Holiday themed outfits – check.
Holiday read alouds – check.
Holiday door decorations – double check.
Antsy students – there are not enough checks in the world for this one.
Teachers everywhere are beginning to prepare for the holidays in their classrooms. Being out of the classroom for two years now, I have realized that I miss this time of year with my own group of students. In my new role, I am dusting off my testing coordinator hat instead of dusting off the holiday read alouds I love so much. I am excited to see how much our students have grown, but not as excited as seeing the joy on my students faces when they finished their beaded snowflakes. This time of year has plenty of drawbacks, as our students get plagued by holiday heebie jeebies, which only get worse as we get closer to Winter Break; but this time of year is also really special.
Our students feel the magic of the holidays all around them, whichever holiday they choose to celebrate or not. They may have family traditions that bring them joy, vacations to look forward to, or naughty elves getting into mischief each night. Some of our students do not have holiday traditions with families, or a happy home to go back to, so bringing the holiday magic to them is a special gift.
I miss the holiday read alouds. I miss having my students gathered around on the floor and having that shared experience. I would share about some of my holiday traditions, and would listen to their stories that they wanted so badly to share in the middle of the read aloud.
I miss the crafts and the homemade gifts for parents. I never thought in a million years I would say I missed doing crafts with students since I would get so frustrated with giving directions, cleaning up the mess, and consoling students who did not like how their craft turned out. But, now that I am staring at my schedule for the next several weeks and it is packed full of testing students, I longingly think back to all the crafts I did with my students at this time of year.
I know these next few weeks will come with their challenges, but I would like to encourage you to have fun with your students. Do the read aloud, have the class party, make the fun craft, and if you are really adventurous: break out the glitter. In between the testing, report card preparations, and dealing with misbehavior as it arises we need to remember to have fun with our kids.
Caitlin Gawlowski
Caitlin was born to be a teacher, although she did not realize that teaching was her calling until she went to college. She has always loved to write, and began college with the mindset of becoming a journalist. Before beginning her freshman year of college, she changed my major to Elementary Education on a whim and has never looked back. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Arizona State University, and won the Outstanding Student Teacher Award during her student teaching experience in the Cave Creek Unified School District. Caitlin spent 9 years in the classroom teaching 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. She became a National Board Certified Teacher in 2018, and holds a certificate in Early and Middle Childhood Literacy: Reading/Language Arts. The 2021-2022 school year marks the beginning of her 10th year teaching, where she will be working as an Academic Interventionist, and supporting other National Board candidates on their journey toward National Board certification. If she is lucky enough to have free time, you can find her traveling Arizona with her husband and son, spending time with her friends and family, taking group fitness classes, or enjoying a good book.
Comments 2
Thank you for this article. I appreciate the reminder to not forget to live. It is important that we help create memories of warmth and love for our students. They will remember COVID and masks and online instruction. I will make sure that my students also remember class parties and sing alongs and pajama days.
This article resonated with me quite a bit; I have always done all the holiday things, but with heavier demands and teaching in a grade level where our data is HEAVILY monitored, I don’t find myself getting the time to really do “fun” stuff that allows me to bond with my ducklings. It is pretty sad. So today, for the last 20 minutes, I broke out the glitter and everyone had smiles. We got glitter on the floor and listened to the same songs over and over again, but I got the most hugs today than I did in quite awhile. I agree that this is such a special time of year for read alouds as well; I take great joy in buying new books for the class so we can read them together. I’m happy to hear I am in great company.