key way to sprinkle in some festive fun and

reading into your class.

The important thing here is to remember what we said last

week about sprinkling in the fun like seasoning, you don't want

to go overboard with the fun and waste all your learning time, or

use up all your energy or disrupt your classroom

management.

Plus, fun is more special if you use it strategically.

Treat it like a treat.

December is one of my favorite times of the year to be

a teacher. It can get hard at times, but remember our five

December teaching tips. Prepare for disruptions, keep your

procedures and routines tight, embrace a reward system you can

do anything but not everything, and make time for holiday magic.

We would love to hear your best tips for teaching in

December. Come join the conversation in our teacher

approved Facebook group.

Now let's talk about this week's teacher approved tip.

Each week we leave you with a small, actionable tip that you

can apply in your classroom today. This week's teacher

approved tip is to check out our past holiday podcast episodes.

Yes, you definitely want to do that, because we have

amassed quite a catalog of episodes addressing all of the

ins and outs of teaching in December. But to make it easy

for you to find that information, we have put them

all together in one playlist.

So visit the show notes and you can find a link to our

December teaching podcast playlist.

To wrap up the show, we're sharing what we're giving

extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra

credit?

I'm giving extra credit to the book that I just finished

a few hours ago, The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year, by

Ally Carter. So enemy novel writers Maggie and Ethan receive

cryptic invitations to a Christmas house party at an

English estate.

I love that they're enemy novel writers.

Of course they are! Which turns out to be owned by the

famous mystery writer Eleanor Ashley. But that night, Eleanor

disappears from inside her locked office, and Maggie and

Ethan are left unraveling the clues and investigating the

other house guests on their quest to find her. The rivals

have to become allies and avoid killing each other to solve the

mystery.

Absolutely loved this book. It was such a fun read, great

banter, some of my favorite tropes alive and well in here,

and it has a real knives out kind of vibe.

Has it got a Christmas feel at all?

Yes, it's not, I would say it's not overly Christmas,

but it was Christmasy enough for me, because it takes place over,

you know, the the week of Christmas.

Okay, all right, I'm gonna go download this right

now, because I was just, I need a Christmas book.

It's a good I feel like first read for Christmas. If

you're just getting into your Christmas reading. And then you

can get into the hard hitting Christmas tree farm books later

in the month. What are you giving extra credit to Heidi?

Well, my extra credit also goes to a book. This is a

very different type of audience. My book is, Tis the Season: a

lift the flap Advent calendar full of Christmas poems. So this

is published by Nosy Crow. And if you know their books, you

know they have the sweetest illustrations.

This was a total impulse buy. I saw it on Target, and I thought,

well, I need to have this. And despite the title saying it's an

Advent book, I totally missed that when I ordered it, so when

it came that was just a fun surprise. So I love advent

calendars, and I'm a sucker for poetry picture books. So this

really knocks it out of the park on both levels.

Yeah, just checks all your boxes, right?

This was made for me. There is a short poem for each

day, and then you can lift a little flap and find a hidden

picture. I just demonstrated with my hands how you lift the

flaps in books. So just in case you need a handy guide. You can

read this as a book where you like turn the pages, but it also

folds out accordion style if you want to display it.

Ooh, it's really pretty. I was always trying to get more poetry

into my classroom, so this might be a fun thing to add to your

class this year. I will say most of the poems are wintry, but a

few of them are about Christmas, if that's an issue. But none of

the poems are religious. So I think they would be okay in

pretty much any classroom.

Ooh, that sounds like a fun book.

It's gorgeous. You'll have to you have to look at my

copy.

That's it for today's episode. Remember our five tried and true

tips for teaching in December, and don't forget our teacher

proof tip to check out our holiday episode playlist.

If you enjoyed this episode, we would love it if you

shared with a teacher friend who might enjoy it as well. It's the

best way to help our show reach new listeners, and you can help

your friends get a head start on planning for December.